German chip maker Infineon raises full-year outlook

German semi-conductor maker Infineon raised on Friday the outlook for its current fiscal year after booking better than expected first quarter results thanks to the economic recovery.

Infineon posted a first quarter net profit of 66 million euros (92 million dollars) in the three months that ended on December 31, compared with a loss of 404 million euros in the same period a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a lower profit of 43 million euros.

"We translated the general economic recovery into operating results for the first quarter which exceeded our original expectations," Infineon chief executive Peter Bauer was quoted by a statement as saying.

"The automotive and industrial and multimarket segments benefited strongly from the market upswing," he noted.

Sales gained 27 percent to 941 million euros and for the full year, "we are now looking for revenue growth in excess of 20 percent," Bauer said.

Infineon had previously expected sales to increase by 10 percent or more over the current fiscal year.

Much depends however on the automotive sector, which is even more important for Infineon now that the group has ditched its loss-making flash memory unit Qimonda.