Kodak to Buy Imaging Business from National Semiconductor

Eastman Kodak Co. of Rochester, N.Y., recently agreed to purchase the imaging business of National Semiconductor of Santa Clara, Calif., a manufacturer of CMOS image sensor devices. According to Michael DeLuca, manager of product marketing for Kodak's Image Sensor Solutions group, the value in the purchase is the combination of their technology strengths. Although Kodak has experience in developing CMOS sensors, National Semiconductor's strength is the ability to integrate the support circuitry right onto the chip.

As part of the agreement, Kodak will acquire assets including intellectual property and equipment. It plans to hire approximately 50 employees, who will be based in a new facility in Sunnyvale, Calif., and who will be part of Image Sensor Solutions. It also will retain its CCD and CMOS fabrication facilities in Rochester.

Although Kodak has been in the high-performance CCD market for some time, DeLuca said, the purchase offers it an opportunity to move into such consumer markets as cell and video phones and other applications.