Sony will invest $345m in increasing the production of CMOS image sensors for tablets and smartphones from the second half of 2014.
The compact size stacked CMOS image sensor provides good image quality and advanced functionality and the company expects that the demand will rise from smartphone and tablet makers.
Sony earlier told Reuters that it is looking up ramp up production of these sensors as demand is growing from smartphone makers to improve image quality of front facing cameras, as the selfie trend is catching up with customers.
The primary reason for the investment is to reinforce Kumamoto TEC’s mastering process facilities and Nagasaki TEC’s layering process production capabilities.
The current investment will also help the company with the production of the layering process on semiconductor chips at Nagasaki TEC.
Sony, which supplies its image sensors for Apples iPhone, said that the investment will let the company raise production of the sensors by 13% to 68,000 wafers per month by August 2015, which is closer to the original target of 75,000 wafers per month set by the company.
