Kyocera Communications, Inc. (from Japanese: 京セラ '' Kyōsera'') is an American manufacturer of

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

s for wireless service providers in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Kyocera Communications, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of

Kyocera Corporation is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommun ...

, which also manufactures mobile phones for the Japanese wireless market under various brands.

History

KWC was originally formed in February 2000 when Kyocera acquired

Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...

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-based terrestrial handset division. Upon the purchase of Qualcomm's business unit, Kyocera formed Kyocera Wireless Corp. (KWC). In 2003, Kyocera Wireless India (KWI), based in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, was established as a fully owned subsidiary of KWC, expanding KWC's reach into India's CDMA markets. However, in September 2009, KWC sold KWI to

Mindtree Mindtree Limited was an Indian multinational information technology services and consulting company, headquartered in Bangalore. Mindtree was acquired by Larsen & Toubro in 2019, before being merged with L&T Infotech (LTI) in 2022 to form L ...

Ltd. of Bangalore, India. In 2008, Kyocera Corp. acquired the mobile phone division of Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. for $375 million, making them the world's sixth-largest cell phone company. On April 1, 2008, they took the North American assets of

Sanyo is a former Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, now known as Panasonic. Iue left Matsushita Electric to start his own bu ...

and created Kyocera Sanyo Telecom, Inc. (KSTI). They also announced that they were entering the GSM handset market, with a focus on the Latin American market. Kyocera continued selling Sanyo-branded phones throughout 2010. On April 1, 2009, Kyocera announced the integration of KWC and KSTI, creating a new, consolidated division called Kyocera Communications, Inc. (KCI), with the headquarters remaining in their San Diego location. KCI remains one of North America's larger handset manufacturers, providing products to multiple wireless carriers including

Cingular Wireless AT&T Mobility, LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. Formed in April 2000 as Cingular Wireless LLC, It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless serv ...

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Cricket Wireless Cricket Wireless LLC is an American prepaid wireless service provider, wholly-owned by AT&T. It provides wireless services to thirteen million subscribers in the United States as of 2022. Cricket Wireless was founded in March 1999 by Leap Wir ...

MetroPCS Metro by T-Mobile, formerly known as MetroPCS, and simply known as Metro, is an American prepaid mobile phone, prepaid Wireless, wireless service provider and brand owned by T-Mobile US. It previously operated the fifth largest mobile telecommun ...

Public Mobile Public Mobile Inc. is a Canadian self-serve mobile brand which is owned by Telus. Launched on March 18, 2010, Public Mobile was one of several new Canadian cellphone providers that started in 2009–10 after a federal government initiative to enc ...

Sprint Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before being acquired by T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. Th ...

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U.S. Cellular United States Cellular Corporation (doing business as UScellular and formerly known as U.S. Cellular) is an American mobile network operator. Its stock is publicly traded, but Telephone and Data Systems Inc. owns a controlling stake (83% econo ...

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...

, and

Virgin Mobile USA Virgin Mobile USA was a no-contract Mobile Virtual Network Operator. It used Sprint's network for coverage. It licensed the Virgin Mobile brand from United Kingdom-based Virgin Group. Virgin Mobile USA was headquartered in Kansas City, Missou ...

. In October 2011, Sprint began offering Kyocera's ''Dura Series'', an exclusive line of rugged phones manufactured by Kyocera Communications using Sprint's new

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

-based Push to talk service Sprint Direct Connect. In August 2014, Kyocera released the ''Kyocera Brigadier'', the first U.S. smartphone to be equipped with a display made of sapphire glass. This technology was carried over to the

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

-distributed versions of the Duraforce Pro (announced August 2016, South Korea name Kyocera Torque) and the Duraforce Pro 2 (announced November 2018). In 2022, Kyocera developed transmissive metasurface technology; a technology to improve performance and coverage area for 5G networks. In April 2023, Kyocera acquired 37 acres of land in Isahaya City,

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...

. The land was acquired to build a new smart factory that will produce ceramic components used in

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

applications and packages.

References

External links

Kyocera Communications, Inc.

Dura Series by Kyocera

Kyocera Group Global Website
{{Kyocera 2008 establishments in California American companies established in 2008 American subsidiaries of foreign companies Electronics companies established in 2008 Electronics companies of the United States Kyocera Manufacturing companies based in San Diego Mobile phone companies of the United States Mobile phone manufacturers Technology companies based in San Diego