I am surprised:
"In the first quarter of fiscal 2007, ended Nov. 30, sales of CMOS image sensors represented approximately 15 percent of Micron's revenue.
messages.finance.yahoo.com
March 15, 2007
Dylan McGrath
SAN FRANCISCO — Despite being a relative latecomer to the realm of CMOS image sensors, Micron Technology Inc. has rapidly risen to the pinnacle of technical proficiency in the field. The company Wednesday (Feb. 15) detailed the world's smallest 8-megapixel CMOS image sensor at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) here after earlier in the week unveiling a new, smaller line of image sensors for camera phones at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Ten months after the unveiling of a prototype in May 2006, Micron's MT9E001 remains alone in its class as an 8.1-megapixel CMOS image sensor in a 1/2.5-inch optical format. Micron claims the device, which is suitable to both digital still cameras and camera phones, achieves image quality superior to that of charge coupled device (CCD) image sensors.
"I think it's indicative of Micron not only growing in terms of revenue and becoming a leading supplier, but also growing in terms of becoming a technology leader as well," said Chris Crotty, an analyst at market research firm iSuppli Corp. (El Segundo, Calif.).
Micron (Boise, Idaho) diversified into the image sensor business in 2003, when the field was already crowded with established players, including some of Micron's traditional competitors in the DRAM business. Because the production process for sensors is similar to that of DRAM, Micron has been able to utilize older DRAM production lines and process expertise to swiftly establish itself as a powerhouse in the business.
By 2005 the company had risen to become the No. 2 supplier of CMOS image sensors, according to a report released by market research analyst IC Insights Inc. last year. The company says it is now the world's leading provider (by units) of CMOS image sensors, having doubled its sales of imaging products from fiscal 2005 to 2006. In the first quarter of fiscal 2007, ended Nov. 30, sales of CMOS image sensors represented approximately 15 percent of Micron's revenue.
Last December, Micron bolstered its position in the space through the acquisition of Avago Technologies' image sensor business. Earlier in 2006, the company announced plans to double its CMOS sensor manufacturing capacity by converting two memory fabs to imager production.
According to the Micron paper presented at ISSCC by KB Cho, a senior VLSI design engineer from Micron's Imaging Design Center in Pasadena, Calif., the MT9E001 incorporates sophisticated camera functions such as windowing, mirroring, column/row binning and skip modes, down-size scaling, global shutter and snapshot mode. It is programmable through a two-wire serial interface, and designed to operate at 2.8V in digital still cameras, supporting flash and mechanical shutter actuators. The device can operate down to 2.4V in handsets, according to the paper. The imager includes a low-noise signal readout chain, a 12-bit analog-to-digital converter, an internal phase-locked loop and a 12- bit parallel interface to output pixel data at up to 96 megapixels per second (Mp/s), according to the paper. |
