Sony To Invest $1.2B To Double Image Sensor Capacity

Sony (SNE) has announced plans to invest $1.2 billion over the next fiscal year to double its production capacity for image sensors, according to Bloomberg. Sony has unveiled a deal to buy back from Toshiba a factory that makes chips used in PlayStation 3 game consoles – and to redirect the plant to produce image sensors, which are used in digital cameras and smart phones. Sony also plans to add production of the devices in an existing plan in Nagasaki.

Sony said it intend to win 30% of the market for image sensors used in mobile phones, up from an expected 10% for the fiscal year ended March 2011.

What makes this interesting, what devices will Sony be using this plant for? Could it be the new PSP2, the PS3 replacement or component's to help reduce the overall production cost. Your guess is as good as mind. Sony has learned a boat load this generation in gaming and it look's like Sony can be stockpiling for the next console war.