Mitsubishi Electric And Sony Semiconductor To Create Joint Venture For AI Vision Sensors In Manufacturing

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation have signed a definitive agreement for a strategic partnership to accelerate the automation and sophistication of manufacturing equipment and manual processes across industry. The companies will set up a new joint venture, Advanced Vision Solutions Co., Ltd., expected to commence operations in October 2026 once all required clearances are obtained.

Through the JV, the partners intend to deliver vision-sensor solutions that run AI analysis directly on image sensors. These systems are designed to capture conditions and changes across diverse production environments that have been hard to visualise, link insights to decision-making and control, and support automation and autonomous operation of a wide array of equipment, contributing to labour-saving and unmanned production.

The collaboration will fuse Sony's industry-leading image sensors and edge-AI capabilities with Mitsubishi Electric's long-standing know-how in factory-automation (FA) control systems. The aim is to capture detailed information on production sites, product quality, equipment status and maintenance that has been difficult to fully grasp, extract what matters efficiently, and connect it to appropriate decisions and subsequent control. This is expected to enable timely, autonomous improvements aligned to equipment and operating conditions with minimal human intervention. By integrating vision data with other shop-floor data, the JV also plans to advance multimodal production systems that detect changes and early warning signs not identifiable from a single data source, driving the uptake of physical AI in FA and offering solutions usable without specialist optics or AI expertise.

"Mitsubishi Electric has long provided a wide range of FA equipment to customers, primarily in the manufacturing sector," said Takayuki Tsuzuki, Executive Officer (Associate); Group President, Factory Automation Systems at Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. "Today, the need for labor-saving, unmanned systems and autonomous optimization at production sites is greater than ever. Through this partnership with Sony Semiconductor Solutions, we will develop AI vision sensors as a new core component and build a new FA digital solutions business by integrating vision data with our digital platform, 'Serendie™.' Furthermore, by realizing advanced autonomous control with physical AI and other applications, we aim to provide new value to customers and address social challenges such as labor shortages."

"Sony has contributed to solving challenges and creating new value across a wide range of industries by accurately capturing real-world information through edge-AI sensing technologies centered on image sensors," said Shinji Sashida, President and CEO of Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation. "Image sensors, which serve as the 'eyes' that generate vision data, play an important role in enabling AI to understand on-site conditions and connect them to decision-making and control. Through this partnership with Mitsubishi Electric, which has deep expertise and a strong customer base in the FA domain, we will bring solutions that leverage our sensing technologies to the market, create value across an even broader range of industries, and further accelerate the evolution of our sensing technologies."

About the joint venture
• Company name: Advanced Vision Solutions Co., Ltd.
• Business: Development of AI-powered vision sensors and vision-sensor solutions for factory automation (FA)
• Address: 3-3-3 Minatomirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa
• Representative: Tamiki Kobayashi
• Shareholding: Mitsubishi Electric 60%, Sony Semiconductor Solutions 40%

www.MitsubishiElectric.com
www.sony-semicon.com/en/index.html