Japan-U.S. Business Report articles from January 1999

Japan-U.S. Business Report archives from January 1999

Japanese Companies in the United States: CHEMICALS.
January 30, 1999... Additional supplies of liquid polyimide materials for semiconductor applications are coming on the market with the start-up of a second HD MICROSYSTEMS L.L.C. plant in Parlin, New Jersey. The new facility turns out high-molecular-weight...

Japanese Companies in the United States: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
January 30, 1999... In an about-face, the NEC Computer Systems Division of PACKARD BELL NEC, INC. resigned TECH DATA CORP., one the largest wholesale distributors of technology products, to distribute Versa notebook computers, PowerMate desktop personal computers,...

Japanese Companies in the United States: CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE.
January 30, 1999... Trader NICHIMEN CORP. and big contractor KAJIMA CORP. have decided that building warehouses for eventual sale is a money-maker. The first location for this equally owned project is Sacramento, California. There, at a cost estimated at $31...

Japanese Companies in the United States: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
January 30, 1999... Continuing to shift color picture tube capacity to the United States from Japan, where demand is ebbing, HITACHI, LTD. is adding production of 36-inch CRTs for digital television sets to the product lineup of its Greenville, South Carolina...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
January 30, 1999... The September 1998 bankruptcy of JAPAN LEASING CORP. has created expansion opportunities for American companies in Japan (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 351, December 1998, pp. 15-16) as well as at home. Here, FIDELITY LEASING, INC. has...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
January 30, 1999... The U.S. margarine business has a new number-two supplier behind market leader UNILEVER N.V. At an estimated cost of $59.8 million, VENTURA FOODS, LLC bought margarine producer SUNNYLAND REFINING CO. of Birmingham, Alabama. Ventura Foods -- a...

Japanese Companies in the United States: MERCHANDISING.
January 30, 1999... Given the very competitive nature of the American optical retail market, MITANI CORP. decided that it would be better off in the wholesale end of the eyeglass business. As a result, its wholly owned SPECTRON, INC. subsidiary sold its 28...

Japanese Companies in the United States: METALS AND FABRICATED PRODUCTS.
January 30, 1999... The 39 percent share that Japanese investors own in ALUMAX INC.'s primary aluminum plants in Frederick, Maryland and Ferndale, Washington has been redistributed. MITSUI & CO., LTD. bought out partner TOSTEM CORP.'s 9 percent interest for about...

Japanese Companies in the United States: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.
January 30, 1999... Volume production of SUMITOMO HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.'s SH Series of smaller, general-purpose injection molding machines has started in Pendergrass, Georgia (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 340, January 1998, p. 5), marking the first time...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.
January 30, 1999... Beginning in February, a new generation of seismic-isolation devices will be made outside San Diego, California by a multinational partnership. Japan's top manufacturer of earthquake-resistant equipment, OILES CORP., has joined with SKELLERUP...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SEMICONDUCTORS.
January 30, 1999... The first of several NEC CORP. candidate technologies to provide the next generation of dynamic random access memories for PCs, servers and workstations will go into volume production in April at NEC ELECTRONICS, INC.'s big semiconductor...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SERVICES.
January 30, 1999... Attempting to better position itself in the electronic messaging field, SOFTBANK HOLDINGS INC. merged three companies in this business to form MESSAGEMEDIA INC. The holding company for SOFTBANK CORP.'s extensive U.S. activities and various...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
January 30, 1999... Finalizing a wide-ranging agreement first announced a year ago, SONY CORP. will pay $187.5 million to acquire a 5 percent share in GENERAL INSTRUMENT CORP., the dominant supplier of set-top boxes to cable TV operators (see Japan-U.S. Business...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
January 30, 1999... Capping off a record production year at its three existing North American plants, TOYOTA MOTOR CORP. officially opened its full-size pickup truck/sport-utility plant in Princeton, Indiana. Volume output of the new Tundra pickup truck will start...

Japanese Companies in the United States: MISCELLANEOUS.
January 30, 1999... The Tennessee Valley Authority has awarded CORMETECH, INC. a $68 million contract to install its ceramic-based catalysts at 10 TVA coal-fired power plants in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama to reduce their smog-creating emissions of nitrogen...

American Companies in Japan: CHEMICALS.
January 30, 1999... By 2005, DOW CHEMICAL CO. hopes to supply between 8 percent and 10 percent of Japan's low-density polyethylene market, which is projected to be 2.2 million-plus tons that year. To reach this goal, the company plans to quadruple sales of...

American Companies in Japan: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
January 30, 1999... In a rare recent endorsement of American supercomputing technology, the government-funded Institute of Physical and Chemical Research awarded COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP. and bidding partner MITSUBISHI SPACE SOFTWARE CO., LTD. a $1.1 million contract...

American Companies in Japan: CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE.
January 30, 1999... Construction has started of the first assisted-living facility built by SANYO EMERITUS CORP., a partnership formed last spring between EMERITUS CORP. of Seattle, an integrated senior housing services company, and SANYO ELECTRIC CO., LTD. (see...

American Companies in Japan: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
January 30, 1999... K&L MICROWAVE INC. of Salisbury, Maryland is providing technical support to SOGO ELECTRONICS INC. for the design and production of microwave and RF (radio frequency) subassemblies for sale in Japan. The specific products covered by the contract...

American Companies in Japan: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
January 30, 1999... Japan's vast pool of low-yielding personal savings remains a magnet for American financial services providers that see a way to make money by managing these assets. The latest company to try to tap these funds is PAINEWEBBER GROUP INC. It has...

American Companies in Japan: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
January 30, 1999... Year-old OPTIMUM QUALITY GRAINS, L.L.C., which uses biotechnology to develop value-added grains and oilseeds, will make a major push into the Japanese market in 1999. The Des Moines, Iowa joint venture between E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & CO., INC....

American Companies in Japan: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.(Company Business and Marketing)
January 30, 1999... By the spring of 2000, SHIN CATERPILLAR MI-TSUBISHI LTD. expects to be manufacturing hydraulic valves for use in its own earthmoving equipment as well as for supply to CATERPILLAR INC. construction equipment plants in Asia. The factory and a...

American Companies in Japan: PHOTO EQUIPMENT AND COPIERS.(Product Information)
January 30, 1999... In an interesting twist, the U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese company has opened a branch office in Tokyo. PULNIX AMERICA, INC. was formed in 1982 to market security and other products made by affiliates of TAKENAKA GROUP CENTER CO., LTD. Very...

American Companies in Japan: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.(News Briefs)
January 30, 1999... The 24th IMATRON INC. Ultrafast CT (computed tomography) scanner, which is based on the South San Francisco, California company's scanning electron beam technology, was shipped to an unnamed Japanese customer at the end of 1998. The firm said...

American Companies in Japan: SEMICONDUCTORS.(Company Business and Marketing)
January 30, 1999... COMIT SYSTEMS, INC. hopes to capitalize on what it sees as growing interest among semiconductor manufacturers in outsourcing hardware and software design and development services. To do that, the Santa Clara, California business, which provides...

American Companies in Japan: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
January 30, 1999... AMERICA ONLINE INC. has fired back in the heated Internet portal battle by bringing popular features on its American site to Japan. Foremost is the introduction of AOL Instant Messenger, an easy-to-use chat system that can tell users if any of...

American Companies in Japan: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
January 30, 1999... A $110 million project is underway to construct a terrestrial fiber-optic network linking Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya as well as connecting those major metropolitan areas with the local cable stations of Pacific Crossing-1, the first privately...

American Companies in Japan: TEXTILES AND APPAREL.(Company Business and Marketing)
January 30, 1999... The Tokyo unit of NEW BALANCE ATHLETIC SHOE INC. is putting more emphasis on sportswear -- a business that generated sales of roughly $17.1 million in 1997, or 10 percent-plus of the Allston, Massachusetts company's Japan revenues. Current...

American Companies in Japan: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
January 30, 1999... GENERAL MOTORS CORP. has given affiliate ISUZU MOTORS LTD. greater responsibility for engineering its light-duty and medium-duty truck platforms. To help the money-losing truck manufacturer carry out its added work load, GM will spend $448.7...

American Companies in Japan: MISCELLANEOUS.
January 30, 1999... In its second tie-up of the month with HAKUTO CO., LTD., Irvine, California-headquartered NEWPORT CORP. named the Tokyo company to distribute the Elite3 Series of what it calls active isolation workstations. Equipped with digital controllers...