Last week, Sony hosted a two-day event to shed some light on its investors about the company’s future. Two sectors in particular were discussed: the automotive industry and video games.
What plan for the automotive industry?
In 2020, the Japanese firm announced its intention to invest more in the automobile by unveiling an electric vehicle model called Vision-S. Just this year Sony also revealed a vehicle design partnership with Honda and now the company plans to supply imaging sensors to 15 of the world’s top 20 automakers by 2025.
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These sensors will equip electric and autonomous vehicles. ” We expect to do automotive imaging sensor business with 75% of the world’s top 20 automakers by FY2025 said Terushi Shimizu, head of Sony’s imaging and sensing business. Clearly, the company is looking to diversify, while it already manufactures smartphone camera parts for brands like Apple, Google and Samsung.
To achieve such a level of production, knowing that the 20 manufacturers concerned should represent 80% of cars sold worldwide within three years, Sony has announced an investment of 7 billion dollars for the design of sensors between 2021 and 2023; this is three times more than over the 2015/2017 period, specifies Ars-Technica.
This objective may seem difficult to achieve, while global production in the tech sector, and especially the automotive sector, is being undermined by the war in Ukraine, the various confinements resulting from the pandemic, particularly in China, and above all, by the shortage of semiconductors. With this in mind, Sony has teamed up with industry specialist TSMC to build a $7 billion microchip production plant in Japan.
” Sony struggled on the car front early on, but it has caught up. There have been production capacity issues, but thanks to the association with TSMC, they are being resolved said Akira Minamikawa, a semiconductor analyst at research firm Omdia.
The PS5 finally mass produced?
In addition, Sony wants to develop further in another sector hit hard by the shortage: video games. Indeed, sales of the PlayStation 5, released at the end of 2020, are hampered due to the lack of electronic components; an obstacle that Jim Ryan, head of games at Sony, intends to put an end to before long.
Since its release, the PlayStation 5 is often displayed out of stock due to the shortage of electronic components. Photography: Hello I’m Nik / Unsplash
He thus asserted that the lack of material was the “ top priority of the company, and that PS5 production would increase significantly in 2022 to reach ” production levels never before achieved “. Thus, analysts estimate that sales of the PlayStation 5 will exceed those of the PlayStation 4 in 2024. As a reminder, the PS4 is Sony’s second best-selling console behind the PS2. In particular, Sony expects very strong demand for its latest flagship in China, an incredibly large market for gaming.
In addition to consoles, Sony also wants to expand its mobile gaming business and expects to release nearly half of its new games on mobile or PC by 2025.
Finally, the manufacturer recently unveiled its plans to best prepare for the arrival of the metaverse, in particular by opening up features “ cross platform so as not to be restricted to the PlayStation and miss opportunities.