Nippon Electric Glass - Company History

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Financial history 1965–2025 — revenue, cost structure, balance sheet, cash flow and key ratios, year by year →

Founded 1944
Origin 日本電気
Founding location 滋賀県大津市
Core business at founding Glass for vacuum tubes and cathode-ray tubes
Listed 1973
President Kishimoto Satoru President since 2023 (age 63, as of 2026)
Current priority Higher value-added products · Business restructuring Shifting the core of the business to semiconductor-related and ultra-thin glass
Founding
In 1944 Nippon Electric Company set up Nippon Electric Glass as a subsidiary at Otsu in Shiga Prefecture to make its own glass for vacuum tubes and cathode-ray tubes. The post-war dissolution of the zaibatsu separated it from NEC, and in December 1949 it restarted as an independent company with ninety employees. It did not go for the large markets of architectural, automotive or bottle glass: in 1951 it brought fluorescent-lamp glass into volume production by the automatic drawing of tube glass, and in 1962 it moved vacuum-flask glass, until then mostly hand-blown, onto machines, holding a 100 per cent domestic share of it by fiscal 1985. In October 1972 the head office moved from Minato-ku, Tokyo to Otsu, Shiga; the company listed on the second sections of the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges in 1973 and was reassigned to the first sections in 1983.
The Decision
Again and again the company has put several times its capital into a single site before the market arrived. In December 1964 a firm with capital of $833,333 (¥300m) and sales of about $10.6M (¥4bn) put about $5.6M (¥2bn) into a new plant dedicated to CRT glass at Takatsuki in Shiga. In October 1987, while cathode-ray tubes were still climbing towards their earnings peak, it began producing substrate glass for TFT liquid-crystal displays; it brought the overflow process into practical use in January 2000 and placed local subsidiaries in South Korea in 2002 and Taiwan in 2003. In the year to March 2008 it recorded the best results in its history, sales of $3.6B (¥368bn) and operating profit of $976.5M (¥101bn). The three European and American glass fibre sites bought from PPG of the United States in September 2017, however, could not match the Chinese makers on price, and the Dutch subsidiary entered bankruptcy proceedings in September 2023. Capital placed ahead of the market bore fruit only in those cases where the market itself grew after the money was placed.
Today
What has grown is not sales but the profit left by each sheet of glass. In the year to December 2025 sales were $2.1B (¥311bn) and operating profit $227.9M (¥34bn) — a reversal of margins within two years of the operating loss of $74M (¥10bn) in the year to December 2023. While sales rose 11 per cent from $1.8B (¥280bn), the cost of sales fell from $1.6B (¥247bn) to $1.5B (¥231bn). In 2023 the company liquidated its two Korean LCD forming subsidiaries, took $323.4M (¥49bn) in proceeds from the sale of fixed assets including the former Fujisawa works site, and converted its melting furnaces to all-electric operation. The all-electric melting ratio in the display business went from almost nil in 2018 to most of capacity by the first half of 2025. Replacing furnaces and sites to bring costs down is what restored profit while display volumes stayed where they were.
Competition
It enters markets that already have a monopolist, and it starts from the second-supplier slot. In CRT glass, Asahi Glass held the domestic market with Corning technology of the United States, and for six years the Japanese government withheld permission for Nippon Electric Glass to license technology of its own. When entry by a second supplier was allowed in 1963, the company worked its way into the dual purchasing of Toshiba, Matsushita Electric and Sony, and by 1991 it led the domestic market with a 57 per cent share. In LCD substrate glass it brought into practical use, by a route of its own, the overflow process in which Corning had led, and by the year to March 2008 it stood second in the world. Buying PPG's three European and American glass fibre sites in 2017 was likewise an attempt to join the top two in the world in glass fibre. But as Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese makers took production in-house and prices fell, sales dropped to $1.6B (¥193bn) in the year to March 2015, close to half the peak. Entering alongside a monopolist left a profit only while the market was growing; once price took command, the same position stopped paying.

Timeline

1944–1986From tube glass to the cathode-ray tube: a niche specialty glass maker bets the company

  1. 1944Established as a subsidiary of Nippon Electric Company (NEC)
  2. 1949Restarts as an independent company, Nippon Electric Glass
  3. 1951Succeeds in the automatic drawing of tube glass
  4. 1959Fujisawa plant opened
  5. 1960Tube-glass technology licensed from Owens-Illinois
  6. 1962Production begins of Neoceram, an ultra-heat-resistant crystallised glass
  7. 1964Dedicated CRT plant built at Takatsuki, Shiga
  8. 1965Manufacture of glass for television picture tubes begins
  9. 1967Manufacture of colour television tube glass begins
  10. 1971Notogawa plant opened
  11. 1972Head office moved to Otsu, Shiga
  12. 1973Listed on the second sections of the Tokyo and Osaka exchanges
  13. 1976Production of glass fibre for reinforced plastics begins
  14. 1983Reassigned to the first sections of the Tokyo and Osaka exchanges
  15. 1984Chicago representative office opened

1987–2016The shift to TFT LCD substrates, and earnings undone by falling display prices

  1. 1987Production of substrate glass for TFT liquid-crystal displays begins
  2. 1988Joint venture OI-NEG TV Products Inc. established in the United States
  3. 1991Subsidiary Nippon Electric Glass Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. established
  4. 1991Number one domestic share in colour television tube glass
  5. 1993Oxy-fuel combustion introduced to the melting furnaces
  6. 1994ISO9001 certification obtained for electronic-device glass and other lines
  7. 1999ISO14001 certification obtained across all works at once
  8. 2000LCD substrate glass production by the overflow process begins
  9. 2002Local subsidiary established in South Korea; Taiwan follows in 2003
  10. 2007Izutsu Yuzo becomes president and representative director
  11. 2008Record consolidated sales of ¥368.3bn and operating profit of ¥100.9bn
  12. 2009Arioka Masayuki becomes president and representative director
  13. 2011Production of the chemically strengthened glass Dinorex begins
  14. 2015Sales fall to ¥192.6bn with operating profit of ¥5.2bn
  15. 2015Matsumoto Motoharu becomes president and representative director
  16. 2016Production of support glass for semiconductors begins

2017–2024Restructuring under EGP2028 and the turn towards semiconductor-related glass

  1. 2017European and American glass fibre business acquired from PPG Industries
  2. 2017Financial year end moved from the end of March to the end of December
  3. 2019Operating profit of ¥15.9bn but a net loss of ¥33.6bn attributable to owners of the parent
  4. 2020World's thinnest glass for foldable devices developed
  5. 2023Kishimoto Satoru becomes president and representative director
  6. 2023Liquidation of the two Korean display subsidiaries announced
  7. 2023The Dutch subsidiary acquired from PPG enters bankruptcy and leaves consolidation
  8. 2023Operating loss of ¥10.4bn and net loss of ¥26.1bn
  9. 2023Medium-term plan EGP2028 (Strong Growth) launched
  10. 2024Engineering business begun, supplying carbon-neutral glass technology
  11. 2024Dinorex UTG adopted in the foldable Motorola razr 50
  12. 2024All-electric melting passes half of display-business capacity

Founding Story

1944–1986From tube glass to the cathode-ray tube: a niche specialty glass maker bets the company

Cut loose from NEC with ninety employees, the company survived by taking the technically difficult glasses that the majors would not touch — fluorescent-lamp tubing, vacuum-flask glass, crystallised glass — and mechanising them into volume production. In 1964 it applied the same pattern to television: a firm with sales of $10.6M (¥4bn) put about $5.6M (¥2bn) into a single plant for cathode-ray-tube glass, and by 1985 that one decision had carried sales to $741.6M (¥177bn) and left the company's fortunes tied to the television set.

A spin-off from NEC that restarted with ninety employees

Nippon Electric Glass traces its origins to a subsidiary established in 1944 by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) to make its own glass for vacuum tubes and cathode-ray tubes[1]. The post-war dissolution of the zaibatsu — the family-controlled industrial combines — separated it from NEC, a Sumitomo-group firm, and when it restarted as an independent company in December 1949[2] it had only ninety employees[3]. For all that it had come out of a division of a major electrical manufacturer, as an independent specialty glass maker it was in substance a small business. It gained its independence in the confusion of the post-war years, in a business environment so harsh that its only opening lay in the technically difficult specialty glasses that other glassmakers were reluctant to take on.

The field it chose after independence was not the established mass markets of architectural, automotive or bottle glass, but niches with few competitors. In 1951 it succeeded in the automatic drawing of tube glass and brought fluorescent-lamp glass into volume production[4], and in 1960 it strengthened its technical base by licensing tube-glass technology from Owens-Illinois of the United States[5]. Vacuum-flask glass, still mostly hand-blown, went into mechanised volume production in 1962[6], and by fiscal 1985 the company had reached a 100 per cent domestic share of it[7]. The distinctive pattern of business selection that would carry through to the later entry into CRTs — taking the gaps the majors would not enter and locking them down by mechanisation — was formed in the late 1950s, a little over a decade after independence, and it was an important juncture. In 1962 the company also began producing Neoceram, an ultra-heat-resistant crystallised glass[8].

A ¥2bn concentrated commitment at Takatsuki, and entry as the second CRT supplier

Around 1958 Nippon Electric Glass began exploring an entry into CRT glass — the glass for television picture tubes — but for six years the Japanese government withheld permission to license the technology from Owens-Illinois. Asahi Glass already held a domestic monopoly of CRT glass using Corning technology of the United States, and new entry was not to be permitted. The turning point came in 1963, when the rapid expansion of television demand at last brought approval for a second supplier to enter. The following year, 1964, a company with capital of $833,333 (¥300m) and sales of about $10.6M (¥4bn) took the company-staking decision to place about $5.6M (¥2bn) in a new plant dedicated to CRTs, concentrated on one site in the Kohoku district of Takatsuki, Shiga[9]. It had opened the Fujisawa plant in April 1959[10], so plans to expand its factories were already in motion.

Nagasaki Junichi (長崎準一), who led the siting decision and later became the company's third president[11], put it this way: In 1964 we were at last to begin CRT production. We believed this business was bound to become an enormous one. The world, however, did not see it that way. Where a business has consistent prospects of growth, one should not ask whether the moment to enter is early or late. If you are going to do it at all, it has to be done on a scale befitting its nature — so we drew up a plan to build a plant dedicated to CRTs.[12] Kohoku was chosen against criteria of ample land, abundant industrial water, transport access and a good supply of labour, with the layout for later production expansion worked into the plan in advance — a thoroughly prepared siting decision. In October 1972 the head office moved from Minato-ku, Tokyo to Otsu, Shiga[13].

Dual sourcing by the electronics majors, and a structure in which CRT glass was 54 per cent of sales

In 1965 volume production of glass for monochrome CRTs began[14], and in 1967 the company extended into colour CRTs, widening the business[15]. In a market that had been Asahi Glass's monopoly, it took on the leading domestic electrical manufacturers one after another as the second supplier in their dual purchasing arrangements — Toshiba, Matsushita Electric, Sony, NEC and Mitsubishi Electric — and by 1991 it had grown to lead the domestic market with a 57 per cent share[16]. In December 1971 it opened the Notogawa plant at Notogawa, Shiga[17], adding further capacity. That the world's patents on CRT glass were held by two American firms, Corning and Owens-Illinois, leaving effectively no room for new entrants, also served in the end to protect the company's position.

In 1973 the company listed its shares on the second sections of both the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges[18]; in 1976 it began producing glass fibre for reinforced plastics[19]; and in 1983 it was reassigned to the first section[20]. Standing on the earnings of the CRT business, it pushed a stock-market rating and business diversification at the same time. In January 1984 it opened a representative office in Chicago[21], preparing the ground for overseas expansion. As of FY1981 CRT glass accounted for 54 per cent of sales[22] — a components maker built around CRTs, its fate shared with television demand, a structure clearly established in the first half of the 1980s. The concentrated investment in CRTs would become a heavy burden when the company was later forced to convert to the flat-panel era.

Read the full history in Japanese →

Notes

  1. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  2. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  3. 染色研究 (Senshoku Kenkyu — Dyeing and Finishing Research), January 1981↩
  4. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  5. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  6. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  7. 染色研究 (Senshoku Kenkyu — Dyeing and Finishing Research), January 1981↩
  8. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  9. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  10. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  11. Nippon Electric Glass, list of successive presidents (annual securities reports, directors and officers section)↩
  12. 染色研究 (Senshoku Kenkyu — Dyeing and Finishing Research), vol. 25 no. 1, January 1981 — Nagasaki Junichi, chairman of Nippon Electric Glass↩
  13. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  14. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  15. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  16. 染色研究 (Senshoku Kenkyu — Dyeing and Finishing Research), January 1981↩
  17. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  18. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  19. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  20. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  21. Nippon Electric Glass, annual securities report for the 77th term (year to December 2025), corporate-history section↩
  22. 染色研究 (Senshoku Kenkyu — Dyeing and Finishing Research), January 1981↩

References & sources

  1. Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd. (annual securities reports), including the corporate-history section and the consolidated results for FY2007 to FY2024.
  2. Senshoku Kenkyu, January 1981 — Nagasaki Junichi on the decision to build a plant dedicated to CRT glass at Takatsuki, Shiga.
  3. Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd. — company releases on the acquisition of the PPG glass fibre business (2017), the liquidation of the Korean display subsidiaries (2023) and the launch of the carbon-neutral engineering business (2024).

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