After six months at the helm of ESIA, Dr. Ploss unveils his view on the future of the EU semiconductor industry in the context of today's economic, political and societal challenges.

1. June 2015
Interview with Dr. Reinhard Ploss, CEO Infineon & ESIA President
ESIA: Can you tell us more about yourself and your
role as CEO of Infineon Technologies AG?
R.P.: Maintaining and developing Infineon’s leading
position in its markets is what I consider as my
primary task. Our goal is to grow faster than the
market. In our business approach I stress that we
have to understand what our customers will need in
the future – even if they do not know themselves
today. Thus we provide products that help our
customers to become more successful than their
competition and develop the right technology for
today, tomorrow and beyond. At the same time, I
always have to keep the company alert for the risk
that our next competitor could not be seen in the
rearview mirror, because he is suddenly coming out
of a side street.
Leading people is, of course, an important part of
my job. I try to do this with trust and honest
feedback in both directions. In particular, good
feedback is a worthwhile investment in the future
and helps Infineon to be more successful – as
individuals and as a company.
After six months at the helm of ESIA, Dr. Ploss
reveals his view on the future of the EU
semiconductor industry in the context of today’s
economic, political and societal challenges .

2. Interview with ESIA President
ESIA: The semiconductor industry is constantly
making things better, faster, smarter, or less
expensive. It leverages technology or improves
processes. In other words, it strives to do more with
less. Can you tell us about a recent project or
solution to a problem that semiconductors made it
better, faster, smarter, more efficient, or less
expensive?
R.P.: A good example is that modern cars are
increasingly equipped with Advanced Driver
Assistance Systems (ADAS). These
comprehensive solutions make driving safer and
smarter already today and will realize the vision of
autonomous driving in near future. With autonomous
individual mobility, time will be given back to people
to be used for a better purpose than paying
attention to traffic, and infrastructure will be used
more efficiently, thus avoiding traffic jams, and
reducing the death toll and injuries from accidents.
Connected and autonomously driving vehicles will
care for smoother traffic which can significantly
reduce exhaust emissions. This evolution would not
be possible without semiconductors and the
technology that allows us to combine them on an
even higher level of system integration.
Beyond this, semiconductors play a crucial role in
the increasing demand for energy efficient
solutions. Just a few days ago, the G7 leaders
have agreed on the need to end our dependence on
fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
limit global warming. To achieve this, we have to
increase the share of renewable energies in the
entire value chain. Only with semiconductors we can
care for efficiency in generating, transporting and
consuming electric energy. This is a basic
precondition on our way to decarbonize our
economies during this century.
ESIA: The TTIP became a controversial discussion
lately. Can you let us know your opinion on the major
advantages and drawbacks of such a partnership
for the EU industry?
R.P.: Infineon welcomes and supports the efforts of
the European Union to reach an agreement for free
trade and investment protection with the United
States. Once TTIP is signed, it could be a valuable
blue print for future negotiations with other partner
countries.
In addition, I hope that TTIP will help us to further
reduce trade barriers, such as different standards.
Let’s take Infineon’s chip card solutions, for
example. All our products comply with the most
stringent European security standards and are
certified accordingly. But if we want to sell these
products to customers in the USA, we have to certify
them again there under the local standard. This
takes a lot of time and a lot of money. A
harmonization of standards will be
beneficial for both sides. What we should
avoid though is a “race to the bottom”, meaning that
with TTIP we have to agree to any kind of lower
standards. Only with high and reliable standards the
European industry will be able to maintain both the
confidence of its customers and its competitive
advantage. This is particularly true for cyber security
which can be a real creator of value for Europe’s
economy.
Infineon Technologies Headquarters
Munich, Germany

3. ESIA: In May 2015, the European Commission
unveiled the long-awaited strategy for Digital Single
Market. How do you think the EU industry could reap
the benefits of such an action?
R.P.: Just think of the huge benefits that will come
along with the industrial internet. The real-time
integration of different players along the value chain
has the potential to revolutionize and dramatically
speed up manufacturing processes – by learning
and adapting much faster. For the “Smart
Factory” semiconductors are again important
enablers: Sensors and actuators form the crucial
link that connects the real and the digital world. And
only with hardware-based security solutions for
authentication and data protection we will reach the
required grade of safety that gives confidence to
industry and private users.
There is no doubt that the next industrial revolution
will enable the European industry to develop entirely
new business opportunities. “Industry 4.0“ will only
become reality however, when we setup an
infrastructure and corresponding regulations that
give businesses and consumers better access to
digital goods and services across Europe.
ESIA: How do you see the ESIA changing in the next
years and how do you see yourself, as ESIA
President, creating that change?
R.P.: The semiconductor industry is currently facing
the challenge to develop a better understanding of
its customers systems. Only with stronger efforts to
exchange experiences with our customers and
profound system competence we will keep our
industry successful in the future. Let’s have a look at
the automotive sector again, one of Europe’s
key industries: The ability to develop innovations
in a broad network of value chains is the secret of
success of the European economy. The European
semiconductor industry has to take care to be an
important player in this network even tomorrow.
Therefore, ESIA should also begin to comprehend
with this strategic change approach which we at
Infineon call “product to system”. I am very much
aware that the other ESIA members take a similar
approach. A closer cooperation with relevant
industry associations would be a welcome step
toward this direction and will be fully supported by
me.
Above all, I would like to use my role to emphasize
that the European semiconductor industry can offer
some suitable answers to the most urgent issues of
the world: climate change, population development,
aging societies, urbanization or the increasing
convergence of the real and the digital world, just to
name a few.
Interview with ESIA President