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Infineon Technologies raised its full-year guidance on Wednesday as ‌demand for power supply solutions for ‌AI data centers surged and automotive order intake improved, ​joining a wave of chipmakers benefiting from AI infrastructure spending. The German chipmaker, which provides parts for automotive, power and security systems, posted ‌second-quarter revenue of ⁠3.81 billion euros ($4.47 billion), up 6% from the same quarter a year ⁠earlier. Infineon now expects revenue to rise significantly year-on-year for fiscal 2026, up from a ​previous forecast ​of moderate growth.

The Japanese companies are exploring a possible merger of their power semiconductor businesses to cope with increasingly fierce international competition.

Japan's Rohm, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric will start talks to integrate their power semiconductor businesses to ‌form the world's second-biggest power chip group after Germany's Infineon, ‌the Nikkei newspaper said on Thursday. The talks could complicate rival Denso's bid to acquire Rohm, ​after the Toyota Motor group supplier earlier this month approached the chipmaker about a potential buyout.

Germany's Elmos Semiconductor is exploring a sale as its founders consider exiting the business, according to three people ‌familiar with the matter. Elmos, which has a market value of around 2.3 billion euros ($2.5 billion), ‌has hired Morgan Stanley to advise on the process, the people said, requesting anonymity because the deliberations are confidential. Elmos and Morgan Stanley ​declined to comment.

Europe's semiconductor industry must invest in more automated and larger 300-millimeter wafer fabs to ‌counter growing competition from Chinese rivals in power and analog chips, ‌an Infineon Technologies executive said last Friday. Speaking at a conference for semiconductor industry executives in ​Poland, Thomas Altenmueller, Vice President Manufacturing Analytics at Infineon, said that Chinese manufacturers were rapidly gaining capacity and expertise in areas historically dominated by European chipmakers. Altenmueller said the shift toward ⁠power and analog chips by Chinese companies was pushed by export restrictions on more advanced semiconductor tools like ASML's ⁠EUV lithography machines.