The semiconductor division of Korea-based firm Dongbu HiTek has announced that it has begun shipping two-Mpixel CMOS image sensor chips to fabless imaging solutions company SETi.
Aiming to meet the rising demand for 2-Mpixel camera phones in developing nations, Dongbu Hitek also plans to ship 3 and 5-Mpixel versions by early next year.
Joon Hwang, executive vice-president of Dongbu HiTek, commented: "Price competition for CIS chips is getting fiercer, especially in the Chinese market.
"To sharpen our competitive edge, we are maximizing useful die per wafer by driving the highest quality levels and minimizing the chip size."
According to industry analyst iSuppli, the global image sensor market is set to grow almost two-fold from $4.2 billion (£2.5 billion) to $8.2 billion (£4.9 billion) by 2013.
Dongbu HiTek recently announced that it had begun volume production of 128Mb flash memory devices in a joint development with Eon Silicon Solution.