Here is how it looked before the flooding:
The 502,000 sq. feet facility was founded in 1988 as the first Sony device manufacturing plant built outside of Japan and has 3300 employees.
Thanks to JL for sending me the link!
Update: Tech-On reports that Sony Bangkadi has stopped its operations Oct 14, 2011, on the alert for floods. As of October 21, its manufacturing plant has been damaged by a flood. The facility is responsible for the back-end processes of chips for digital home appliances, MMIC (microwave monolithic integrated circuit) chips for mobile phones, CMOS image sensors, etc. Sony is considering transferring the production to other site.
Update #2: Toshiba publishes status updates on its flooded Bangkadi plant located close to the Sony one. The status as on Oct. 26 is: " The water is 3 meters high on the site and the surrounding area and approximately 1.5 meters deep in the buildings."
Is this is only CCD testing facility??
ReplyDeleteMay be. Sony SEC filing says that "principal products produced" there are "CCDs, CMOS image sensors and other semiconductors"
ReplyDeleteIf you have more accurate information, please share.
This is sony thailand factory website
ReplyDeletehttp://sonydevice.co.th/page/ccd.aspx
Actually, this link is embedded in the post under "Sony Bangkadi" words.
ReplyDeleteLooks as though Sony has started using immersion lithography!
ReplyDeleteTo add to the anonymous above...
ReplyDeleteThe well capacity of Sony's sensor has gone up tremendously.
If this is in fact the primary production facility for their CMOS image sensor's, then this is a pretty big deal. The lithography process is hyper sensitive to salt... If that plant is unrecoverable, they'd have to re-tool another fab to produce CMOS chips. That could take quite a while.
ReplyDeleteIt should be their testing and packaging site. Most of the CCD, CMOS and LSI also have testing and packaging at their. Any expert in this area can comment how the damage will affect the production and how long that Sony need to recover the production?
ReplyDeleteThe document at the following link says that the Thailand plant is used for packaging and assembly of CCD and CMOS sensors. Their Oita plant is advanced packaging only and production is eventually moved to Thailand when mature according to the document.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sony-sckyushu.co.jp/files/uploads/pamphlet.pdf
Thanks for the link! So, according to this document it seems that Bangkadi plant is the main packaging hub for Sony. I hope Sony manages to find an alternative packaging source fast.
ReplyDeleteIt's relatively easy to subcontract or bring up a standard packaging line. It's not so easy to do that with a sensor packaging operation where you have much more stringent clean room requirements. Add to that the large scale capital equipment required for such an operation which tend to have long lead times, and it's easy to imagine a 4-6 month or longer interruption in availability of components unless they have a lot of finished goods sitting in a warehouse somewhere outside of Thailand.
ReplyDeleteThis could cause long term interruptions in manufacturing for many products since image sensors are everywhere these days. Manufacturers that buy unpackaged parts will not be affected because the wafers are produced in Japan. Large, direct manufacturers that rely on "just in time" inventory management will feel the impact faster than manufacturers that depend on distributors or that stock inventory in advance, but I would expect this to have a significant impact on the availability of many products that use Sony components well into 2012.
The factory flooded just a few days ago, so I doubt anyone has accurate information about component availability right now. I'm sure Sony is still trying to assess the situation before they say anything to their customers.
"Manufacturers that buy unpackaged parts will not be affected because the wafers are produced in Japan."
ReplyDeleteHowever, Sony is large japanese brand name. Do you think that Sony will provide unpackaged sensor to customer? Will they take this quality risk?
Camera-phone modules with wire bonding use unpackaged known good dice. The module itself serves as a package. This is what the poster meant when saying that these customers will not be affected.
ReplyDelete