What the new Infineon Sales Director learned as an organic farmer

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Andreas Urschitz

Infineon’s new Chief Sales Officer wants to change the approach to customers – and thereby create room for higher margins.

(Photo: Infineon)

Villach He was the first organic farmer in his village in Carinthia, says Andreas Urschitz. That was decades ago, and the 50-year-old gave up his flock of sheep long ago. But there is one thing he has never forgotten: Customers are happy to pay a higher price for a special offer.

As the new Chief Sales Officer at Infineon, Urschitz wants to repeat what he was able to do as a part-time farmer when he was young: farm green and earn more at the same time. “The stronger our earning power, the greater our economic freedom,” emphasizes Urschitz.

For the shareholders of the chip manufacturer, the Austrian is a great personal promise. Because as head of the Power & Sensor Systems division, the business graduate has always brought in the highest margins in the company in recent years.

Now he should increase the margins in the entire group to a similar level in order to catch up with competitors such as NXP, Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics. They have been more profitable than Infineon for years.

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How is that supposed to work? Urschitz demonstrates it with a traditional Brettljause in a tavern high above the local Gailtal. It’s just not enough to simply put a piece of smoked ham and a loaf of cheese on the table, he reports. The guests would like to have a cider, pickles, fresh bread and it should look nice on top of that.

Infineon hopes for higher average prices

It’s the same with Infineon: “Of course we will continue to sell individual chips in the future. But we offer them to customers in bite-size form if possible. They are willing to pay higher average prices for this.” Reinhard Ploss, CEO for many years, called the approach “from the product to the system”.

Just as bar patrons like to be reassured at the snack bar that the meat comes from organic pigs and the milk from happy cows, Urschitz wants to put Infineon in a more favorable light from now on: “We will communicate even more strongly than before how our group contributes to a more livable environment: We prioritize decarbonization and digitization.”

>> Read also: Up to 750,000 euros for site management: This is what the first job advertisements at Intel in Magdeburg look like

Family man Urschitz has been Chief Marketing Officer at Infineon since the beginning of June. Predecessor Helmut Gassel had said goodbye after being defeated in the race to succeed Reinhard Ploss, the long-standing CEO. Jochen Hanebeck, 54, prevailed and has been Europe’s largest chip manufacturer since April 1st.

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Like the new CEO, Head of Sales Urschitz has spent his entire professional life at Infineon. Both signed their first employment contract in the mid-1990s, when Infineon was still part of Siemens.

Born in Dortmund, Hanebeck was initially drawn to the wide world, to the US location East Fishkill north of New York City. Urschitz, on the other hand, was hired at what was then the Siemens factory in Villach, almost within sight of the family farm. Both eventually made careers at the headquarters in Munich as division heads after Siemens spun off its chip business in 1999 and listed it on the stock exchange under a new name.

Infineon sees itself as a shaper of the future

A central point of Urschitz’ new marketing strategy: He wants to address buyers in a completely different way. “I’m convinced that 90 percent of customer interaction will take place virtually in the future,” says the manager. “That’s why we’re in the process of completely redesigning our digital face.”

It is important to him to meet the demands of a new, young generation of buyers, such as university graduates with a high level of environmental awareness: “It is important to us, for example, to show the energy savings that can be achieved with some of our products.”

>> Read also: With billions of taxpayers: Micron builds chip plants in America

The new head of sales also wants to make Infineon more talked about worldwide: “We are just beginning to establish event formats. It’s about being perceived as the shaper of our future.” Company trade fairs in Singapore, Japan and Silicon Valley are also on the agenda for the autumn.

Own wood and pear schnapps

When the contracts are signed in America and the negotiations in China are over, Urschitz returns to his estate in Carinthia. The rustling of the firs puts the hectic chip business in a different perspective. Because as a forest owner and part of the local water, meadow and road cooperatives, he has to look beyond the day.

Urschitz did not completely withdraw from agriculture. Again and again he heats up the boiler for his organic pear schnapps – with wood he has cut himself.

More: Yield boost at Infineon: Customers order two years in advance

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