Two Sony Sectors To Take $1.05 Billion Operating Income Hit From Quakes

Operating income in Sony’s Imaging Products & Solutions and Devices sectors is expected to take a 115 billion yen ($1.05 billion) hit from the April 14 earthquakes that struck the Kikuchi-gun, Japan, region and damaged Sony’s Kumamoto Technology Center (see 1604180025), the company said in a Tuesday statement. The technology center is Sony’s primary manufacturing site for image sensors used in digital cameras, security cameras and micro-display devices, Sony said. Wafer processing operations on the lower levels of the building were “restarted sequentially” beginning Thursday and plant utilization has been “increasing gradually,” it said. “Other processes, including testing and assembly, which are back-end processes and are located on the upper levels of the building, were restarted gradually beginning in the middle of May.”