Sony splurges on semi-conductor biz

TOKYO: Sony Corp. said it will invest 60 billion yen ($576 million) in the next two business years to make more of the semiconductors that help differentiate its electronics goods from rival products.

It will spend about 50 billion yen on a new production wing and equipment at its Kumamoto Technology Center to make charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and CMOS image sensors used in digital cameras and camcorders.

A new wing at its Kokubu Technology Center, costing 10 billion yen, will make driver chips for liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions and LCD panel devices used in projectors and rear-projection TVs.

Both centers are part of Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corp, a chip unit located on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu.

The move will help "vertical integration" of products, Sony said in a statement.

Construction of the new wings will begin next May and operations at both facilities will start in spring 2006.

Sony sees chip capital spending at 190 billion yen in the current year to next March, up 8.6 percent from 175 billion yen last business year.

Shares of Sony were up 0.25 percent at 3,960 yen in early afternoon trade, compared with the benchmark Nikkei average's 0.54 percent rise.