iSuppli on Japan Image Sensor Industry Hit by Disaster

iSuppli's analyst Pamela Tufegdzic released a report "Japan Disaster Hits CMOS Image Sensors". Few quotes from the report:

"Toshiba Corp.’s Iwate Image Sensor fab, which produces logic chips and CMOS image sensors for mobile phone cameras, was shut down. Likewise, delivery was delayed from Sony Corp.’s CMOS image sensors to cell phone original equipment manufacturers.

Toshiba in 2010 was the world’s fifth-largest supplier of handset image sensors with 13.1 percent share of global revenue, according to a preliminary IHS iSuppli estimate. Sony ranked sixth with 3.9 percent share. Together, the companies accounted last year for 17 percent of the global handset digital camera image sensor revenue.

CCDs appear to be unaffected, at least for the near term. Altek Corp. and Ability Enterprise, which contract-manufacture products for major Japanese brand names, said they were not experiencing any shortages in near-term CCD supply from Japan. Ability now sources about 90 percent of its CCD components from Sony, while Altek buys between 70 and 80 percent of those parts from Sharp. Sharp’s CCD plants in Japan are far from the worst-hit zones, while Sony’s CCD plants are located in Thailand."

Update: EETimes adds that Toshiba's Iwate fab was due to resume partial operation in April, but the plant was hit by the strong aftershocks of April 7 and April 11. That plant is now due to restart partial production on April 18.