Sony is rumored to build a new factory with 100 billion yuan and fight for 60% of the world market

Nikkei News and News Agency reported on the 29th that in order to expand demand, Sony plans to build a new image sensor factory for use in smart phone cameras in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, about 100 billion yen. It is expected to start production in 2021 (the fiscal year from April 2021), and it will mainly produce "CMOS image sensor" for smart phones.

According to reports, Sony is currently increasing the production of image sensors by amplifying the current factory production line and improving production efficiency. The decision to build a new factory is mainly due to the high performance of smart phones and the adoption of multi-lens cameras. In addition, under the background of 5G popularization, the estimated demand will continue to grow. After the new plant is launched in 2021, it will gradually expand its production capacity, and the final monthly production capacity is expected to reach tens of thousands of pieces.

According to the report, Sony is the global leading manufacturer of image sensors, with a global market share of 50%. Sony hopes to increase the global market share to 60% by the end of 2025 by covering the new plant and expanding production capacity. . Sony currently produces image sensors in four counties including Japan's Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Oita, and Yamagata. The monthly capacity (in 12-inch wafers) totals about 100,000, and Sony has previously announced plans for the end of March 2021. Increase monthly production capacity to 130,000 pieces (excluding the above new plant capacity).

According to the offer of the Harvest XQ Global Winner System, Sony ADR (SNE.US), which was listed in the US, rose 0.30% on the 29th to close at 59.24 USD, up 22.70% so far this year.

According to Sony's earnings report released on July 30, sales of image sensors in the first quarter of 2019 (April-June 2019) increased 21% year-on-year to 194.9 billion yen. Sony estimates that image sensor sales in 2019 (April 2019 - March 2020) will increase 18% year-on-year to 840 billion yen.

Sony’s top financial officer (CFO) Yu Shishu said at the financial report briefing on July 30 that “the image sensor production equipment is in full capacity”.

Standard & Poor's (S&P), a US credit rating agency, announced on September 4 that it upgraded Sony's long-term corporate credit rating from the original "BBB+" to one level to "A-". The rating outlook is "stable", mainly due to Sony. It is turning to a business model that can obtain recurring service revenue from sales of hardware products, and is expected to maintain a high level of profitability and profitability, and is optimistic that Sony is expected to maintain its competitiveness in the CMOS image sensor market.