Canon builds $451 mln factory to produce image sensors
Posted July 16th, 2007 by Alex Ion
Canon, the biggest digital camera maker, announced they’ve started working on a new factory to produce complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS sensors) in May and is located near Tokyo in the Kanagawa Prefecture.
Once alive and kicking, the company will almost double the production capacity from 3 mln chips they are manufacturing right now in another factory in Kanagawa, that will be used both in SLR (single lens reflex) cameras as well as compact models. Canon is trying to have their key components, manufactured in-house, to lower costs and to become less dependent of Sony’s CMOS. Their targets for 2007 are 24 million digital cameras, out of which, 3 million are high-end SLRs.
Canon will invest 55 billion yen in this new factory ($451 mln) and should become operational in July 2008.
