Sony expects demand for CMOS image sensors (CIS) used in high-end smartphones to remain strong through 2022, despite a decline in global demand for low- and mid-range smartphones, industry sources said, according to the Electronic Times.
Sony will expand CIS production capacity in 2023, but will delay expansion plans if sales of high-end smartphones fall short of initial expectations in the second half of 2022, said Yuichi Oshima, Sony’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, the sources noted.
Earlier, Shushi Shimizu, president of Sony Semiconductor Solutions, a subsidiary of Sony’s semiconductor business, revealed that Sony will increase production capacity at its Nagasaki plant (Isahaya City, Nagasaki Prefecture), the main factory for image sensors.
Sony expects the market for advanced smartphone image sensors to expand by an average of about 10% annually by 2030. Sony will increase its investment in image sensor equipment by 200 billion yen over the three years to fiscal 2023 (March 2024), expanding to 900 billion yen.
