By Wen-Yee Lee

(Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Sony Semiconductor Solutions said on Friday ‌they plan to form a new joint venture ‌in Japan to develop and manufacture next-generation image sensors.

The venture will combine ​Sony’s sensor design expertise with TSMC’s manufacturing and process technology strengths, deepening a long-standing partnership of the two companies.

It will be majority-owned by Sony, and will set up development and ‌production lines in ⁠the Japanese company's new fabrication plant in Koshi City in the Kumamoto region.

The companies said ⁠they had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding and were discussing potential investments by the joint venture, subject to a ​definitive agreement ​and customary closing conditions.

The investments, ​along with new capital ‌spending by Sony at its existing plant in Nagasaki, would be phased according to market demand, on the premise of support from the Japanese government, the companies added in their statements.

The partnership will also explore opportunities in physical artificial ‌intelligence applications such as automotive ​and robotics, they said.

Sony has previously ​said it is open ​to bringing in external investment partners for ‌its chip business, as it ​highlights the necessity ​of investing in manufacturing.

Both companies already have a separate joint venture, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), set up ​in 2021 and ‌majority-owned by TSMC. JASM's first fab plant in Japan ​started volume production in late 2024.

(Reporting by Wen-Yee ​Lee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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