FRANKFURT, Germany — Qimonda AG, the memory chip company majority owned by Infineon Technologies AG, said Monday it may face bankruptcy if it fails to find new investors or the cash needed to operate in the coming weeks.

Ralph Heinrich, a Qimonda spokesman, told The Associated Press that if the memory chip maker doesn't cut costs and fails to find new capital through an investor partner, that it could not exclude bankruptcy by the end of the first quarter of 2009.

"If we don't find a partnership; if we don't reduce the cash burn; if the market doesn't improve; if we have a combination of these conditions, then we can't exclude that," he said.

The global economic slowdown has hit the makers of computer memory chips hard because of lower prices and a glut of inventory worldwide.

The company said it expects to report an increase in fourth-quarter sales to 476 million euros ($500 million), but for the year, it said it expects to post a drop in sales and net and operating profit losses, though it did not provide any estimates.

Qimonda said it would delay its fourth-quarter and 2008 year-end results until December though its fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Parent company Infineon is scheduled to report its earnings Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Qimonda said it is in talks with potential partner investors, and that those talks are making progress. It could announce a partnership deal in the coming weeks, though Qimonda did not elaborate on with whom it was talking to.

Story continues below

Neubiberg-based Infineon Technologies AG spun off Qimonda in 2006 and still holds a 77.5 percent stake.

Qimonda which employs approximately 12,200 workers, said in October it would cut 3,000 jobs in the U.S. and Germany and sell its stake in Inotera _ a joint venture with Taiwan's Nanya Technology Corp. _ to Micron Technology Inc. for $400 million.

Shares of Infineon closed down 8.9 percent at 1.70 euros ($2.15) in Frankfurt.

___

On the Net:

http://www.infineon.com

http://www.qimonda.com