Infineon has filled the vacant position of Chief Digital Transformation Officer (CDTO) on its executive board. Germany's largest semiconductor manufacturer announced that its supervisory board has appointed Elke Reichart to the board effective November 1, 2023. The former Hewlett-Packard manager is taking over from Constanze Hufenbecher, who decided not to extend her expiring contract. In her role, Reichart will be responsible for company-wide digitalization projects, the IT infrastructure, and the corporate sustainability strategy.

Reichart served as Chief Digital Officer of Tui Group from 2018 to 2021, overseeing the digitalization strategy of the world's largest tourism company. Prior to that, she held various management positions at Hewlett-Packard (HP) for over 25 years, including Vice President Strategy & Planning at HP's headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

In May, Infineon announced that Hufenbecher was leaving the company. Her contract would have run until April 2024. The business economist (born in 1970) had only joined the DAX-listed company, which is headquartered in Neubiberg near Munich, in 2021. At the time, she took over the newly created Digital Transformation department on the five-member management board.

Reichart, 57, studied economics, Romance languages, and applied computer science in Gießen and Montpellier. The mother of three began her professional career as a sales representative at HP. She served on the board of HP Germany from 2009 to 2016. The manager from Tübingen is highly regarded for her extensive experience. In Elke Reichart, Infineon has been able to recruit "an internationally experienced and high-profile technology manager" for the management board, supervisory board chairman Herbert Diess was quoted in a press release. "She has proven in her career that she can further develop international organizations and successfully implement digitization projects," the former Volkswagen CEO added.

Since April 2022, Jochen Hanebeck has been leading the Infineon Group as CEO. His strategy emphasizes expansion through substantial increases in manufacturing capacities, requiring significant initial investments. Hanebeck believes that Infineon's approach will provide a competitive advantage for future cyclical upturns. Investors, however, have responded reservedly to the capacity expansion. Since the announcement in early December to invest even more upfront, the DAX member's stock has depreciated by a quarter.