The chancellor of Germany and the president of the Russian Federation on Friday confirmed discussions regarding potential strategic partnership in the field of microelectronics as well as possible investments into chipmaker Infineon AG and its daughter company Qimonda AG. No actual details have been revealed, but the claims confirm interests of Russia to invest into the European semiconductor giant.

“We talked about strategic partnership in the field of electronics. The key-word here is Infineon and, possibly, Qimonda. […] [Such projects] provide chances for more intensive cooperation based on the win-win principles, when both parties succeed,” said Angela Merkel, the federal chancellor of Germany, during a press conference.

Late on Thursday a Russian business daily reported that Sistema Financial Corp., a high-technology investment firm from Russia, is interested in acquiring a stake in Infineon. However, the report claimed that there were no direct discussions between Sistema and Infineon, but the negotiations were held at the highest political levels.

Infineon badly needs money these days. Earlier this year it applied for state aid. Besides, Infineon owns 77.5% stake in Qimonda, the maker of dynamic random access memory that filed for insolvency early this year, which is being liquidated. Meanwhile, Russia-based companies need access to modern technologies and would be interested in acquiring a stake in high-tech companies.

“Such ideas like investing into Infineon or Qimonda, or acquisition of Opel, those are high-tech fields, are exactly something that we need, something that will improve the structure of our economy and may provide protection during the future downturns,” said Dmitry Medvedev, the president of Russia, at the press conference.

At this time no actual deals were announced, as a result it is hard to say whether Sistema or other high-tech financial institution is interested in buying a stake in Qimonda and at what terms.

Tags: Infineon, Qimonda, Sistema, Semiconductor, Business