In a telephone conference with analysts on Friday, chief financial officr Peter Fischl said that "the reasons for Mr Schumacher's decision are personal, so please understand we can't provide any details."

But he insisted: "There are absolutely no problems in our accounts or in our balance sheet. Dr Schumacher's resignation has nothing to do with our current operational performance."

Infineon's performance was "in line with forecasts" and the group "hopes to post a positive result in the second quarter" of the business year, Fischl said.

There were no plans to change strategy, he added.

Nevertheless, Infineon would renounce on plans to relocate abroad, which had been one of Schumacher's projects, Fischl said.

Infineon had annouced the shock resignation of Schumacher on Thursday, and while no official explanation was given, sources said the decision followed a clash over strategy.

Infineon's supervisory board chairman Max Dietrich Kley, 64, is to act as chief executive in the interim, but for the maximum of one year.

Kley was formerly chief financial officer of chemicals giant BASF.

Sources said Schumacher had been forced out Thursday after a hastily called supervisory board meeting criticised him over his strategy and management style.

Sources said Schumacher was criticised for the controversial measures he had implemented, such as the outsourcing of some of the company's businesses.

The powerful union IG Metall indicated that supervisory board members had criticized Schumacher's management style as too authoritarian.

According to a source close to the situation, Schumacher, whose contract would have run until 2007, had been forced to resign after recent clashes with chief financial officer Peter Fischl and chief operating officer Andreas von Zitzewitz.

Schumacher, who turns 46 next week, has been chairman of Infineon since April 1999, when the German electronics giant Siemens spun off its semi-conductors business into a separate company.

An electrical engineer by training, he joined Siemens in 1986.

After its flotation in March 2000, Infineon was hit hard by the worldwide slump in demand for computer chips. After nine consecutive quarters in the red, it managed to clock up a profit again in the last two quarters.

SPACE.WIRE