In 2015, Japan's Kyushu had 892 semiconductor-related companies, of which 360 were semiconductor equipment players, 248 semiconductor component players and 185 semiconductor manufacturers. Within these companies, 391 were located in Kyushu's Fukuoka Prefecture, while 176 were located in Kumamoto Prefecture and 109 in Oita Prefecture. All were major disaster sites of the earthquake in April 16-17.

In terms of product shipment proportions, CMOS image sensor (CIS) products had the highest percentage in 2015.

Prior to the earthquake, Sony expected its CIS sales to grow a single-digit percentage on year in fiscal 2015, but the earthquake, which caused many of its plants in Kyushu to halt operations, may hurt the final numbers.

Sony's plants in Nagasaki and Oita stopped operations on April 15-16 and will resume in a few days after inspections, but the company's plants in Kumamoto are still unable to resume which could create supply issues for Apple and its China-based handset clients.

Because of Sony CIS solutions are highly customized, clients may have difficulties shifting orders to other suppliers in the short term. Switching orders to other suppliers will cause 2-3 month delays before they receive products.

With Apple's smartphone shipments expected to be impacted, Taiwan component suppliers that rely heavily on Apple's orders are also expected to see their performances influenced.

Sony's CIS shortage issue may benefit the second-largest CIS supplier worldwide, Samsung Electronics.

Currently, Sony has a share of over 40% in terms of sales in the worldwide CIS market. Apple and many China-based vendors have adopted Sony's CIS solutions for their high-end smartphones.

Sony's plants in Kumamoto, Nagasaki and Oita Prefectures are the company's major CIS production sites. Sony also recently acquired Toshiba's 12-inch wafer foundry in Oita Prefecture and plans to use the site to manufacture Internet of Things (IoT) and car sensor chips.

Sony is one Japan-based semiconductor maker that is still able to maintain revenues growth, and its CIS business contributes over 70% of the semiconductor business group's revenues. Sony's revenues from CIS products grew strongly by 42% on year in its fiscal 2014 (April 2014-March 2015) thanks to strong demand from Apple and China smartphone players.