Kyocera Corp (KYOCF)

Kyocera Corp is a joint stock corporation incorporated under the laws of Japan in 1959 with the name Kyoto Ceramic Kabushiki Kaisha. Its name was changed to Kyocera Kabushiki Kaisha (or Kyocera Corporation) in 1982. Its business originally consisted of the manufacture of ceramic parts for electronic equipment. In the 1960s, it expanded its business and technology horizontally into the design and production of fine ceramic parts, ceramic integrated circuit (IC) packages and electronic components. In the 1970s, it began to produce applied ceramic products, including cutting tools, ceramic parts for medical and dental uses, jewelry and solar energy products. In 1982, it merged with Cybernet Electronics Corporation, a telecommunications equipment manufacturer in which it had made an equity investment three years earlier. The Company is engaged in numerous high-tech fields, from fine ceramic components to electronic devices, equipment, services and networks. The Company operates in seven reporting segments: (1) Fine Ceramic Parts Group, (2) Semiconductor Parts Group, (3) Applied Ceramic Products Group, (4) Electronic Device Group, (5) Telecommunications Equipment Group, (6) Information Equipment Group, and (7) Others. Products in Fine Ceramic Parts Group are widely used in the industrial machinery, information and communications equipment, computing, automotive and various other industrial sectors. These products are made from a variety of ceramic materials, such as alumina as well as zirconia, utilizing their characteristics of heat and corrosion resistance. In Semiconductor Parts Group the Company develops, manufactures and sells both inorganic (ceramic) and organic packages and substrates for various electronic components and devices such as crystal components, SAW devices and CMOS/CCD sensors, and for communication infrastructures and computers. The Applied Ceramic Products Group consists of four product lines through applying fine ceramic technologies: Solar Energy Products, Cutting Tools, Medical and Dental Implants, Jewelry and Applied Ceramic Related Products. Kyocera develops, manufactures and sells solar modules, solar generating system for commercial and residential uses, cutting tools used in metal processing in industrial manufacturing, medical and dental implant products including prosthetic joints and dental prosthetics, and recrystallized jewelry and applied ceramic related products such as kitchen accessories. The Electronic Device Group develops, manufactures and sells electronic components and devices such as capacitors, SAW devices, crystal components, and connectors mainly for information and communication market and liquid crystal displays mainly for industrial machinery and automotive markets. The Telecommunications Equipment Group develops, manufactures and sells mobile phones such as smartphones and feature phones for Japan and the U.S. and PHS handsets and base stations for Japan. Its key sales destinations are KDDI Corporation, SoftBank Mobile Corp., eAccess Ltd. in Japan and Sprint Corporation in the U.S. The Information Equipment Group develops, manufactures and sells page printers and multifunctional products. Its equipment is marketed under the "ECOSYS" concept, which focuses on attaining the characteristics of long life cycle and lower running cost, and uses amorphous silicon photoreceptor drums developed by Kyocera Corporation. Kyocera also provides document solution services globally for optimizing customers' document imaging environments through providing business applications that seamlessly integrate with IT systems, including mobile devices and the cloud computing systems. In Others segment the Company provides the information and communications business and develops, manufactures and sells materials for semiconductors and chemical materials.