Toshiba May Sell Sensor Business To Sony For Around $165 Million

[Megalith]

The joke might have gotten old, but how does Sony find the money for this stuff?

Image sensors, which are used in digital cameras and smartphones, are part of Toshiba's system LSI semiconductor business. Toshiba plans to sell its image sensor manufacturing plant in Oita, southern Japan, and pull out of the sensor business altogether, said the sources, who declined to be identified.

 

[nilepez]

165 Million is peanuts and assuming Sony doesn't have the cash on hand (though I'd be shocked if they don't), they could easily borrow that much money at a very favorable rate.

 

[Chaos Machine]

165 Million is peanuts and assuming Sony doesn't have the cash on hand (though I'd be shocked if they don't), they could easily borrow that much money at a very favorable rate.

Image sensors are a huge growth area for Sony, their mirrorless sensors are kicking Nikon and canons butt and they are finding themselves in lots of smartphones nowadays

 

[nilepez]

Image sensors are a huge growth area for Sony, their mirrorless sensors are kicking Nikon and canons butt and they are finding themselves in lots of smartphones nowadays

AFAIK, Sony makes most of the nikon processors, though Nikon's versions tend to be better than Sony's, but Sony still makes some money on every D810.

 

[pavementeater]

Image sensors are a huge growth area for Sony, their mirrorless sensors are kicking Nikon and canons butt and they are finding themselves in lots of smartphones nowadays

This will be such a boon for Sony,
Mirrorless or digi Sony pretty much reigns king of the sensor market. As state above Nikon uses them ... even the other big camera brands like Pentax and Hasselblad use Sony.

 

[SonicTron]

AFAIK, Sony makes most of the nikon processors, though Nikon's versions tend to be better than Sony's, but Sony still makes some money on every D810.

That's cool. What we are talking about here is camera image sensors, for which Sony is currently the unquestionable king in the consumer, prosumer, as well as mid-range pro landscape. It's a playing field that they are absolutely dominating at this time and they are banking on it with this acquisition.

 

[nilepez]

That's cool. What we are talking about here is camera image sensors, for which Sony is currently the unquestionable king in the consumer, prosumer, as well as mid-range pro landscape. It's a playing field that they are absolutely dominating at this time and they are banking on it with this acquisition.

Sorry, I meant the sensor.

 

[bigstusexy]

Hmmm...
Okay this story is missing information. First this isn't Sony just looking to buy a their imaging company. Toshiba has had a MAJOR downfall this year after some accounting mispractices has come to light and over 1B dollars of revenue had to be devalued from the company dating back 7 years I believe. Toshiba is looking to sell off the department and get out of the field, going back to it's pc business. In the same report by NHK they say that Sony is the field leader in image senors


I can't say how much their mirrorless systems are kicking butt but I can tell you that more times than not the sensor in a device is of Sony design even if not branded.