Sharp

Sharp Corporation is a Japanese electronics company founded in 1912 by Tokuji Hayakawa, who opened a small metal workshop in Honjo, Tokyo. The company took its name from the "Ever-Ready Sharp" mechanical pencil he invented in 1915, one of the first internationally available models of its kind. After the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake destroyed the pencil business, the company moved to Osaka, where it was formally established as Hayakawa Metal Works in 1924 and began producing Japan's first generation of radio sets, which went on sale in 1925. It was renamed Hayakawa Electric Industry in 1942 and finally Sharp Corporation in 1970. Sharp built its reputation as a pioneer of mass-market consumer electronics, known for quality, durability and affordability. Its product firsts include Japan's first domestically made television set (1953), the world's first transistor calculator, the CS-10A (1964), one of the earliest microwave ovens with a turntable (mid-1960s), the first LCD calculator (1973), the first low-priced fax machine (1984) and the first wall-mountable television (1992). The company also made 8-bit MZ and X1 home computers in the 1970s-80s and co-developed several Famicom TV consoles with Nintendo, while its Optonica line briefly competed in the high-end audio market. In mobile communications, Sharp created the world's first commercial camera phone, the J-SH04, in 2000, and from 2005 to 2010 was the largest mobile phone brand in Japan, shipping Aquos-branded feature phones and later Android smartphones. The company invested heavily in LCD panel manufacturing, opening the Kameyama plant in 2004 and the Sakai 10th-generation plant in 2009, and led the television market with record-breaking sets, including a 65-inch LCD in 2005, an 80-inch Aquos in 2012 and the world's first commercial 8K television in 2015. Sharp also holds records in solar technology, including a 44.4% efficient solar cell demonstrated in 2013. Sharp's fortunes turned sharply in 2012, its centennial year, when a weak LCD market and the end of Japan's digital-TV conversion produced a record loss of 376 billion yen (about $4.7 billion). Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry) first took a 10% stake that year and completed a 66% controlling acquisition in 2016 for around $3.5 billion. Under Foxconn's restructuring, Sharp returned to operating profit in 2017, sold its Mexico TV factory and brand rights for the Americas to Hisense in 2015, re-acquired its own TV brand for the US market in 2019, and fully acquired Dynabook from Toshiba in 2020. Today Sharp is headquartered in Osaka, listed on the Nikkei 225 (ticker 6753), and remains a leading Japanese electronics maker, with core businesses in LCD displays, solar cells, mobile phones, home appliances, copiers and printers, and information systems, alongside its Dynabook computer subsidiary.