Sony's chip unit and TSMC signed a joint-venture agreement for Kumamoto image sensors, with the unit to contribute about 465 billion yen in cash and assets

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, from public records. Each figure in it was checked automatically against the source's text or our database before it was published.

On Aug 11, 2026, Sony Group reported in a Form 6-K, the report a foreign company files with the SEC, that its wholly owned subsidiary Sony Semiconductor Solutions and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) had signed a legally binding definitive agreement to set up a joint venture. The venture, named Advanced Vision Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, was to be set up in Koshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, as a hub for developing and making image sensors for smartphones with advanced manufacturing processes. The companies expected it to start volume production in 2029.1^,2^,3^,4^,5^,6^,7

Under the agreement Sony Semiconductor Solutions planned to contribute approximately 465 billion yen to the venture, in cash and by transferring assets through a company split, and TSMC planned cash contributions of approximately 282 billion yen. The assets Sony Semiconductor Solutions would transfer were its newly built fab in Koshi City, in which it had already invested. The contributions were to be made in phases, depending on market demand and other business conditions. Sony Semiconductor Solutions was to be the sole controlling shareholder, the venture was planned to be a consolidated subsidiary of Sony Group, and the unit was to appoint its representative director. Investments beyond those contributions, needed for the production capacity the venture planned, were under consideration on the premise that the Japanese government would support them.8^,9^,10^,11^,12^,13

The establishment of the venture and completion of the transaction were subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Sony Group expected the partnership's effect on its consolidated financial results for the year ending Mar 31, 2027 to be immaterial. The agreement built on a memorandum of understanding announced on May 8, 2026, and the companies said all other aspects of the partnership were unchanged from that announcement.14^,15^,16^,17

Sony Semiconductor Solutions operates a semiconductor device business centered on image sensors. Sony Group also owns game studios, among them Naughty Dog, Insomniac Games and Bungie, which sit under Sony Interactive Entertainment, the group's platform company.4^,18^,19^,20^,21^,22