News that chipmaker Infineon Technologies is experiencing delays in the supply of its silicon and expects a wider operating loss next quarter has led to speculation this week that the 3G version of the iPhone may be delayed. Shares in Infineon were down 12 percent yesterday after the company said lower volumes in “certain wireless platform projects” – believed to include Nokia and orders for 3G HSDPA chips – meant revenue in the third-quarter would be “about flat” compared with the previous quarter, and its operating loss would be wider than last year’s. Infineon had previously forecast that its operating loss would narrow. This forecast follows the departure of CEO Wolfgang Ziebart, announced earlier this week.

Infineon is currently the supplier of baseband processors for the EDGE-based iPhone and is believed to be the supplier for the 3G version of the device, touted for arrival next month. This has led some industry watchers to suggest that this could lead to a possible delay to the 3G iPhone. Unstrung cites a report from analyst Matt Thornton at Avian Research, who notes: “With regards to lower HSDPA orders, we believe most are speculating that this implies a slower than expected ramp in 3G iPhones as Infineon (IFX) is the baseband supplier on that device platform. As a reminder, the 3G iPhone is widely expected to be announced at Apple’s WWDC [developers conference] during the second week of June with a launch date likely towards the end of June. While lower iPhone orders may be one explanation of IFX’s lower HSDPA orders, we would note that IFX is also a supplier of HSDPA baseband chips to Samsung for several of its 3G devices.”