UPDATE 2-Infineon sees higher 2010 sales after solid Q4

* Sales could grow by more than 10 pct in fiscal 2010

* Says sales for fiscal Q1 2010 will be on Q4 level

* Q4 sales 855 mln eur vs 848 mln eur Reuters poll avg

* Q4 net profit 14 mln eur vs 11 mln eur poll avg

* Shares indicated 2.3 pct higher (Adds share indications, details, strategist comment)

By Christoph Steitz and Nicola Leske

FRANKFURT, Nov 19 (Reuters) - German group Infineon (IFXGn.DE: 行情) is bullish for its fiscal 2010, saying sales could grow by more than 10 percent as chipmakers worldwide recover from a prolonged downturn.

The forecast came as the company said cost cuts had helped it report fourth-quarter results above market expectations. "Assuming a stabilising or growing world economy, currently high demand and order levels lead Infineon to expect sales growth of 10 percent or more for the 2010 fiscal year at an assumed U.S. dollar/euro exchange rate of 1.50," it said on Thursday.

Based on fiscal 2009 sales, this would mean sales of at least 3.33 billion euros ($4.99 billion) for the year to Sept. 30, 2010.

The company, which rejoined the German blue-chip DAX index in September, said it expected combined segment profit to be significantly positive in fiscal 2010, while sales for the first quarter through Dec. 31 are expected to be at the level of the fourth quarter.

"Although the profit exceeded expectations only slightly, the decisive element is the outlook: and it came in better than expected," said Heino Ruland, market strategist at Ruland Research.

Samsung (005930.KS: 行情) and the world's biggest contract chipmaker, Taiwan's TSMC (2330.TW: 行情), have said they would boost capex in chips, but others have been more hesitant. [ID:nT173480]

Dutch chip equipment maker ASML (ASML.AS: 行情) repeated on Thursday it expects order intake in October-December to be at least on par with the previous quarter, boosted by orders from DRAM chip manufacturers. [ID:nLI254899]

ASML's confidence has come amid strong earnings by the world's No.1 chipmaker Intel (INTC.O: 行情) and the biggest memory maker Samsung Electronics.

FORECASTS BEATEN

Infineon posted a fourth-quarter net profit of 14 million euros on sales of 855 million euros, beating the average estimates of 11 million euros and 848 million euros in a Reuters poll of analysts. The quarter ended on Sept. 30.

Infineon's fourth-quarter revenue grew thanks to gradually improving demand as well as the sale of its wireline unit and a tight cost savings programme. This helped the company -- which was considered a candidate for state aid just six months ago -- improve its financial situation.

Europe's biggest automotive chip supplier now has four units left: Automotive, Wireless Solutions, Industrial & Multimarket and Chip Card & Security. ($1=.6680 Euro) (Additional reporting by Hakan Ersen; Editing by Joel Dimmock)