With Sony's traditional businesses such as TV making heavy losses, new CEO Kaz Hirai has said that the company will prioritize stronger areas such as digital imaging in order to return to profitability. We're seeing the first fruits of that promise today, as Sony has announced plans to invest ¥80 billion (about $997 million) in its CMOS sensors. The move will increase production capacity of the new "stacked" sensors at the company's Nagasaki plant to around 60,000 wafers a month.

The stacked sensors are mostly intended for smartphones, and use a new manufacturing technique to reduce size and power consumption. Sony is a major supplier of CMOS sensors for smartphone makers such as Apple as well as the likes of Nikon in the DSLR field, so it makes sense that the company would want to focus on areas where it remains a market leader.