Apple Supplier Murata to Expand Despite Slowdown Talk
October 07 2015 - 8:30AM
Dow Jones News
TOKYO—Apple Inc. parts supplier Murata Manufacturing Co. said it
would build a new, $100 million factory in Japan, defying
widespread worries a slowdown in China's economy could damp
smartphone sales.
"Even if the growth rate comes down to a certain level, we see
demand for components increasing," company President Tsuneo Murata
said in an interview Wednesday.
While better-known Japanese electronics giants have struggled in
recent years, Murata has strengthened its market-leading position
in several kinds of smartphone parts, including tiny capacitors and
radio-frequency filters. As smartphones grow more sophisticated,
they need more of these parts.
In China, adoption of high-speed mobile networks using
technology known as long-term evolution, or LTE, has outpaced
expectations this year, Mr. Murata said. That has increased demand
for radio-frequency filters, which phones use to select the airwave
frequency to use.
Murata, which specializes in what are called surface acoustic
wave filters, plans to use the new plant—expected to open next
year—to begin making a different type, bulk acoustic wave filters,
Mr. Murata said. U.S. rivals such as Avago Technologies Ltd. and
TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. currently are stronger in these
so-called BAW filters, which some analysts expect to show faster
growth in coming years than the SAW filters Murata is known
for.
"The market expects Murata to provide a solution," said Mr.
Murata, speaking at an electronics industry trade show near Tokyo.
"We still have a chance to take share."
Avago and TriQuint couldn't immediately be reached for
comment.
High-end phones often contain more than a dozen radio
frequency-filters so they can operate with a variety of frequency
bands. Mr. Murata said output of SAW filters was increasing at an
annual rate of about 30%, which he said would continue next
year.
Overall, Murata's sales rose 23% in the fiscal year ended March
31, to ¥ 1.04 trillion ($8.7 billion).
Analysts say Murata has benefited from economies of scale,
helping it undercut would-be rivals with lower prices even though
70% of its production is in high-cost Japan. The new plant is
expected to employ up to 300 workers within five years.
Write to Eric Pfanner at eric.pfanner@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 07, 2015 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT)
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