Bookending my summer vacation, in early August, I visited Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation's (SCK) Nagasaki and Kumamoto Technology Centers (TEC) for the first time in a year, while in late August I attended the International Business Council (IBC) Summer Meeting 2019, a global meeting hosted by the World Economic Forum, which holds its annual meeting in Davos each year.

■ First Visits to Nagasaki/Kumamoto in One Year

My visits to Nagasaki TEC and Kumamoto TEC in Kyushu were my first in almost exactly one year. Kumamoto TEC primarily develops and produces CMOS image sensors for smartphones, and demand for these sensors is on the rise as the smartphone industry transitions towards multiple lens and large sensor cameras. To help meet this demand, Nagasaki TEC's Fab1 facility has converted its 200mm wafer production line to support 300mm wafers, and during this visit I had an exclusive opportunity to visit the upper and lower levels of the clean room. Since these levels are not a part of the clean room itself, a clean room suit is not required when entering.

Viewing the newly converted 300mm clean room on the fourth floor of the Fab 1
building alongside Oota-san, Representative of Nagasaki TEC.

The level above the clean room contains facilities that control the humidity and temperature within the clean room. During this visit, I also learned that the lower level contains the vacuum pumps that serve as processing facilities for silicon wafers as well as the photolithographic laser emitters used for creating the wafers' circuit patterns.

In the upper level of the clean room, Kawashita-san, Senior General Manager Facility Division,
explains how fan filter units (FFU) are used to humidify purified air to the desired level.
This air is then supplied to the clean room.

Examining the exposure machine's laser light source in the clean room's lower level.

During my visit, I also looked over the preparations underway to expand CMOS image sensor production capacity - an area which we plan to invest in to meet anticipated demand increases in the future.

Some of our aging facilities are being dismantled in preparation for future expansion.

During my subsequent visit to Kumamoto TEC, Shimizu-san, who is President of Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS) and SCK, joined me and we were briefed on the state of development of CMOS image sensors for automotive use, as well as other components and devices that utilize silicon wafers, including LCD display devices for projectors (SXRD) and OLED micro-displays (M-OLED).

■ Imaging & Sensing Solutions' Japan Factories

In addition to Nagasaki and Kumamoto, Sony's primary R&D and production facilities for image and sensing sensors are located in Yamagata, Oita, Kagoshima, and Shiroishi Zao (Miyagi Prefecture). Among our semiconductor manufacturing facilities, the only one I have yet to visit is Shiroishi Zao TEC, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in November this year, and I intend to make my way there in the near future. Shiroishi Zao TEC develops and produces semiconductor lasers, and this technology will be an essential component of smartphone sensing that is used in applications such as facial recognition, as well as active sensing in the age of autonomous driving.

■ Imaging/Sensing as Technologies that "Get Closer to People"

The imaging and sensing technologies of SSS, SCK, and Sony LSI Design used in products including Sony's α digital SLR cameras, smartphones, autonomous vehicles, and more play the role of, and even surpass the capacities of the human eye. In so doing, they extend creators' creativity and contribute towards safety and reliability. Imaging and sensing are among our core technologies, and this is an area we expect to continue to grow in the future. Through the embedding of AI and other initiatives, I would like us to further refine these technologies that aligns with our corporate direction of "getting closer to people" and challenge ourselves to transforming our imaging and sensing solutions business into an original solutions business while further strengthening our existing B2B business.

For more on these visits, please take a look at this article on Inter Sony Global

■ International Business Council (IBC) Summer Meeting 2019

Many of you will already be aware of the annual Davos meeting held by the World Economic Forum, which brings together business, political, academic, and social leaders from around the globe. This was my first year taking part in IBC Summer 2019, a subcommittee meeting held by the WEF, attended by the world's CEOs and management community. The IBC Summer Meeting is held not in Davos, but at the WEF's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and this year's two-day event was attended by approximately 50 business leaders.

Group Picture with IBC Participants
At WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab's residence,
located next to WEF headquarters (Click to enlarge)

The theme of the forthcoming Davos conference in January 2020 is "Act for Impact," and in preparation for this, the Summer Meeting focused on what the business world can do to address and provide leadership for key societal issues. The first day included a panel session featuring Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, Germany's former Minister of Defense and the first woman to assume the position of President of the European Commission. During the first day of the meeting, the seat next to me was occupied by Al Gore, the former US Vice President and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as an environmentalist.

	WEF's headquarters

In addition to discussions about political and economic conditions in each country and region, there was also spirited debate regarding the necessity of up-skilling and re-skilling of talent amid technological change and increasing life spans, responses to and the sense of urgency surrounding climate change, and awareness of mounting regulations surrounding the usage of AI. I was deeply impressed at how the discussions focused not on individual companies and their activities, but rather on the shape and direction that the business community as a whole should take in the face of these numerous and substantial societal issues. Another fruitful result of this meeting was that I had the opportunity to interact face to face with many of Europe's most prominent business leaders.

Sony is engaged in wide variety of businesses around the globe. It is precisely at these times of global uncertainty, that I feel there is even more to be gained from proactively attending such meetings and exchanging views with others. I will continue to explore and value such opportunities for exchange and learnings from engagement with the outside community.