Beijing/Munich - Chinese computer technology firm Inspur confirmed Monday that talks are taking place with insolvent German chipmaker Qimonda.

"I can confirm that both sides are interested in cooperating together," a spokesman said at company headquarters in Jinan, Shandong province, without going into details.

"It is a good chance for us to expand and become stronger," said the spokesman, whose state-run company is famous for its PC server and software products.

The newspaper Financial Times Deutschland quoted company sources as saying Inspur was interested in a stake of around 50 per cent in Qimonda, which filed for insolvency in January.

Portugal and the German state of Saxony, where the chipmaker has factories, were also touted as possible stakeholders, along with creditors, according to the report.

Preliminary insolvency administrator Michael Jaffe said last week that "promising talks" had been held with representatives of Inspur in Hong Kong.

The Chinese company was willing to participate in a new company and build a new factory in Shandong for 2.5 billion euros (3.2 billion dollars), Jaffe said in a letter to the Saxony state government.

This would provide "a unique opportunity for exclusive cooperation with a Chinese state-run company that has the clear goal of becoming independent from South Korea, Taiwan and the United States," he said.

The insolvency administrator said the risk of German technology being outsourced to China was "minimal."

A spokesman for Jaffe declined to comment on the prospects of a deal, saying that talks were still in progress.

Qimonda, which employees 12,000 workers, has suffered from a massive drop in prices of memory chips used in computers, games consoles and cellphones stiff as well as competition from Asia.

The Infineon subsidiary received a 325-million-euro cash injection in December in a bid to keep it afloat. (dpa)