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Sony Group has agreed to form a joint venture with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to produce next-generation image sensors for smartphones.

Taiwan ‌chipmaker TSMC ​said on Tuesday it ‌will ⁠invest 282 billion ⁠yen ($1.77 billion) ​in ​a ​joint ‌venture with Sony Group to ‌develop ​and ​make ​next-generation ‌image sensors. ($1 = 159.3300 ​yen) (Reporting ​by ​Ben Blanchard; ‌Editing ​by Andrew ​Heavens)

Asian shares skidded Friday, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 down 5% as heavy selling of computer chipmakers and other AI-related shares dragged markets lower. Stocks related to artificial intelligence have been under pressure for weeks because of worries that their prices have shot too high and that voracious demand for computer memory and processors may not be sustainable if AI ends up not producing as much profit and productivity as promised. Oil prices surged as fighting in the Middle East intensified, while U.S. futures slipped.

IBM on Thursday unveiled what it said was the world's first technology capable of producing chips smaller than ‌one nanometer, as tech companies race to build semiconductors that can handle increasingly ‌demanding AI workloads. The new chip technology, which bolsters IBM's ‌position to compete with contract ⁠chipmakers TSMC and Intel, has a transistor architecture of 0.7 nanometers, or 7 angstroms. Last week, Intel said the new generation of its 18A manufacturing ⁠process, which makes 1.8 nanometer chips, moved into risk production, the testing phase before commercial manufacturing.

The majority Sony-owned venture will set up production lines in Kumamoto Prefecture, with potential Japanese government backing

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Sony Semiconductor Solutions said on Friday ‌they plan to form a new joint venture ‌in Japan to develop and manufacture next-generation image sensors. The venture will combine ​Sony’s sensor design expertise with TSMC’s manufacturing and process technology strengths, deepening a long-standing partnership of the two companies. It will be majority-owned by Sony, and will set up development and ‌production lines in ⁠the Japanese company's new fabrication plant in Koshi City in the Kumamoto region.