Nikon

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Corporation TYO: 7731 Tokyo, Japan Imaging

Nikon Corporation 株式会社ニコン
Corporation TYO: 7731
Founded	Tokyo, Japan (1917)
Headquarters
Key people	Michio Kariya, President, CEO & COO
Imaging
Products	Precision equipment for the semiconductor industry, Digital imaging equipment and cameras, Microscopes, Optical measuring and inspection instruments, Lenses for glasses
Revenue	¥730.9 billion (Business year ending March 31, 2006)
Employees	16,758 (Consolidated, as of March 31, 2005)
Website	Nikon Global Gateway

Nikon Corporation (株式会社ニコン, Kabushiki-gaisha Nikon?) listen (help·info) (TYO: 7731), also known as Nikon or Nikon Corp., is a Japanese company specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication. It was founded in 1917 as Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō (日本光学工業株式会社 "Japan Optical Industries"); the company was renamed Nikon Corporation, after its cameras, in 1988. Nikon is one of the major companies of the Mitsubishi Group.

The name Nikon, which dates from 1946, is a merging of Nippon Kōgaku (日本光学: "Japan Optical") and an imitation of Zeiss Ikon. Nikon is pronounced differently around the world. The Japanese pronunciation of the name is /nikoɴ/, but in the United States people also use /ˈnaɪkɒn/ and /ˈnɪkɒn/.[1]

Among its famous products are Nikkor camera lenses (notably those designed for the company's own F-mount SLR cameras), Nikonos underwater cameras, the Nikon F-series of professional 135 film SLR cameras, and the Nikon D-series digital SLRs. Nikon has helped lead the transition to digital photography with both the Coolpix line of consumer and prosumer cameras as well as DSLR system cameras like the Nikon D300, D80, D60, and D40, and professional DSLRs including the D2 series and D3 cameras (see below).

Nikon's main competitors include Canon, Kodak, Sony, Pentax, Fujifilm and Olympus.

Nikon is the world's largest manufacturer of steppers and holds 44% share of the market.

Contents

History

Nikon Corporation was established in 1917 when three leading optical manufacturers merged to form a comprehensive, fully integrated optical company known as Nippon Kogaku Kokyo K.K. Over the next 60 years this growing company became a leading manufacturer of optical lenses and precision equipment used in cameras, binoculars, microscopes and inspection equipment. During World War II the company grew to 19 factories and 23,000 employees, supplying items such as binoculars, lenses, bomb sights and periscopes to the Japanese military. After the war it reverted to its civilian product range with a single factory. In 1948, the first camera with the Nikon brand was released, the Nikon I.[2]

Nikon lenses were popularised by the American photojournalist Douglas David Duncan's use at the time of the Korean War.[3] Fitting Nikon optics to his Leica rangefinder cameras produced high contrast negatives with very sharp resolution at the centre field.

Besides cameras, Nikon Corporation (Nikon) is recognized as a world leader in development and manufacturing of advanced optical and precision photolithography equipment. In 1980, the first stepper, the NSR-1010G, was produced in Japan. Since then, Nikon has introduced over 50 models of steppers and scanners for the production of semiconductors and liquid crystal displays. Nikon currently designs and manufactures precision equipment for use in semiconductor and liquid crystal display (LCD) fabrication, inspection, and measurement. Nikon also designs and manufactures visual imaging products including cameras; instruments such as microscopes; and other products such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) systems, binoculars, surveying instruments, eyewear, sport optics, and optical measuring and inspection equipment.

In 1982, Nikon Precision Inc. (NPI) was established in the United States. NPI is the North American sales and service arm specifically for Nikon Corporation's semiconductor photolithography equipment and is headquartered in Belmont, California. Fueled by a rapidly growing customer base, the company quickly expanded. In 1990, NPI opened its current headquarters and the facility now includes corporate offices, a fully equipped world-wide training center (WWTC), service operations, applications engineering, technology engineering, quality and reliability engineering, training, technical support, sales, and marketing for Nikon equipment serving the wafer, photomask, flat panel display, and thin-film magnetic head industries. Today, NPI is an industry leader in supplying and supporting advanced photolithography equipment used in the critical stages of semiconductor manufacturing.

Nikon Corporation also has research and development operations in the U.S. under Nikon Research Corporation of America (NRCA), which directly supports R&D efforts of the Precision Equipment Division in Kumagaya, Japan. By leveraging its strong and long-standing customer relationships, global brand recognition, and technological expertise, Nikon has positioned themselves to maintain their market leadership through its emphasis on leading-edge research and development and its ability to adapt its products to meet its customers' rapidly changing needs. The Nikon brand has recently slipped behind rival Canon in total sales. Nikon, once the industry leader, has found itself playing catch up to Canon, who was quicker to market with such innovations as image stabilization and piezo-electric (ultra sonic motor) focusing.

Today, Nikon Group Companies total nearly 17,000 employees worldwide.

In January 2006, Nikon announced it would stop making most of its film camera models and all of its large format lenses, and focus on digital models[4].

In late 2007, Nikon introduced the newest product in the Nikon Immersion Solution, the NSR-S610C, which uses a proprietary technology that eliminates bubbles, watermarks, and particles generated by immersion processing. This results in defect levels to occur at a rate similar to dry scanners.[citation needed]

In an effort to curb a thriving "grey market" for its cameras and lenses[citation needed], Nikon established a wholly owned subsidiary in India in September 2007, to handle India as well as the Middle East markets (comprising Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Bahrain, Israel, Oman, Qatar and the UAE). However the prices of the products imported legally are still higher than "grey markets" products.