The largest image sensor plant from Sony – the world’s biggest manufacturer of image sensors – has halted production after an earthquake hit Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture on July 28.
After reports that several plants in the area had evacuated, including Sony, Fujifilm and TSMC, Sony has confirmed that production remains halted at the Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Kumamoto Technology Center in the wake of the earthquake while the company assesses the damage.
All employees were safely evacuated, and no injuries were reported from Sony’s facilities.
Sony is the world’s largest manufacturer of image sensors, and the halted plant has been known to produce as many as four million image sensors in a single day.
The company says that the damage to the building and manufacturing lines is still being assessed.
Manufacturing camera sensors is a highly precise process, and even if the building sustained minimal damage, the manufacturing lines will likely need to be assessed to see if recalibration is needed. Damage to the area's roads could also potentially delay shipping.
Sony hasn’t yet shared how the pause could affect product availability, but an earthquake in the same region in 2011 previously caused delays and limited availability in the months following the earthquake for several brands, including Sony, Canon, and Nikon.
As one of the largest sensor manufacturers, the pause could have an impact beyond Sony-branded cameras, as Sony sensors are often found in other cameras as well as smartphones and other smart devices.
Fujifilm and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc. also evacuated following the quakes. Fujifilm has not yet shared an update as to whether manufacturing has been suspended.
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