Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- NXP BV, Europe's third-largest chipmaker, isn't in merger talks with Infineon Technologies AG, spokeswoman Lieke de Jong-Tops said, confirming a Dutch newspaper report.

The company doesn't rule out a merger, De Jong-Tops said, confirming comments made by Chief Executive Officer Frans van Houten in an interview published in Het Financieele Dagblad today. Infineon spokesman Guenter Gaugler wouldn't comment when contacted by Bloomberg News. Infineon is Europe's second-largest semiconductor maker after STMicroelectronics NV.

Het Financieele Dagblad also reported NXP will announce a ``substantial reorganization'' later in the year in response to costs that are too high, citing the CEO. The company will not be able to survive without a restructuring, Van Houten was quoted as saying. De Jong-Tops confirmed all of Van Houten's comments in the newspaper report.

Infineon Chairman Max Dietrich Kley proposed a merger be evaluated with NXP, the Financial Times Deutschland reported May 14, without saying where it got the information.

Infineon rose 10 cents, or 1.7 percent, to 6.045 euros in Frankfurt, giving the company a market value of 4.53 billion euros ($6.70 billion).

To contact the reporter on this story: Marcel van de Hoef in Amsterdam at mvandehoef@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 25, 2008 11:48 EDT