"With the buyback of the bonds, we have further reduced our debt and have been able to take advantage of the attractive market price level. The fact that the bondholders did not exploit the buyback option we offered to the full extent reflects how the capital market currently assesses the financial power of our company," said Dr. Marco Schröter, CFO at Infineon.

Earlier this month, Infineon called on the owners of its convertible bonds and exchangeable notes to make Infineon an offer for the buyback, which was to be done on the basis of a modified Dutch auction. This auction closed Monday (May 11).

In February, Freescale reduced its $10bn of debt by $1.5bn to $2bn, reducing its annual interest payment from $700 million to $600 million.

A month later, NXP was less successful, but