Yoshihiro Yamaguchi, CEO of Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing, revealed that Sony's image sensor shipments have exceeded the 20 billion mark, and the company is building a new factory in the chip industry cluster in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, and the company's pace of development has not slowed down at all.
Yamaguchi emphasized that Sony's development history is long, and its starting point can be traced back to the time when the company began to manufacture transistors. From the production of CCD (charge-coupled device) image sensors in the 1980s to today's CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensor business, Sony has been making continuous progress.
In fact, since the shipment volume reached 10 billion in May 2019, Sony has doubled in just over five years to reach the 20 billion milestone.
For this amazing growth, Yamaguchi said that the popularity of mobile devices is a key factor. Sony's image sensor shipments have soared since smartphones became widely popular in 2010. In addition, the increasing number of cameras installed on each smartphone has also driven the accelerated growth of shipments.
At the same time, Yamaguchi also shared the division of labor of Sony's four production bases in Kyushu, Japan. He said that although there will be no major adjustments to each factory, Nagasaki, Oita and Kumamoto are processing 300mm wafers, while Kagoshima focuses on producing unique analog large-scale integrated circuits using 200mm wafers. In the Kyushu region, the production of image sensors is mainly concentrated in Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Oita. In addition, Kumamoto is also producing related equipment for automobiles and other growth areas. Nagasaki and Oita mainly produce sensors for mobile devices. For now, Sony will continue to maintain this production structure.
In addition, according to the latest report from market research agency MarketsandMarkets, the global image sensor market size is expected to reach US$20.66 billion in 2024 and further grow to US$29.62 billion in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.5% during the period. This growth is mainly due to the increase in existing applications in various industries and technological advances in the supply of image sensor products.
The report also pointed out that image sensors with a resolution of more than 16 MP are likely to dominate the market in the next few years because they can meet the rapidly growing demand for high-quality imaging in various applications. As consumers’ demand for superior image quality continues to grow, manufacturers are increasingly incorporating higher-resolution sensors into smartphones, digital cameras, and professional equipment. At the same time, the surge in social media and digital content creation is further driving the demand for high-quality images and videos.
This paper is from Ulink Media, Shenzhen, China, the organizer of IOTE EXPO (IoT Expo in China)
