GigaOM

Infineon Technologies, a Neubiberg, Germany-based company that was recently in the news for allegedly winning a deal to supply chips for the new 3G iPhone, has announced that CEO Wolfgang Ziebart is leaving due to a disagreement with the company and its board of directors. EETimes Europe first reported about Ziebart’s exit.

What seems to be the problem? He didn’t want to sell a big portion of the company to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a private equity firm that then wants to merge Infineon with its other chip holding, NXP Semiconductors, formerly Phillips Semiconductor. (Someone had earlier argued for a three way deal between Infineon, STMicro and NXP.) Infineon is part of an older guard of chip companies that are caught in the whirlpool of shifts currently taking place in the sector. In addition to Infineon, others in the old guard that seem to be wheezing right now are NXP, STMicro and FreeScale; Broadcom, on the other hand, seems to be leaping ahead.