Sony said to be in talks to buy Toshiba's image sensor business

Tokyo

SONY Corp is looking to expand on its dominant position in making the chips used to capture smartphone pictures, as president Kazuo Hirai makes progress in his turnaround effort at the Japanese consumer electronics maker.

The company is in talks with Toshiba Corp to acquire its image sensor business for 20 billion yen (S$230.4 million), said people familiar with the negotiations. The Tokyo-based manufacturers are close to a deal that may be announced as early as this week, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Toshiba is seeking to raise cash after an accounting scandal that cut about US$1.3 billion off profit reported over almost seven years.