Canon is one of the companies with a large market share regarding camera sales. In 2023, they sold 3.3 million units, which makes up 45% of the total market share of the products sold. Sony came in second, with 2 million units sold, only about 27.9% of the total. But now it seems that despite owning a large part of the market share, the company is quite focused on improving its production rate, especially when it comes to semiconductor chips. Here’s a look at what they may have in store for the next few years.
According to an interview with Business Insider, Toshiaki Nomura, Canon’s President and CEO for India, Canon is aiming to expand its manufacturing operation to India, with the aim of establishing factories for chip production. Nomura states that the company sees this as a “good opportunity” to improve its technology, products, and services while contributing to the Indian semiconductor market.
In fact, Nomura stated that Canon is “installing the equipment” for the Indian market to “manufacture chips through our technology and product.” He added that once the chip manufacturers have set up the facility, “the facility, we will install our equipment and support the development of India’s semiconductor industries.”
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Nomura is confident about Canon’s growth and predicts double-digit growth in the future. “I am optimistic and confident that we can achieve double-digit growth year by year,” he added, adding that there has been positive growth across all of Canon’s business portfolios, in addition to imaging.
Although the details about the manufacturing operation in India have not yet been revealed, this move will likely benefit the company and become a prominent presence in the nation. Nomura states that the reason for this movie is the significant potential of growth in India, which goes beyond imaging and printing.
Canon Japan has been handling the manufacturing of its CMOS sensors since 2000, which also includes semiconductor sensor production and the assembly of photography equipment. Furthermore, what kind of products will be manufactured in India remains unclear, especially when this discussion is successful.
Interestingly, Canon is not the only company to think on this line, as Fujifilm also has similar plans, which we wrote about last year. This also means that the production challenges will somewhat be resolved, especially the supply chain issues they had during the COVID. In 2016, an earthquake in Japan further put Canon back due to the facilities being affected during the natural calamity. To highlight what we said previously, India is a booming market that offers ample opportunities for new businesses. For instance, the government is far more supportive, easy to set up facilities, labor is cost-effective, and a lack of dependency on specific countries for production.
Last year, we also highlighted how the company was meeting with a months-long waiting period for EOS R5 Mark II due to the high demand in some specific regions. Even lenses like the RF 70-200mm f2.8 L IS USM, and the RF 50mm F1.4L VCM were also put on the waiting list. Shortages such as this can be annoying and lead to a lack of faith in the company. So, Canon’s decision to expand proves they plan to grow exponentially. And when that happens, we would like to see how much they improve their products for photographers.
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