Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation is a Japanese company headquartered in Kikuyo-machi, Kumamoto, Japan, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, which in turn is a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Established in 1985 as the Semiconductor & Component Products Group, it was renamed Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation in 2016. As of October 2022, its parent, Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation, reported approximately 8,800 employees and JPY 1,076.4 billion in revenue for Fiscal Year 2021.
The company specializes in the process development and production of various semiconductor products. Its offerings include CCD image sensors, laser diode ICs, high-speed synchronous SRAMs, mixed-signal system ICs, optical communications ICs, TV/multimedia ICs, wireless communications ICs, and OEM lithium-ion batteries. The broader Sony Semiconductor Solutions Group focuses heavily on image sensors, which are widely used in smartphones, digital cameras, automotive applications, security systems, and industrial sectors.
Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation's patent litigation posture is that of an operating company defending against assertions. The company has no tracked cases as a plaintiff and one tracked case as a defendant. This sole case, Greenthread LLC v. Sony Group Corporation et al., is before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Greenthread LLC is identified as a patent assertion entity (NPE) that has filed multiple lawsuits against semiconductor companies over patents related to semiconductor memory products.