Murata's Capacitors & TDK's Inductors + Toray

choi

Juro Ozawa, Meet the Mobile Arms Dealers; TDK, Murata Thrive by Supplying Components to Apple, Samsung. Wall Street Journal, Feb 21, 2013 (title in print).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 13540770636244.html

Quote:

"Japan's component sector, led by Murata and TDK, has stayed competitive [in contrast to consumer electronics manufacturers, such as Sony]

"Kyoto-based Murata is the world's largest maker of ceramic capacitors and wireless communication modules, while Tokyo-based TDK is the leading global supplier of inductors. Capacitors and inductors are widely used in electrical circuits. Murata holds 35% to 40% of the global market for ceramic capacitors, followed by South Korea's Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co with 20% to 25%, according to an estimate by Jefferies analyst Masahiro Wakasugi.

"Advanced smartphones today use more than 600 ceramic capacitors for each handset—about triple the amount used in traditional cellphones—and each capacitor needs to be as tiny as possible * * * Murata holds roughly 70% of the market for the smallest ceramic capacitors now available on the market, the kind used in the iPhone 5, according to an estimate by Barclays Capital analyst Masaru Koshita.

"In the 1980s and '90s, when Japanese electronics brands dominated the global market, the majority of Murata's clients were domestic, according to the company. Today, Japanese clients account for a little more than 20% of its client base.

My comment:
(a) Akira MURATA 村田 昭 started Murata Manufacturing Co, Inc  株式会社 村田製作所 at Kyoto during the war (October 1844) and made (ceramic) insulators. Ja.wikipedia.org
(b) TDK Corporation TDK株式会社
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TDK
("TDK" is an acronym of the [former] name of the company: Tokyo Denkikagaku Kogyo, 東京電気化学工業 株式会社 (English: Tokyo Electronics and Chemicals); founded in Tokyo in 1935 to manufacture iron-based magnetic material ferrite, which had been recently invented by [two Japanese])
(c) When I read the print title, I did not know what "mobile" meant> After wondering a while, I settled for "roaming." But the online title substitues "smartphone" for "mobile" and retains every other word, making the meaning unambiguious.
(d) Before reading the text, view the graphic first to appreciate how much Murata has shrunk the size of its ceramic capacitoras.
(e) names:
(i) Masahiro WAKASUGI: the surname is 若杉
(ii) "Murata Vice President Hiroshi IWATSUBO"  岩坪 浩
   
* tsubo 坪 【つぼ】 (n): "unit of land measurement; 3.95 square yards; 3.31 square meters"
(iii) Masaru KOSHITA: I can not find his Japanese name
(iv) "TDK Senior Vice President Seiji OSAKA"  常務執行役員 逢坂　清治