Seiko Epson Corporation
Seiko Epson Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of information equipment. It operates through the following segments: Information Equipment, Device and Precision Products, and Others. The Information Equipment segment offers inkjet printers, page printers, serial impact dot matrix printers, large-format inkjet printers, color image scanners, mini printers, point-of-sale systems printers, projectors, projector panels, label writers, and personal computers. The Device and Precision Products segment offers crystal units, crystal oscillators, quartz sensors, complementary metal-oxide semiconductor large scale integration products, watches, watch movements, plastic corrective lenses, precision industrial robots, integrated circuit handlers, and industrial inkjet equipment. The Others segment engages in the intra-group services and small-and medium-sized liquid crystal display. The company was founded on May 18, 1942 and is headquartered in Suwa, Japan.
Seiko Epson develops, manufactures, marketing, and servicing of information equipment (inkjet printers, scanners, POS system products, LCD projectors, etc.), electronic devices (small- and medium-size LCD displays, semiconductors, crystal devices, etc.), precision instruments (watches, plastic eyeglass lenses, FA equipment, etc.), and other productsWed Sep 23, 2009: Sony to acquire the loss-making small and medium-sized LCD operations of Seiko Epson. The panel assets that will be transferred to Sony include output facilities for amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) LCDs, known as low-cost displays, and intellectual property rights for low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCDs, which offer better picture quality. Sony focuses on low-temperature polysilicon TFT LCDs in the small and medium-sized category, and the addition of amorphous silicon TFT LCDs is expected to strengthen its operations as a panel supplier as well as a maker of mobile devices with displays, such as cellphones and digital cameras.
October 25, 2006: OMRON Corporation (TSE: 6645; ADR: OMRNY; 'OMRON'), a global leader in automation, sensing and control technology, announced that it has reached a preliminary agreement to acquire the semiconductor business assets of Seiko Epson's consolidated subsidiary, Yasu Semiconductor Corporation. OMRON develops, manufactures, and markets custom ICs that offer functionality and cost-performance not found in general-purpose semiconductors, as well as MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) products such as flow sensors and pressure sensors that utilize semiconductor processes in their manufacture. OMRON's semiconductor-related sales for fiscal 2005 were 6.6 billion yen. The acquisition of the business assets resulting from this preliminary agreement is aimed at further reinforcing these semiconductor operations, while strengthening the OMRON Group's line of semiconductor-equipped products.
In 1973 Seiko-Epson introduced the 06LC watch, the first LCD watch to reach the market. The 06LC digital watch was received even more favorably by the market than had been expected. And despite initial concerns about the display's reliability, not one watch was returned due to a faulty display panel. Since then, LCD watches became a great success. After a few years prices became lower and lots of different functions were developed transforming them into a 80s icon.