Beefs up Funding
Alps Electric Co., Ltd. has earmarked ¥33.9 billion (US$334.54 million) as consolidated research and development expenses in FY2016. Of this figure, the company plans to use ¥16.8 billion (US$165.76 million), significantly larger than ¥13.6 billion (US$124.29 million) of the previous year, as R&D expenses of its electronic components business. By sector, in addition to its mainstay components for automotive electronics and smartphones, the company promotes technological development setting its sights on energy, healthcare, industrial equipment, and IoT as the third market.

Kyocera Corporation steps up R&D of products targeted at information and communication, automotive, environment energy, and medical and healthcare markets that are priority markets. The company promotes R&D with a wide range of focus points from materials to components, modules, equipment, and furthermore to systems and services. The company also works on the modularization of various components and modules and the development of sensors.

Nidec Corporation is building Nidec Institute for Industrial Science in Keihanna Science City in Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto prefecture, Japan, investing about ¥20 billion (US$197.61 million) targeting to post sales of ¥2 trillion (US$19.76 billion) by 2020. The completion of the facility is slated in end of 2017. To create a manufacturing system suitable for the 21st century, the company established Nidec Institute for Industrial Science in Oct. 2015 to enhance the group's manufacturing infrastructure and to adopt advanced technologies. The company promotes research from the standpoints of both commercialization and manufacturing.

ROHM Co., Ltd. has been stepping up its R&D system along its growth strategies to promote four solutions of analog, power, sensor, and mobile. The company focuses related R&D department in each division of LSIs, discrete components, and modules, thereby putting in place a system that is linked with commercialization. The Basic R&D Division handles themes for more distant future. ROHM launched in 2016 a research recruitment system targeting young researchers and research groups at universities, specialized vocational high schools and public research institutions. The company grants research fund for one year up to ¥2 million (US$19,740) per research.

Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd. plans to put ¥12 billion (US$118.44 million) in R&D for FY2016, the same level it had the previous year. By product, the company focuses on R&D that will center on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and automotive electronics.