HP to sell imaging chips
By Jim Davis
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 9, 1998, 5:40 p.m. PT
Hewlett-Packard's Electronics Components group
is expected to announce Monday that it will begin
selling imaging chips that could result in lower cost
PC video cameras and low-end digital cameras.
HP will begin selling imaging chips based on
technology, once reserved for the company's own
scanners and printers, to outside companies for the
first time.
The chips are based on CMOS (Complementary
Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology used in
the manufacture of most computer chips, an
increasingly popular alternative to the pricier
Charge Coupled Device (CCD) technology
featured in most of today's digital cameras.
A digital camera's CMOS-based sensors do not
require separate circuits
for analog-to-digital
signal conversion,
resulting in a lower cost
chip that uses less
battery power at
equivalent picture
quality.
Broad application of the technology has the
promise to translate into inexpensive consumer
digital cameras, but CMOS technology to date has
had performance problems in low light conditions
compared to CCD technology.
Perhaps one of the key enticements for HP lies in
projections for the market's growth. Revenues for
products using imaging chips are predicted to grow
by 60 percent to $23 billion in 2002, according to
research firm Cahners In-Stat.
The new chips are not yet intended for use in
high-end "megapixel" cameras which have picture
clarity approaching that of film-based systems.
HP's chips are better suited for lower resolution
products, such as "Webcams," security cameras,
low-end digital cameras, and even fingerprint
recognition systems, company officials said.
HP isn't the only company eyeing the market for
imaging chips.
Just last month, Kodak and Intel said they are
working together to develop cameras based on
Intel's CMOS Image Sensor technology.
HP will start volume production of its new family of
chips in December, with prices expected to range
from $17 to $25 per chip in quantities of 1,000.
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