, or TEL, is a supplier of semiconductor fabrication

Semiconductor fabrication

Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to create the integrated circuits that are present in everyday electrical and electronic devices. It is a multiple-step sequence of photolithographic and chemical processing steps during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer...

 equipment and flat panel display

Flat panel display

Flat panel displays encompass a growing number of electronic visual display technologies. They are far lighter and thinner than traditional television sets and video displays that use cathode ray tubes , and are usually less than thick...

 (FPD) production equipment. It is headquartered in Akasaka

Akasaka, Tokyo

is a residential and commercial district of Minato, Tokyo, located west of the government center in Nagatachō and north of the Roppongi nightlife district....

, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

As of 2009, TEL is the largest manufacturer of such equipment in Japan and the second largest

Semiconductor equipment sales leaders by year

This article lists the top 15 largest equipment semiconductor companies by sales leaders since 2006.An IC equipment supplier's revenue is classified as sales of systems used to manufacture semiconductors, thin-film heads, MEMs, integrated circuits, as well as service, support, and retrofitted systems...

 in the world. The company was founded as Tokyo Electron Laboratories, Inc. in 1963.

Origins

On November 11, 1963, Tokyo Electron Laboratories Incorporated was founded by Tokuo Kubo and Toshio Kodaka, largely funded by the TBS or the Tokyo Broadcast System, with a capital of over five million yen. Later that year, their office opened in the TBS main building and began manufacturing thousands of quality-control and importing diffusion furnaces made by Thermco and selling Japanese-made car radios.

In 1965, the company approached a rapidly growing business in the market, Farchild Semiconductor Corporation and agreed to serve as a sales agency for them, increasing their capital to twenty million yen and began exporting IC testers, IC sockets, IC connectors, and other similar computer components.

They opened a new office in San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 and their new branch, Pan Electron in 1968 establishing themselves as the only stocking distributor of imported electronic components in the region.

One year later, they opened their still-functioning Yokohama office and established Teltron, a major manufacturer and distributor of car stereos, expanding their headquarters to fill the entire TBS-2 building and raising their capital to 100 million yen.

Group companies

• Tokyo Electron U.S. Holdings, Inc.
• Tokyo Electron America, Inc.
• TEL Venture Capital, Inc.
• TEL Technology Center, America, LLC.
• Tokyo Electron Massachusetts, LLC.
• Tokyo Electron Europe Limited — Head Office (Crawley, England)

  German Branch

  Italian Branch

  Netherlands Branch

  Irish Branch

  French Branch

• Tokyo Electron Israel Limited
• Tokyo Electron Korea Limited
• Tokyo Electron Taiwan Limited
• Tokyo Electron (Shanghai) Limited
• Hermes-Epitek Corp Pte Limited

Research and development

TEL's Leading-edge Process Development Center is located in Nirasaki, Yamanashi

Nirasaki, Yamanashi

is a city in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan.As of June 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 31,963, with 12,446 households and a population density of 222.38 persons per km². The total area is 143.73 km².The city was founded on October 10, 1954....

 (the company is also an official sponsor of the Japanese football club Ventforet Kofu

Ventforet Kofu

are a Japanese football club from Kofu. They compete in the J. League Division 1, and their home ground is the Kose Sports Stadium.The word "Ventforet" is coined combining two French words Vent and Forêt...

 based in Kofu, which is the capital city of Yamanashi prefecture). TEL also has the Kansai

Kansai

The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Mie, Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, and Shiga. Depending on who makes the distinction, Fukui, Tokushima and even Tottori Prefecture are also included...

 Technology Center in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture

Hyogo Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...

 and the Sendai Design and Development Center in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture

Miyagi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku Region on Honshu island. The capital is Sendai.- History :Miyagi Prefecture was formerly part of the province of Mutsu. Mutsu Province, on northern Honshu, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi, and became the...

. TEL Technology Center, America, LLC in Albany, New York

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

 is the R&D center in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. TEL is one of the partners of IMEC

Imec

Imec is a micro- and nanoelectronics research center headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, with offices in Belgium, the Netherlands, Taiwan, USA, China and Japan. Its staff of about 1,900 people includes more than 500 industrial residents and guest researchers...

, a microelectronics

Microelectronics

Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture of very small electronic components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-scale or smaller,. These devices are made from semiconductors...

 and nanoelectronics

Nanoelectronics

Nanoelectronics refer to the use of nanotechnology on electronic components, especially transistors. Although the term nanotechnology is generally defined as utilizing technology less than 100 nm in size, nanoelectronics often refer to transistor devices that are so small that inter-atomic...

 research center in Leuven, Belgium.

See also

• Semiconductor sales leaders by year
• Semiconductor equipment sales leaders by year
  Semiconductor equipment sales leaders by year
  This article lists the top 15 largest equipment semiconductor companies by sales leaders since 2006.An IC equipment supplier's revenue is classified as sales of systems used to manufacture semiconductors, thin-film heads, MEMs, integrated circuits, as well as service, support, and retrofitted systems...
  
  

External links

• Company information page