According to Business Korea, Samsung is planning to convert one of its current DRAM manufacturing lines into a camera sensor production line to the tune of roughly $815M. The report says Samsung will be converting its DRAM line 13 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea into a camera sensor production unit.
This transition isn’t unprecedented, as Samsung did the same back in 2018 with its DRAM line 11, converting it into the camera sensor production line S4.
This transition from DRAM production to camera sensor production happens because, as noted by Android Headline, approximately 80% of the manufacturing processes and equipment for the two operations overlap. so, rather than build from scratch, Samsung can save a dramatic sum of money by simply converting an existing production line.
Despite so much overlap between the two processes, the conversion is set to cost one trillion Korean won (
Business Korea doesn’t note what kind of sensors the converted production line will manufacture, but Samsung recently showed off its new 50MP ISOCELL GN1 sensor and has also teased the development of both a 150MP sensor and a 250MP sensor, with hopes to someday create a 600MP smartphone sensor.
Android Headline cites ‘industry experts,’ saying mass production on the converted line could start as early as year’s end, ‘once it completes installing and testing the new equipment. ’
. dpreview.com2020-6-2 17:07
