Samsung Electronics is planning to increase its production capacity of image sensors and it also set a goal to become the top business in image sensor market by beating out SONY. Number of demands for image sensors is growing very fast as more dual-cameras and cameras are being used for Smartphones and cars respectively.

It is expected that Samsung Electronics will become a clear-cut top comprehensive semiconductor manufacturer in the world as it is setting out to become the top business in image sensor market as well followed by DRAM and NAND flash memory.

According to industries, Samsung Electronics is planning to convert its 300mm 13 line in Hwasung that is used to produce DRAMs into a line that will be used to produce image sensors. Since last year, it has also been working to convert its 11 line in Hwasung that was used to produce DRAMs into a line (named as S4 line) that would be used to produce image sensors. Conversion process of S4 line will be done by end of this year.

Reason why Samsung Electronics is greatly increasing production capacity of image sensor is due to its confidence. Through its internal evaluation, it believes that its technologies are already near that of SONY. SONY and Samsung Electronics are the only ones in the world that developed and commercialized 3-stack image sensors (sensor+ analogue logic+ DRAM) that can process 960 frames per second. Samsung Electronics’ Wireless Business Department is purchasing and using image sensors from both SONY and Samsung Electronics’ System LSI Business Department to implement ‘Super-Slow Motion’ technology of Galaxy S9 series.

It is just small problem with it. Samsung is not truly independent sensor manufacturer. Actually all his best sensors are extremely close copies of Sony sensors. Whole idea was to form such alliance that was not formally announced to scare governments and manufacturers. Canon and their engineers also took good part in alliance success providing their dual pixel technology. The main victims seems to be former Samsung NX cameras lineup users, as due to agreement Samsung was forced to close the line.