In a recent interview Leica confirmed that the sensor inside the Q Typ 116 camera is not made by Sony or CMOSIS. So, who is the manufacturer of this sensor? One very plausible option is TowerJazz – an Israeli semiconductor manufacturer with tight relations to Panasonic who has produced sensors for CMOSIS in the past. Here are some interesting links/quotes:
“Our top five customers excluding Panasonic grew a 11% in revenue second quarter over the first quarter this year, with the next grouping of customers 6 through 10 having grown at 14% quarter-over-quarter, an extremely strong annualized rate. We are currently experiencing very, very strong customer demand.” (source: TowerJazz latest earnings call)
“We have won another customer for the very high end photography market in our 12-inch Fab.” (TowerJazz during their Q2 financial report)
TowerJazz Talks about Panasonic CIS Process (source).
TowerJazz has already produced 12MP CMOS image sensors for CMOSIS – the sensor supplier for the Leica M 240 (source).
Another headline from 2013: “Panasonic said in talks to sell three chip plants to TowerJazz“.
49% of TowerJazz is owned by Panasonic Corporation. They have three manufacturing facilities in Hokuriku, Japan (source).
TowerJazz and Panasonic announced a joint venture in 2014 (source).
And finally, a comment from photozone.de forum member:
“I join a camera & lens review talk group in China, there is a guy who have been working in Sony semiconductor told us Leica Q`s structure & looking is designed by Leica, its electronic system came from Panasonic, the Summilux lens was designed by Konica Minolta and produced by Panasonic. The CMOS is designed by Tower-Jazz Panasonic an new Israeli semiconductor company with 49% Panasonic share, and the foundry is STMicroelectronics same foundry with Leica M 240.”
Some of the links above were submitted by Kevin Purcell in this blog comment.
