Sony has announced plans to boost their image sensor production by 50% within the next two to three years. Sony is currently in a transition that will further boost their current production to 50,000 chips by March 2012. The image sensors in focus are used in a variety of digital cameras and smartphones. Sony hopes that by 2014 or 2015, the company will be able to produce 75,000 image sensor chips a month.

Sony is also hoping that they will be able to attain greater productions at their existing Nagasaki Technology Centre plant in southern Japan where the current CCD and CMOS sensors are being produced. If they can achieve this, the company will be able to increase their profit margins while not absorbing the higher costs of additional plants and workers. It’s unclear if this boost in production is related to Apple new blockbuster iPhone 4S, which Sony provides the 8-megapixel imaging sensor for. Samsung, one of Sony’s biggest rival currently provides image sensors and flash memory for a number of their competitors, including Apple while making huge profits. The profits are then used to further their design, advertising and R&D. I’ve long advocated for such a move from Sony and hope that this is a sign for more component production from the electronic giant to come.

Discuss:

Do you think that it’s a good idea for electronic companies to supply parts to one and other or best to keep the good stuff in house?

[Via The Times of India]