TOKYO -- As predicted by Circuits Assembly last year, following its promotion of entertainment guru Howard Stringer Sony Corp. has upped outsourcing of its electronics products. It recently signed a deal with Premier Image Technology of Taiwan, and is reportedly  in talks with other Taiwanese companies, including Ability Enterprise Co., Asia Optical Co., and Altek. A decision is expected by March.

Altek also builds product for Kodak and HP. Asia Optical builds for Olympus, and Ability makes digital cameras for Samsung and Casio. 

Sanyo is leading digital camera vendor, shipping some 13 million units this year.