(Reuters) – Sony Group Corp is considering building a new factory to make smartphone image sensors in the Kumamoto prefecture of Japan, Nikkei reported on Thursday.
The company plans to break ground on the plant as soon as 2024, and bring it online in fiscal 2025 at the earliest, the report said, adding the company expects the cost to run into the billions of dollars.
Sony did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Japan, which long ago lost its lead on chip manufacturing, particularly advanced semiconductors, is rushing to take advantage after Washington restricted Beijing’s access to the technology and asked its allies to do the same.
Last month, Japan’s industry and trade ministry said it would invest an initial 70 billion yen ($507.80 million) in Rapidus, a newly formed chip maker backed by the country’s government and led by tech firms including Sony and NEC Corp.
Sony plans to source chips from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s planned chip plant in the area, the report said.
($1 = 137.8500 yen)
(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
