Furukawa Electric, a world leader in optical fiber and cable for over two decades, has its Middle East representative office in Dubai Airport Free Zone.
The Furukawa Electric Company, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of electric wire and cable, nonferrous metals, and other related products.
It also provides engineering services, including the installation of power and telecommunication cables, and is a major manufacturer of optical fibre cables and optical transmission equipment.
The company is expanding into superconducting materials, compound semiconductors and nickel-titanium shape memory alloys.
Furukawa Electric traces its origins to the formation of the Furukawa Zaibatsu in 1884, when company founder Ichibei Furukawa succeeded in smelting copper.
At its peak, the Furukawa enterprise produced over one-third of Japan's copper and included at least 26 major mines, forming the basis of the Furukawa Zaibatsu.
By the end of World War II, the Furukawa Zaibatsu controlled 84 companies, including Furukawa Electric.
In 1970, Furukawa Electric signed a joint development agreement with Corning to develop fibre optic cable using Corning's low-loss optical fibre. In 1974 the company produced the world's first field-installed fibre optic cable. At about the same time, Furukawa joined forces with NTT to develop its original technology for manufacturing silica optical fibre. This collaboration resulted in the vapor-phase axial deposition (VAD) technique, which made it possible to manufacture high-quality optical fibre at low cost and in high volumes.
Building on its expertise in optical fibre and cable, Furukawa Electric later expanded its product activity into related areas such as fusion splicers, connectors, couplers, and cable enclosures. In the 1990s, the company entered into several acquisitions and joint ventures in North America to further expand its product line and began the manufacture of pump laser diodes and optical amplifiers. Today, just 50 per cent of Furukawa's fibre optics-related product revenue comes from optical fibre and cable.
Furukawa Electric has long been recognised as a leader in the optical fibre and cable business, but it became involved in the active optoelectronic component business only in the 1990s. However, since then it has become a leader in the Japanese 1,480-nm pump laser market and a player in the world pump laser market.
Through acquisitions and joint ventures, Furukawa has expanded its product line to other types of optoelectronic components and has established a presence in the North American market.
A strong technology development program in optoelectronic devices, including VCSELs, combined with a continuing expansion of its international business, should make Furukawa a force to reckon with in the rapidly growing market for fibre optic components and systems, says a company spokesman.
In optoelectronics, Furukawa Electric is a major supplier of optical amplifiers and 1,480-nm pump laser diodes and is moving into 980-nm pump laser diodes.
Other optoelectronics components are supplied through subsidiaries and joint ventures such as JDS FITEL, Optical Communications Products (OCP), and FiNET.
Furukawa Electric's products and services include:
Electric wire and cable: Manufacturing and sales of bare wire, aluminum wire, insulated wire, magnet wire, power cable, telecommunication cable, wire for automobiles, electronic appliance wire, and optical fibre and cable;
Construction and electric appliance: Construction of power transmission systems, telecommunication networks and plants. Manufacturing and marketing of accessories for power transmission lines, electrical supply and distribution system products, and heat system products;
Rolled copper: Manufacturing of a wide variety of copper and copper alloy products ranging from sheets, strips, tubes, bars and wires to other processed goods.
Aluminium products: Manufacturing and marketing of a wide variety of aluminum and aluminum alloy products including sheets, strips, tubes, bars, wires, extruded products and cast and forged products. The company also markets processed aluminium products.
Information Equipment and Electronic Components: Manufacturing and marketing of a wide variety of products including optical fibre fusion splicers, optical amplifiers, optical components, optical systems, optical line monitoring systems, optical semiconductors, network devices, wireless systems, electronic component materials, electrolytic copper foil, compound contact materials, precision-processed metal products, shape-memory alloys, magnetic materials for magnetic heads, components for automobiles, superconductive materials, heat pipes, compound semiconductors and aluminum blanks for hard disks.
Plastic products: Manufacturing and marketing of conduits for transmission lines and other plastic products.
Other products: The company conducts sales of electrolytic copper, real estate leasing, and production and sales of machinery and facilities.
Furukawa Electric has an established global business network through which it contributes to the development of regional economies, says a company spokesman.
