|
The Japanese firm said it will increase
production of stacked CMOS sensors at two factories on the
southern Japanese island of Kyushu, while completing work on a
factory in northwestern Japan it bought from Renesas Electronics
Corp for a total investment of 35 billion yen.
Sony, which currently supplies image sensors for the main camera
in Apple Inc's iPhone said the investment will allow it to raise
production by 13 percent to 68,000 wafers a month by August
2015, a step closer to its mid-term goal of 75,000.
Imaging sensors are an area of strength for Sony, which leads
the market ahead of Omnivision Technologies Inc, whose sensors
are mostly used in front-facing smartphone modules that
typically have lower specifications than the main rear camera.
Sony told Reuters in March that it was looking to supply more
sensors for front-facing cameras as smartphone makers were
looking to improve their quality in response to consumers taking
more 'selfies', or self-portraits, as well as video calls.
Of the total investment, 9 billion yen will be spent this year,
which will come out of the 65 billion yen capex budget for
semiconductors announced in May. The remaining 26 billion yen
will be spent in the first half of the fiscal year starting next
March.
(Reporting by Sophie Knight; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
