is a multinational manufacturer based in Kyoto,
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It was founded as in 1959 by
Kazuo InamoriKazuo Inamori is a philanthropist, Japanese entrepreneur and the founder of Kyocera Corporation and KDDI Corporation.- Biography :...
and renamed in 1982. The company has diversified its founding technology in ceramic materials through internal development as well as strategic mergers and acquisitions. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommunications equipment, office document imaging equipment, electronic components, semiconductor packages, cutting tools, and components for medical and dental implant systems.
History
Kyocera’s original product was a ceramic insulator known as a “kelcima” for use in television picture tubes. The company quickly adapted its technologies to produce an expanding range of ceramic components for electronic and structural applications. In the 1960s, as the NASA space program, the birth of Silicon Valley and the advancement of computer technology created demand for semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs), Kyocera developed ceramic semiconductor packages that remain among its core product lines today.
In the mid-1970s, Kyocera began expanding its material technologies to produce a diverse range of applied ceramic products, including solar photovoltaic modules; biocompatible tooth- and joint-replacement systems; industrial cutting tools; consumer ceramics, such as ceramic-bladed kitchen knives and ceramic-tipped ballpoint pens; and lab-grown gemstones, including rubies, emeralds, sapphires, opals, alexandrites and padparadschahs.
The company acquired electronic equipment manufacturing and radio communication technologies in 1979 through an investment in Cybernet Electronics Corp., which was merged into Kyocera in 1982. Shortly afterward, Kyocera introduced one of the first portable, battery-powered laptop computers, sold in the U.S. as the Tandy Model 100, which featured an LCD screen and telephone-modem data transfer capability.
Kyocera gained optical technologies by acquiring
YashicaYashica was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras.-History:The company began in December, 1949 in Nagano, Japan, when the Yashima Seiki Company was founded with an initial investment of $566. Its eight employees originally manufactured components for electric clocks...
Co., Ltd. in 1983, along with Yashica's prior licensing agreement with Carl Zeiss, and manufactured film and digital cameras under the Kyocera, Yashica and
ContaxContax was a camera brand noted for its unique technical innovation and a wide range of Zeiss lenses, noted for their high optical quality. Its final incarnation was a line of 35 mm, medium format and digital cameras engineered and manufactured by Kyocera, and featuring modern Zeiss optics...
trade names until 2005, when the company discontinued all film and digital camera production.
In the 1980s, Kyocera marketed audio components, such as CD players, receivers,
turntablesThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
, and
cassette deckA cassette deck is a type of tape recorder for playing or recording audio compact cassettes. A deck was formerly distinguished from a recorder as being part of a stereo component system, while a recorder had a self-contained power amplifier...
s. These featured unique elements, including Kyocera ceramic-based platforms, and are sought by collectors to the present day. At one time, Kyocera owned the famous
KLHKLH is an audio company founded in 1957 as KLH Research and Development Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, by Henry Kloss, Malcolm S. Low, and J. Anton Hoffman originally to produce loudspeakers. KLH had sales of $17 million, employed over 500 people and sold over 30,000...
brand founded by
Henry KlossHenry Kloss was a prominent American audio engineer and businessman who helped advance high fidelity loudspeaker and radio receiver technology beginning in the 1950s. Kloss was an undergraduate student in physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology , but never received a degree...
, though Kloss and the original
CambridgeCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
design and engineering staff had left the company by the time of the Kyocera purchase. In 1989, Kyocera stopped production of audio components and sought a buyer for the KLH brand.
In 1989, Kyocera acquired Elco Corporation, a manufacturer of electronic connectors. In 1990, Kyocera’s global operations expanded significantly with the addition of
AVX CorporationAVX Corporation , a 71 percent owned subsidiary of Kyocera Electronics Corporation, is a manufacturer of electronic components headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina. It is the largest industrial employer in Horry County, South Carolina, with almost 1000 workers in Myrtle Beach and Conway. AVX...
, a global manufacturer of passive electronic components, such as ceramic chip capacitors, filters and voltage suppressors.
Expanding sales of photovoltaic solar energy products led the company to create Kyocera Solar Corp. in Japan in 1996, and Kyocera Solar, Inc. in the U.S. in 1999.
In January 2000, Kyocera acquired photocopier manufacturer Mita Industrial Co., Ltd., and created Kyocera Mita Corporation, headquartered in Osaka, Japan, with subsidiaries in more than 25 nations.
Also in 2000, Kyocera acquired the mobile phone manufacturing operations of QUALCOMM Incorporated to form Kyocera Wireless Corp. In 2003, Kyocera Wireless Corp. established Kyocera Wireless India (KWI), a mobile phone subsidiary in Bangalore. KWI has established alliances with several leading players providing CDMA services in India.
In 2008, Kyocera completed a merger with
Sanyois a major electronics company and member of the Fortune 500 whose headquarters is located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo targets the middle of the market and has over 230 Subsidiaries and Affiliates....
Electric Co., Ltd. (Sanyo), acquiring Sanyo's global mobile phone business and its associated operations in Japan, the U.S., and Canada.
In April 2009, Kyocera announces the EOS phone, with an OLED and is powered by kinetic energy from the user. This prototype was unveiled at
CTIACTIA may refer to:* Color Television Interface Adaptor, a custom chip inside early Atari 8-bit computers* CTIA – The Wireless Association* Cape Town International Airport...
. The phone also has a foldable design which is capable of morphing into a variety of shapes.
Solar cells
Kyocera Corporation has announced a plan to increase its multicrystalline silicon
solar cellA solar cell is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect....
production to 1,000 megawatts (MW) per year by March 31, 2013, more than tripling its 2008 output of 290 MW. The company will reinforce its production bases in Japan, Mexico, Europe and China, investing about ¥50 billion through March 31, 2012 as part of the expansion. Through this production enhancement, Kyocera looks to meet increasing demand across the world for solar cells.
Kyocera's solar panels will be an option available on the new
Toyota PriusThe Toyota Prius is a full hybrid electric mid-size hatchback, formerly a compact sedan developed and manufactured by the Toyota Motor Corporation...
.
Kyocera Solar has said that it will begin manufacturing solar modules in San Diego, California, to meet the US market's demand for clean energy. The company aims for a global production capacity of 1GW of solar cells per year by March 2013.
Advanced ceramics
Advanced Ceramics are carefully engineered materials in which the chemical composition has been precisely adjusted using refined or synthesized raw powder, with a well-controlled method of forming and sintering.
Satellite phones
In the past, Kyocera manufactured
satellite phoneA satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites...
s for the Iridium network. Three handsets were released in 1999 including one with an unusual docking station which contained the Iridium transceiver and antenna, as well as a
pagerA pager is a simple personal telecommunications device for short messages. A one-way numeric pager can only receive a message consisting of a few digits, typically a phone number that the user is then requested to call...
for the Iridium network.
Mobile phones
Kyocera acquired the terminal business of US digital communications technology company
QualcommQualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...
in February 2000, and became a major supplier of mobile handsets. In 2008, Kyocera also took over the handset business of
Sanyois a major electronics company and member of the Fortune 500 whose headquarters is located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo targets the middle of the market and has over 230 Subsidiaries and Affiliates....
. The Kyocera terminal division is located in San Diego.
Printers, Multi-Function Devices & Multi-Function Printers (Print, Copy, Scan, Fax)
Kyocera Mita Corporation manufactures a wide range of printers, MFPs (also marketed under the Copystar name), and toner cartridges which are sold throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas.
Soccer sponsorship
The company is currently the shirt sponsor of the soccer club Kyoto Sanga F.C. of the J-League (its hometown team; here the words "Kyocera" are written in Japanese, everywhere else is the Latinized logo).
Kyocera also sponsors the stadium for
Borussia MönchengladbachBorussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...
in the Bundesliga, the stadium for Atlético Paranaense in Brazil, the stadium for
ADO Den HaagAlles Door Oefening Den Haag , commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag , is a Dutch football club from the city of The Hague. The club was for a time known as FC Den Haag , with ADO representing the amateur branch of the club...
in the Netherlands, and its insignia appears on the back of Atlético Madrid's shirts.
See also
- Kyoto Prize
The has been awarded annually since 1985 by the Inamori Foundation, founded by Kazuo Inamori. The prize is a Japanese award similar in intent to the Nobel Prize, as it recognizes outstanding works in the fields of philosophy, arts, science and technology...
- Taito Corporation
The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....
- List of digital camera brands
- KDDI
is a Japanese telecommunications operator formed in October 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp., KDD Corp., and IDO Corp. It has its headquarters in the Garden Air Tower in Iidabashi, Chiyoda, Tokyo....
- Willcom
is a Japanese PHS operator, offering flat-rate wireless network data transmission and flat-rate voice calls for its subscribers.The company was formerly known as DDI Pocket, a subsidiary of KDDI. In 2004, the Carlyle Group acquired a majority stake from KDDI and changed the name of the company in...
External links