Sony's planned acquisition of Toshiba's CMOS sensor manufacturing plant in Oita, southern Japan will not only help solve its tight sensor production in the near term but also push it into other sectors such as the automobile industry, according to Digitimes Research.
The two companies are able to reach the deal due to their long-term partnership in the semiconductor industry, similar corporate cultures, the benefit of proximity and reasonable acquisition cost of about JPY 20 billion (US$162.68million), said Digitimes Research.
Toshiba's Oita plant has a production capacity of 15,000 units of 12-inch wafers a month and also has expertise in manufacturing chips for automobile applications.
The acquisition will also help Sony further solidify its dominant position in the CMOS image sensor sector. Sony currently controls over 40% of the global CMOS image sensor market.
Global demand for CMOS image sensors and other related sensors is expected to reach 10 billion units in 2025 and probably 100 billion in 2035, Sony has estimated.