Micron Announced Standalone CIS Company?

KTVB.com tells that Micron announced it "will place the CMOS imaging division in a separate company, which Micron will continue to control. About 700 Micron employees are involved in the manufacture of CMOS sensor - based mostly in San Jose, Calif.

Micron said it is evaluating whether to bring a partner into the business - to take over some of the non-technical portions of the business, like dealing with cell phone makers or purchasing the physical lenses used in cameras."

Reuters sounds less confident that a formal announcement has been made. It only writes that "The company is also in the process of spinning off its image sensor business into a separate company because it concluded it did not fit well with the rest of the company, which is focused solely on memory chips."

"We still like that business a lot," Appleton said. "With what's happening in our memory business, we can't really do justice to that part of our business in its current form."

Ultimately, whether Micron takes the imagine sensing business public or forms a partnership with another chipmaker, it will function as a foundry for the image sensor chip business.

"Right now they don't feel like it garners any sort of valuation," American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman said of the image sensor business. "It will still have the benefit of diversifying their revenue base (as a stand-alone entity) but they can monetize it at the same time."

Idaho Statesman adds that "much of Micron's image-sensing manufacturing occurs at two plants in Italy, and most of its research, development and design takes place in San Jose, Calif., and Pasadena, Calif.

Over the last year, analysts have strongly suggested that Micron distance itself from the image-sensor business. The sensors are profitable, but sales have grown slowly and account for only about 10 percent of the company's revenue - not the one-third the company sought a few years ago.

Micron plans to spin off its division that makes sensors used in cameras and cell phones, into a separate company so Micron can focus on memory manufacturing, Chairman and CEO Steve Appleton said Thursday."