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The major earthquakes that struck Japan on April 14th and 15th have closed Sony’s Kumamoto factory, which primarily manufactures sensors for digital cameras. Due to ongoing aftershocks and inspections of the buildings and manufacturing equipment, it’s not clear when the Kumamoto factory will be back in business.
The company’s factories in Isahaya City and Oita City were shuttered briefly, but have since resumed normal operations. Sony says that the impact on its financials is ‘currently being evaluated.’
Nikon says that it too is affected by the earthquakes due to damage at their component suppliers (Sony is a known supplier of Nikon’s sensors), which has greatly delayed the release of its three DL enthusiast compacts, the KeyMission 360 action cam and a pair of Coolpix cameras.
Press Releases:
Status of Sony Group Manufacturing Operations Affected by 2016 Kumamoto Earthquakes
(Tokyo, April 18, 2016) Sony Corporation (“Sony”) extends its deepest sympathies to all those affected by the earthquakes in Kumamoto.
Due to the earthquake of April 14 and subsequent earthquakes in the Kumamoto region, the following Sony Group manufacturing sites have been affected:
Operations at Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Kumamoto Technology Center (located in Kikuchi Gun, Kumamoto Prefecture), which primarily manufactures image sensors for digital cameras and security cameras as well as micro-display devices, were halted after the earthquake on April 14, and currently remain suspended. Damage to the site’s building and manufacturing lines is currently being evaluated, and with aftershocks continuing, the timeframe for resuming operations has yet to be determined.
Although some of the manufacturing equipment at Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Nagasaki Technology Center (located in Isahaya City, Nagasaki Prefecture), which is Sony’s main facility for smartphone image sensor production, and Oita Technology Center (located in Oita City, Oita Prefecture), which commenced operations as a wholly-owned facility of Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation on April 1, had been temporarily halted, the affected equipment has been sequentially restarted from April 17, and production has resumed. Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Kagoshima Technology Center (located in Kirishima City, Kagoshima Prefecture) has continued its production operations after the earthquakes, and there have been no major effects on its operations.
Sony has confirmed the safety of all of its and its group companies’ employees in the region affected by the earthquakes.
The impact of these events on Sony’s consolidated results is currently being evaluated.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)