Digitimes
Supply of handset image sensors hit by Japan earthquake, says IHS iSuppli
Press release; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Friday 15 April 2011]
The recent earthquake in Japan is impacting the production of CMOS image sensors at two facilities in the country, affecting the supply of these parts to the mobile phone market, according to IHS iSuppli.
Toshiba's Iwate fab, which produces logic chips and CMOS image sensors for mobile phone cameras, was shut down. Likewise, delivery was delayed from Sony's CMOS image sensor fab to handset OEMs.
Toshiba in 2010 was the world's fifth-largest supplier of handset image sensors with 11.8% share of global revenues, IHS said. Sony ranked sixth with 7.3% share. Together, the companies accounted for 19.2% of the global handset digital camera image sensor revenues, IHS indicated.
"With their low cost and easy integration with other electronics, CMOS has long been the technology of choice for cell phone cameras," said Pamela Tufegdzic, analyst for consumer electronics at IHS. "The Japan earthquake and subsequent logistical challenges have disrupted a portion of the supply of this key component."
While CMOS sensor production and distribution has been impacted, supplies of the major alternative image sensor technology, CCDs, appear to be unaffected, at least for the near term, IHS noted. The global CCD market is dominated by Japan-based suppliers including Sony, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Sharp and Toshiba.
Because of their higher image quality, CCDs are commonly employed in digital still cameras (DSCs). In contrast, CMOS sensors predominately are used in cell phones and often in other devices where the camera is secondary to other functions.
Taiwan-based DSC makers Altek and Ability Enterprise, which contract manufacture products for major brand names in Japan, said they were not experiencing any shortages in near-term CCD supply from Japan. Ability now sources about 90% of its CCD components from Sony, while Altek buys between 70-80% of those parts from Sharp. Sharp's CCD plants in Japan are far from the worst-hit zones, while Sony's CCD plants are located in Thailand.
Because of this, CCD supply in the future should not face any immediate supply issues, IHS believes. The situation may change over the long term, however, as CCD makers could experience challenges with their own upstream material suppliers and encounter problems with transportation and power, IHS said.
Given the impact of the quake, Panasonic, Canon and Nikon have had to close down some of their high-end production lines for DSCs in Japan. But because the lower-end consumer models of those companies are primarily manufactured at plants in China and Thailand or outsourced to Taiwan-based makers, the earthquake is not expected to have a significant impact on those segments. |
