Sony Bullish on Imaging Sensor Division, Looks Towards Automative Market

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In April of this year, a series of earthquakes struck Japan, causing Sony’s image sensor factories to be down for months. On top of needing to repair the affected facilities, Sony’s ability to output sensors was also dramatically reduced, resulting in lost business that lead to a spectacular 48% drop in profits for the quarter. Now nearly 7 months later, Sony is once again bullish on their highly lucrative division.

Sony CFO Kenichiro Yoshida:

 Demand for (camera) sensors from smartphone manufacturers, including Chinese players, has been strong. We are also receiving many inquiries for the next year. 

Around the time the earthquake struck, many analysts were predicting a softening in the mobile industry which would only hinder Sony’s recovery efforts further. Though a softening is likely taking place, it appears to be far less dramatic than predicted thanks to strong demand for iPhone 7 (which utilizes Sony sensor) and growth in the Chinese smartphone market, many which also tap Sony for their phone sensors.

Still, for any company to truly flourish, they have to base their business plans less on what’s viable today and more around the next great product or trend. In Sony’s case, they have to be watchful of how they can incorporate their lucrative image sensors in products that likely won’t be coming out of Sony and it looks like they have.

 It will take three to five years before shipments of automotive sensors begin in earnest. But we are confident that we will be able to build a solid position in the market. 

According to Yoshida, automotive parts supplier Denso Corp has decided to adopt Sony sensors in their products. With the rise of smart cars and eventually self-driving vehicles, there’s going to be a massive demand for image sensors which are placed throughout the cars to help with their autonomous capabilities. Though the car market will never do the volume of mobile products which are replaced every 12-18 months by consumers, versus multi-year car ownership, the one advantage they have from a business sense for Sony is that any given car will likely need multiple sensors. And as these cars become more connected and truly self-driving, they’ll even need a great number of sensors to help guide them.

For Sony, this can be a huge gold mine and a great place to utilize their expertise. In a way, this shouldn’t come much of a surprise as I discussed this very outcome a year ago.

Discuss:

Do you think image sensors will continue to play a big role in Sony’s future?

[Via Reuters]