Sony acquires Toshiba image sensor business for $165 million

Sony is finding itself in an unusual position as an electronics giant. While its Vaio notebook business has all but deteriorated and its sales of Xperia smartphones have been stagnant, the Japanese manufacturer is still investing heavily into smartphone production and has quite the hold in the image sensor market with its Exmor cameras. More recently, the Japanese giant purchased SoftKinetic Systems for its 3D imaging technology.

Late last week, the company made another bold move by purchasing Toshiba's image sensor business for a hefty $165 million. Sources close to Routers also claim that Toshiba is planning to sell its manufacturing plant in southern Japan and eventually exit the image sensor business altogether. The company is in the midst of a restructuring and Sony likely saw this as an opportunity to consolidate its already profitable position as a supplier for image sensors used in cameras and smartphones.

Sony is also in the middle of a major reshuffling as it announced early last month than the company would be split into three separate divisions. One of these divisions will be the Semiconductors Solutions group, which will be responsible for CMOS R&D and manufacturing.