Sony buys Toshiba out of the sensor business for $155 million

Sony has purchased Toshiba's image sensor business for 19 billion yen, or around $155 million, confirming rumors from October. It recently re-organized its sensor division into a wholly-owned subsidiary called the Sony Semiconductor Corporation. The move will bolster the new company and remove Toshiba as a primary competitor in the smartphone and camera image sensor business. Sony manufacturers such chips for its own smartphones along with models by the likes of Apple and Xiaomi. Its chips are also used in DSLRs made by Nikon and its own Alpha models.

Toshiba was recently hit with a massive accounting scandal, and decided to exit from several of its businesses to raise cash. It's reportedly considering a merger with Japanese firms Fujitsu and Vaio and possibly selling a share of its profitable memory chip business. The company will transfer its CMOS fabrication facilities and approximately 1,100 employees to Sony by March 31st, 2016. So far, there's no word of any potential layoffs.