Sony is ready to "make money" in the smartphone era.

With the advent of the smartphone camera era, Sony is preparing its best to take advantage of this business opportunity.

Sony plans to buy more land near an image sensor factory in Japan's Kumamoto prefecture to expand its market share in the burgeoning business of powering smartphone cameras.

Accordingly, on May 25, Sony negotiated to buy 27 hectares of land to expand to the northwest compared to the current factory in Koshi, Kumamoto. Reports from a local site show that the Japanese company plans to invest several hundred billion yen for a second factory in a new location.

Sony's head of chip business, Terushi Shimizu, said at an investor relations event that the company expects its global image sensor market share to reach 60% by the end of the year—business year 2025, from April 2025 to the end of March 2026. The company currently accounts for more than half of the revenue in the image sensor market.

That comes despite the "tougher market environment" this fiscal year for image sensors, Shimizu said. Most of Sony's sensors are used in smartphones, which have suffered double-digit declines, especially in China, the world's largest mobile market.

According to Shimizu, although the company is always aware of uncertainties in the future, they are preparing long-term plans to ensure it can seize growth opportunities when the market recovers.

Sony is also pursuing growing demand for automotive image sensors, especially as sensors capable of capturing images for analysis are essential for self-driving cars. According to Shimizu, the company expects revenue from car sensors to double in the year to March 2024 and towards profitability within one to two years.