Infineon chief steps down after clash

FRANKFURT, Germany -- The head of German computer-chip maker Infineon Technologies AG quit unexpectedly Thursday, with the union representing company workers saying Ulrich Schumacher had lost a boardroom battle over leadership style and strategy.

Company officials and Schumacher offered no public explanation for the resignation, which a brief company statement said was accepted at a meeting of the board of directors.

Schumacher's contract runs through 2007, and he was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview published a week ago that he "could imagine working here another 20 years without any problem."

The IG Metall union, which represents Infineon workers, issued a statement saying Schumacher had clashed with other top executives over strategy and what the union called Schumacher's "authoritarian" leadership style.

The union statement said board members had been suddenly summoned for "a general reckoning over the strategy of the company in the past year." The union said it had "little regret" over Schumacher's departure, citing his advocacy of outsourcing and an "image- damaging" suggestion that the company might move its headquarters out of Germany.

Two seats on the company's 16-member board of directors are set aside for union representatives under German corporate law, and five more for non-executive employee representatives.

The board temporarily appointed its chairman, Max Dietrich Kley, as interim chief executive for up to a year, the company statement said.

Infineon's shares dropped on the news, closing down 1.7 percent at 11.02 euros ($13.44) in Frankfurt.

Schumacher, 45, had led the company back to profitability last year after nine straight quarters of losses when the semiconductor industry bottomed out after the end of the technology boom.

With companies now beginning to spend more on new computers, the company's prospects were looking up, Schumacher said in January when the company released its earnings report.

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