Sony has revealed it plans to spend 105 billion yen (£590 million) to increase its production of image sensors.
The Japanese company reckons demand for CMOS imaging sensors will continue to grow over the next few years, and hopes to boost manufacturing ahead of time.
Sony’s CMOS sensors are used across the mobile industry, appearing in many flagship tablets and smartphones, including Apple’s iPhone series.
The firm wants to increase its total output capacity to 80,000 sensor wafers every single month.
This is up from a current 60,000 wafers every month across the company’s three Japanese plants.
Related: Sony considering selling mobile and TV businesses
It’s likely that Sony is shifting its focus to the image sensor sector to compensate for its struggling mobile and TV divisions.
Sony has not been quiet about the difficulty it’s had trying to flog smartphones, with a reduced release cycle – yearly, down from half-yearly – expected for future handsets to cut costs.
Despite growing concerns over Sony’s mobile business, the firm is reportedly on track to launch its next flagship smartphone in the coming months.
The Sony Xperia Z4 should land anywhere between MWC 2015 – March 2 to 5 – and the summer.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
