Tokyo, Japan: Toshiba is preparing to sell its image sensor operations to Sony in a deal estimated at around $165 million, reports said Saturday.

The move would mark Toshiba's effective withdrawal from producing image sensors used for smartphones and other devices, Kyodo News said.

The step comes as the Japanese engineering conglomerate attempts to restructure itself after a damaging billion-dollar accounting scandal.

The reported deal, estimated around 20 billion yen ($165 million), could include sales of production facilities in southern Japan and lay-offs of thousands of workers, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The move could give Sony a firmer position as global leader in image sensors used in smartphones and other camera-equipped electronics, the Nikkei business daily said.

Toshiba was expected to officially announce the move in the coming week, Jiji Press said.

The reports came as Toshiba faces loud shareholder calls to change its corporate culture in which bosses routinely told their subordinates to hide poor financial results for years.

Earlier this year, Toshiba admitted having systematically inflated profits by about $1.2 billion since the 2008 global financial crisis.

The scandal prompted an incumbent president and seven other top executives to resign after the company-hired panel found top management complicit in a years-long scheme to pad profits.