31.03.2015

Sony has announced it will discontinue the production of CCD imaging sensors in 2020/2025 and invest $900 Million USD in CMOS technology. The Japanese world market leader for imaging sensors will focus on CMOS sensor technology and cease production of CCD sensors within the next 5 to 10 years. This news follows the recent innovations from Sony in CMOS technology which allow it to reproduce the majority of CCD technical benefits.

Axel Krepil, FRAMOS’ Head of Sensor Sales comments: “For most of our clients Sony’s CCD EOL announcement in mid-February was a real surprise. Meanwhile, FRAMOS as Sony’s biggest distributor in Europe and North America could achieve significant changes for the last-time-buy-terms and availability. All high runner and many medical CCD sensors will be available until the beginning of 2026. In addition, we managed to form a more flexible order process and residual stock operation for the next 10 years. The transition to CMOS technology is now possible without any breaches and following a smooth timing horizon.”

Dr. Andreas Franz, CEO of the FRAMOS Group, considers the advantages and transitional solutions: “Our customers now have an opportunity to change their CCD based designs into a future-proof and proven CMOS technology that is fully supported by a market leader. For the transition phase, customers are strongly encouraged to take advantage of our EOL process and related long term stocking options. Furthermore, the FRAMOS Engineering Services Group will assist in application re-design, as well as providing support in developing CMOS designs or new camera builds. We have experienced many areas of growth and innovation during our last 30 years in Vision, and we believe Framos is uniquely positioned to help customers transition into the CMOS era.”

Today, 70% of all imaging applications worldwide run on CCD sensors, so Sony’s strategic decision will be a game changer for the entire imaging industry and a necessary step for innovation. Following the latest market studies such as the FRAMOS Market Research 2014, many companies already plan to transition to CMOS, it is predicted that in 2016 80% of all deployed imaging sensors will be CMOS sensors.