Dongbu ramps up CMOS image sensor production for China

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Dongbu HiTek has dramatically expanded volume production of 2.0 megapixel (2M) CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) devices for BYD Company Limited, a Chinese fabless customer specializing in information technology, rechargeable batteries and new energy development.

Responding to strong demand driven by the rapidly growing sub-camera market, BYD expects to ship its 2M CIS devices to major Chinese smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei.

"The announcement highlights our foundry capabilities to support fabless Chinese companies meet surging demand in high-growth markets," said Jae Song, EVP, marketing, Dongbu HiTek. "Along with meeting BYD's need for more 2M chips, we are also supporting its development of 5M CIS chips, BYD has successfully introduced 5M CIS, and will soon ramp these devices to volume production. We expect our relationship to blossom further into the development and manufacture of 8M CIS chips."

He noted that his company's foundry relationship with BYD has steadily expanded since becoming its preferred supplier of QVGA/VGA CIS chips for CCTV security applications.

According to Techno Systems Research, the worldwide sub-camera market is expected to be dominated by the shipment of 2M resolution products, which are forecast to grow from about 100 million units in 2012 to over 850 million units in 2016. By year end, the 2 million shipments into the sub-camera market are expected to be nearly 40 per cent of the total, and surge to reach about 80 per cent of the total by 2016.

According to Gartner, global shipment of smartphones is forecast to more than double over the next four years (2012-to-2016). Over this same period, Chinese smartphone shipments are expected to rise from 25 per cent to 33 per cent of the total.

Dongbu HiTek recently announced that it was sharpening its focus on serving Chinese customers by establishing offices in mainland China's most vibrant business centers including Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. Among the wide range of advanced chips that Dongbu HiTek has already manufactured for Chinese customers are touch-screen controllers, ambient light proximity sensors (ALPS) and power management chips as well as the CIS chips.