Sony buys Nintendo chip factory to increase the CMOS sensor production.

One of the few areas where Sony is doing really well is imaging sensor production. And today Sony announced the acquisition of the Tsuruoka fab from Nintendo! The fab used to make chips for Nintendo game console (Source: Image Sensor World). Sony reports:

This planned investment forms part of Sony’s mid- to long-term plan to increase its total production capacity for image sensors from the current capacity of approximately 60,000 wafers per month to approximately 75,000 wafers per month.Following the acquisition, Sony intends to convert part of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment that Sony is scheduled to acquire from Renesas Yamagata Semiconductor to CMOS image sensor manufacturing equipment, and also to install new manufacturing equipment for CMOS image sensors in Yamagata TEC. Yamagata TEC will primarily engage in the manufacture of photodiodes and wiring processes for stacked CMOS image sensors.

Now what we need from Sony is an increased lens production capability too and some really great new camera to put Nikon and Canon in the shadow.