Sony is spinning its moneymaking image sensor business into its own company that’ll be named Sony Semiconductor Solutions.
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Sony said the move was part of the company’s push to give autonomy to its business units to accelerate decision-making and make them more accountable for their profitability.
A few of these companies that regularly use the image sensors of Sony in their products include Nikon, Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and Google for its new Nexus devices.
Sony said the changes are aimed at enabling its semiconductor, battery and storage media businesses to “more rapidly adapt to their respective changing market environments and generate sustained growth”.
Sony President Kazuo Hirai is revamping the company’s devices business in order to have a stronger focus on popular products such as its image sensors. Sony did the same thing with Bravia TVs past year, and the audio and video division started operating as a separate business entity at the start of this month.
Sony Semiconductor Corporation (President: Yasuhiro Ueda) and Sony LSI Design Inc.
” Sony outlined its intention to sequentially split out the business units now within Sony Corporation and operate them alongside existing Sony Group companies”.
The Japanese conglomerate said the movement of its devices division was one of a series of measures it is now implementing to strengthen the segment, as it is a key growth driver for the Sony Group.
Sony Semiconductor Solutions will begin operations by April 1st, 2016.
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Sony committed to investing 45 billion yen ($374 billion) into sensor production capacity, on top of a commitment of 105 billion in February. Unlike its predecessors, the fifth-generation design features back-side illumination, with microlenses and a color filter array on its top surface. The wildly successful sensor business develops the image sensors for cameras – ranging from smartphones to surveillance equipment – and has become a cash cow.
