Sony CEO shoots down rumors regarding sale of their mobile business, in-house chipset

Last month, Sony CEO Kazou Hirai talked about the company’s willingness to “consider alternative options” if their mobile business didn’t see profit in 2016. Some interested parties read into this somewhat vague statement that Sony was considering selling their mobile business entirely. In an interview this week, the CEO affirmed that Sony has no intention of making such a sale, and he also put rumors to rest regarding the possibility of Sony making their own chipset in-house.

Speculations that Sony would be entering the chip market have their origins in an article from Digitimes, which noted that such a maneuver by Sony would let the Tokyo tech titan snag a piece of the market currently competed for by Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Spreadtrum Communications. Since Sony kind of has a tendency to keep their projects under wraps, the idea that such a complex venture might be under way really wasn’t that much of a stretch.

Kazuro Hirai put the kibosh on these rumors in a interview this week in China. He denied any alleged plans for Sony chipsets, and in regards to the idea that the mobile division of the company may be up for sale in the next two years, the CEO stuck with the statements made by Sony back in July that Sony Mobile “will never ever sell or exit from the current mobile business.”

Whatever “alternative options” the company is considering will have to be pretty revolutionary. Sony has been struggling for almost the last decade, with previously lucrative markets like their television sales getting undercut by Korean competitors. Their mobile division has had an especially rocky time, and the company as a whole has already undergone multiple restructurings and cutbacks.

The plan that Kazuro Hirai identified in the interview included further restructuring, with trims to production costs increasing profits and an expanding line of products garnering more sales.