Car company CEOs are like football sports coaches in their ability to bounce back from a spectacular fall. Today’s rebound news comes courtesy of ex-Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess who has just been appointed as chairman of the chipmaker Infineon.
Diess was shown the door by Volkswagen in September of this year, a year in which several key Porsche and Audi models were delayed due to software problems and the company performed poorly in the Chinese market. The 64-year-old CEO is also known to have clashed with the powerful works council, a labor union representing VW workers. He was replaced by Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, who took on Diess’s old gig while also hanging on to the top job at Porsche.
Barring a shock voting decision at Infineon’s annual meeting next February, Diess will be appointed as head of the Germany-based chip firm, slipping into the chair vacated by Wolfgang Eder, who Auto News says is expected to resign.
This won’t be Diess’s first stint at Infineon. For a period during his seven years at Volkswagen, four of which he spent as CEO, Diess had a seat on Infineon’s supervisory board, Auto News reports.
Related: Herbert Diess Out At Volkswagen, Will Be Replaced By Porsche Boss Oliver Blume
He’ll certainly have plenty to keep him busy in the new role. The automotive sector’s move to electrification is only boosting demand for semiconductors and Stellantis recently announced plans to buy over $1 billion worth of chips from Infineon for its various brands.
Ramping up production to meet that demand will be a big challenge for Diess and his colleagues, however. A shortage of chips has caused chaos in the auto industry in recent years and Infineon says it expects the shortages to continue into the middle of 2023. But the situation should improve in the second half of the year, while Infineon also has plans to expand production at its Austrian site.