The move comes as part of Sony's plan to invest USD5.4 billion (600 billion yen) in imaging sensors over the next three years through March 2021. Japan's multinational conglomerate, Sony Corp. has recently revealed plans to assign 40% of its new engineer hires in Japan to its chip business, including the imaging sensors unit, over the next two years as it looks for growth from new applications ranging from cars to smartphones. Reports from Channel NewsAsia claim that the allocation comes in line with the firm's plans to pour USD5.4 billion (600 billion yen) in imaging sensors in the next three years through March 2021, or half of the group's planned capital expenditures. For the record, Sony has control over half of the smartphones-based imaging sensor market, while the sensor business remains the key driver for the conglomerate which, in its prime, leads the world's consumer electronic market. Sources claim that investors are keenly looking forward for the company's forthcoming profit pillar as its gaming business has seemingly slowed down in the recent years, with popular gaming console PlayStation 4 (PS4) nearing the end of its lifecycle. Moreover, the company recently reduced its annual profit benchmark for imaging sensors to 130 billion-yen, accounting for only 15% of the firm's overall profit, due to sliding smartphone demand across the globe. Chip manufacturers have continued to uphold their long-term investment plans as they wait for new technology such as 5G communication networks and artificial intelligence (AI) to fuel growth in the industry. For instance, South Korean memory semiconductorsupplier, SK Hynix Inc. recently said it would spend USD107 billion for setting up four memory chip factories in South Korea starting 2022. Sources suggest that Sony with this recent move will hire 320 new engineers annually in Japan starting 2019, up from 250 in 2018, and these figures do not include hiring done for its overseas units.