Go after Sony! Samsung rumored to embezzle DRAM plant to increase CMOS production by 20%

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics will chase after the leading manufacturer of CMOS image sensor (CMOS Image Sensor, CIS) market, Japan’s Sony, and it is reported that it intends to divert a DRAM plant into a CIS production line, thereby increasing CIS production by 20%. The output gap with Sony will be Significantly shrink.

The Korean media Joongang Daily reported on the 10th that due to the expansion of the market for 5G smartphones, self-driving cars, and robots, the demand for CIS, which plays the role of “eyes” in related products, has increased sharply. Samsung Electronics will convert a DRAM plant into CIS production next year. In order to increase the output of CIS by about 20% compared with the current production. The semiconductor industry believes that Samsung's move is to catch up with Sony, the world's leading CIS manufacturer, and to compete with Sony. From July to September 2020, Samsung's global market share of CIS was 21.4%, lagging behind Sony's 44.2%.

According to reports, Yongin Park, executive vice president of Samsung's photosensitive components business, said in a closed-door question and answer at the "Samsung Electronics Investment Forum 2020" held on November 30, "Currently, orders for CIS over 108 million pixels are increasing, but production is limited. Next year one The DRAM plant should be converted into a CIS production line."

The current monthly output of Samsung CIS (converted by wafer input) is 100,000, and annual sales are US$4.26 billion. After a DRAM plant is converted to a CIS production line next year, the monthly output is estimated to increase to 120,000 to 130,000 The production gap with Sony will be greatly reduced.

Sony has invested 100 billion yen to add a new CIS production line in Nagasaki Prefecture. The target is to be completed in 2021, when the monthly output will increase to 138,000 pieces. Sony aims to increase the global market share of CIS to 60% by the end of 2025.

The market research firm TSR pointed out that the global CIS market in 2024 is estimated to expand from USD 19.7 billion in 2020 to USD 27 billion.

Sony’s vice president and CEO Yuki Toshiki said at a financial report briefing held on October 28 that the additional export control ban imposed by the US government on Huawei has had an impact on the CIS business.

From July to September 2020, Sony's image sensor sales fell 2% from the same period last year to 268.6 billion yen. Sony will revise its image sensor sales target for this year (April 2020 to March 2021) from 8,700 yen to 820 billion yen, a year-on-year decrease of 12%.