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Murata makes tiny electronic parts that go inside phones, cars, and wireless gear.
Murata Manufacturing is one of the world's biggest makers of the tiny electronic parts that sit inside almost every modern gadget. Its specialty is something called a multilayer ceramic capacitor, or MLCC — a speck of ceramic and metal, often smaller than a grain of rice, that stores and releases electrical charge. A single smartphone can contain hundreds of them, and a car can hold thousands. These components make up the largest chunk of Murata's sales, and the company is the global leader in the market. It sells to device makers, automakers, and telecom equipment builders, not to everyday shoppers. The company is based in Kyoto, Japan, a city better known for temples and tea, though its business is thoroughly modern.
Think of Murata as the maker of the tiny bricks that hold together the electronics world. Nobody notices the bricks, but without them nothing works. Alongside capacitors, it makes filters and modules that handle wireless signals, plus sensors used in cars and industrial machines. The smartphone boom made Murata rich, and now the next big driver is electric and self-driving cars, which are packed with electronics. Faster 5G and 6G networks matter too, since they need the radio parts Murata builds. The company also invests heavily in research, plowing profits back into new materials and smaller, more efficient parts.
Murata's business is cyclical. When phone sales slow, its orders dip; when automakers ramp up electric vehicles, demand jumps. It pays dividends and buys back shares, returning cash while still funding factories and research. Competition is fierce, especially from other Japanese and Asian component makers, and pricing pressure is real. Still, Murata's edge comes from years of manufacturing know-how and materials science that rivals struggle to copy. For a company most people have never heard of, it quietly sits near the center of the global tech supply chain.
Saved answer · last researched 11 Oct 2026