Sony Increases Sensor Production Capacity

June 7, 2007: Sony has announced plans to invest 60 billion Yen in increasing production of image sensors for digital cameras, according to a report from The Associated Press.

The company is looking to reduce capital expenditures and, at the same time, refocus its semiconductor chip operations to ensure an operating profit for the fiscal year that ends in March 2008. Sony is reported to have spent 440 billion Yen over the past three years, much of it in the development of a central processor for its PlayStation 3 game console. This led to heavy losses in its chip manufacturing business. The latest investment is part of the company’s efforts to focus on three main areas: image sensors for digital cameras and camera phones, advanced circuits for electronic products like TV sets and more cost efficient components for its game consoles. Output capacity at the image sensor plant in KumamotoPrefecture in southern Japan, which makes CMOS sensors and micro-displays, will be boosted in the first part of the new initiative. The bulk of the investment is scheduled for the fiscal year ending in March 2009.