Infineon CEO says in talks on Qimonda sale: report

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Infineon (IFXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is in talks with private equity firms and companies about the sale of its loss-making memory chip unit Qimonda (QI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), its chief executive told a German daily.

"There are no taboos: a complete sale is possible as is a sale of a minority stake," Peter Bauer told Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview published on Saturday.

"We are speaking to financial investors and other companies in the industry," Bauer added.

Communications and automotive chipmaker Infineon has failed to find a buyer for the 77 percent of Qimonda it owns after carving out and listing its former memory unit in 2006 in the hope of cutting its exposure to the volatile memory chip market.

"We are working with utmost urgency on the question how to close the chapter on Qimonda as quickly as possible," Bauer said.

Infineon wants to have a solution by in time for its annual general meeting next year.

On Friday, Infineon announced another writedown of 411 million euros on its Qimonda stake.

In April, Infineon wrote down the value of its Qimonda stake by 1 billion euros.

(Reporting by Nicola Leske, editing by David Christian-Edwards)