By Stevie Smith Jul 18, 2007, 13:34 GMT
Imaging and optical specialist Canon Inc., has today revealed that it is to pour some $450 million USD into a new manufacturing plant in Japan in order to vastly increase its digital camera and image sensor production output.
According to an official spokesman for Tokyo-based Canon, which is the world leader in digital camera production, the company has earmarked a location in Kawasaki City (immediately south of Tokyo) for its expansive construction purposes.
Expected to crank up its production lines as early as July 2008, Canon’s new fabrication facility will focus on the manufacturing of complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS), which exist as core components within popular consumer electronic devices such as digital cameras and video cameras.
The Canon spokesman further confirmed to the Dow Jones Newswires that the new Kawasaki City plant will likely deliver an output of around 3 million CMOS chips per year, a figure that approximately matches that of an existing Canon plant situated in nearby Kanagawa province.
He also went on to outline that while Canon presently utilises CMOS technology throughout its more desirable single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras – and also a selection of its video cameras – it may well shift CMOS chips down into its central range of more compact digital camera products.
Currently, Canon’s compact cameras rely on an internal charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor, which is not made by Canon but rather obtained from third-party suppliers. The introduction of first-party CMOS technology will subsequently see Canon cutting back on its manufacturing costs.
Your Talkback on this Story