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Things can happen if you rely on one sensor manufacturer
  • Due to the earthquake of April 14, 2016 and subsequent earthquakes in the Kumamoto region, Sony Corporation ("Sony") expects that it will be unable to formulate the forecast for its consolidated results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017 in the usual timeframe.

    The survey of damage to the Kumamoto Technology Center conducted so far has revealed damage to certain parts of the building, clean rooms and production equipment. The timeframe for resuming operations has yet to be determined. The Kumamoto Technology Center is the primary manufacturing site for image sensors for digital cameras and security cameras as well as for micro-display devices.

    http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201604/16-043E/index.html

  • 31 Replies sorted by
  • How it looked

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  • Sony Corp's image sensor production will return to full capacity in the October-March half-year due to a pickup in smartphone demand, having spent part of the past year running just under full strength, the head of its chip-making subsidiary said.

    "The business environment for our customers is improving," President Yasuhiro Ueda of Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp said at a news conference on Friday, at Sony's sensor factory in the Kumamoto region of southern Japan.

    Well, optimists, and lie constantly for almost a year.

  • Sony continue to lie about factory state:

    Sony A7rII and A7II will ship in 1-2 months, Amazon US states. Most other US stores don’t have A7 cameras in stock also.

  • (Tokyo, September 1, 2016) The impact of the earthquakes that occurred at 7:46 PM (local time) on August 31 and at 6:33 AM (local time) on September 1, 2016 in the Kumamoto region of Kumamoto Prefecture is as follows: Operations at Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Kumamoto Technology Center (located in Kikuchi Gun, Kumamoto Prefecture), which primarily manufactures image sensors for digital cameras and security cameras as well as micro-display devices, were halted in order to inspect the site’s building and manufacturing equipment. The site’s building and manufacturing equipment did not sustain any damage. Work is currently underway to sequentially restart the manufacturing equipment, and production is expected to resume during the morning of September 3, 2016

    And this was small things.

    Funniest thing in this is that capitalists did not do anything at all with situation. Same as they did nothing with issue with HDD factories placement, it became even worst due to mergers and cuts.

  • we didn’t say they would be full production by the end of August. From a standpoint of creating or fixing all the backlog situation. They said they would have the lines up and running full capacity by the end of August, which we use and we take numerous months after that to catch-up on the backlog.

    From Ambarella report, Sony sensors issues continue(!)

  • Sony A7r II, A7r, A7 II and A7 cameras are out of stock in many US and EU stores now.

  • Sony plans

    Sony plans to raise 440b Yen through the issuance of new shares and bonds, all a part of its ongoing Mid-Term Corporate Strategy. "Sony plans to use the money from the issuance of new shares to increase its production capacity of stacked CMOS censors in its Devices segment, which it hopes will lead to additional profits.

    Specifically, Sony aims to use about 188 billion Yen from the common stock offering to fund capital expenditures in the Devices segment, and the remainder to fund R&D there. From the convertible bonds issuance, Sony will use 51 billion Yen to fund capital expenditures on devices, 25 billion Yen to redeem outstanding bonds upon maturity, and the remainder to repay longterm debts."

    So, most money actually will go to debt servicing.

  • Sony will reduce its equipment investment for CMOS image sensors to JPY70 billion (US$691.53 million) in fiscal 2016, while maintaining its sensor production capacity at 70,000 12-inch equivalent wafers a month during the fiscal year, according to Digitimes Research.

    The CAGR (compound annual growth rate) for applications of CMOS image sensors in the automobile, security controls and medicare is expect to reach over 27%, respectively, during the 2014-2020 period compared to a 4% for the handset sector, the largest outlet for Sony's image sensors currently. Additionally, Sony's share in the automobile CMOS image sensor market is also relatively low currently.

    Companies move to highly profitable auto and medical sensors. Capitalism.

  • From Sony quarterly report

    Sales decreased 22.9% year-on-year (a 14% decrease on a constant currency basis) to 144.4 billion yen (1,402 million U.S. dollars). This decrease was primarily due to a significant decrease in sales of image sensors, reflecting the impact of a decrease in image sensor production due to the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes, lower demand for image sensors for mobile products, and the impact of foreign exchange rates. Sales to external customers decreased 21.4% year-on-year.

    Operating loss of 43.5 billion yen (423 million U.S. dollars) was recorded, compared to operating income of 32.7 billion yen recorded in the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.

  • Major companies had to delay their camera release roadmap by at least four months.

    More good news.

    This is how capitalism work, greed always wins over fear.

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  • Today Sony CEO Hirai said that the Sony Kumamoto sensor factory will gain the 100% full production capability in August only(!). This means the factory had a stop (or partial stop) of over 4 months. This surely will affect the original camera release roadmap. Sony A5300, new RX cameras, new A7 cameras and the A9 may be released much later than planed by Sony.

    Goog. Good... All proceeding as planned.

  • Sony Japan issued an official statement.
    Following the Kumamoto earthquake damage there is a supply issue that will cause a delay on the production of the following cameras:

    • Sony α7
    • Sony α7R
    • Sony α7S
    • Sony α5100
    • Sony α77 II
    • Sony α99
  • Sony forecast

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  • Nikon D3300 is discontinued, but replacement can't be presented and shipped due to sensors, and also smart idea to restrict Wi-Fi usage.

  • Sony has issues with following cameras:

    • Sony FS5 body and kit
    • Sony FS7 body and kit
    • Sony PXW-Z150

    Delays can reach 1.5-2 months.

  • Olympus Corporation itself has not suffered any direct damages due to the earthquakes, but several suppliers of parts for Olympus imaging products including interchangeable lens digital cameras, interchangeable lenses, and compact digital cameras have been affected. It is likely that this will negatively impact production and sales of some Olympus imaging products. The exact scale of the impact is currently under investigation.

    Another guys came with obvious statement.

  • Today Panasonic Japan confirmed that the Kumamoto earthquake damage will have a negative impact on their digital camera business. Panasonic didn’t disclose any details about the possible shipment delays and affect on the future roadmap.

    Surprise.

  • Due the Kumamoto earthquake that halted the Sony sensor production for over one month we will get the following camera shipment delay:

    1. Nikon DL compacts are delayed till October
    2. Limited production and supply of D750, D810
    3. Not expecting new shipments of all Sony ILCE until late July or August
  • Nikon DL shipment will delay to at least September.

    Sony is the cause.

    As it seems, Sony hide real damage, especially to large chips productions.

  • Does that mean Sony will withdraw from smartphone market? Or camera market?

    Fight is for smartphone market. Of Sony will loose this fight they will also leave camera market after some delays as they won't have money to finance research.

    Same as compacts previously financed big cameras main components improvement, now it is smartphones.

  • Samsung wins Sony will also withdraw from large markets quite soon

    Does that mean Sony will withdraw from smartphone market? Or camera market?