Sony to double production of image sensors

Sony will be throwing down $1.2 billion in 2011 to double its production of the image sensors that see action in smartphones as well as digital cameras, considering that both markets are extremely lucrative and show no signs of slowing down. A portion of the investment will include purchasing a semiconductor production line from Toshiba, where it might cost Sony a pretty penny to the tune of approximately $600 million. Not only that, Sony wants to convert part of a plant in Nagasaki to make CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensors, and will follow that up by buying wafer processing equipment for CMOS image sensors. This could be due to the fact that Sony’s Exmor and Exmor R sensors that perform well in low light conditions are in high demand. Does this mean we will see more and more devices adopt the Exmor sensors from next year onwards?