History

Foundation purpose

In February 27, 1975, the company was established as Nippon Precision Circuits Inc., a semiconductor manufacturer, with investment from Daini Seikosha and Suwa Seikosha, in order to commercialize the CMOS technology that had been developed at the time by separating it from the research and development department of Daini Seikosha.
The Shiobara Factory (now the Nasu-Shiobara Unit) was completed on October of that year. Although the company was still small and young with a total of 22 people, including president Toshio Tanaka and 16 new employees, it was the first to launch PLL ICs for CB transceivers, which were all the rage at the time, and so the company entered into a very busy period of its existence.
Shortly thereafter, they developed and successfully commercialized an IC for watch clocks that used quartz crystal to improve accuracy, and this was adopted by Seiko and many other watch manufacturers.
The world's first clock IC with a built-in liquid crystal driver that enabled both analog and digital display on a single chip became the basic technology for subsequent oscillators (crystal oscillator ICs) and RTCs (real-time clock ICs).
In 2005, the company became a wholly owned operating company of the Seiko Group Corporation, and the following year in 2006, the company changed its name to "Seiko NPC Corporation," inheriting the initials NPC, which stands for Nippon Precision Circuits.

1970s

1975

1975

Nippon Precision Circuits Inc. is established
2-inch production line (current S Building) is completed
Development of the world’s first PLL CMOS IC for CB (citizen’s band) radio

1976

Development of the world’s first quartz lock IC for record players

1978

Development of CMOS LSI for a clock running at 1V

1979

Capital is increased to 250 million yen

Application by era

1980s

1980

1983

Multi-layer molybdenum-gate CMOS process is commercialized
Development of the PLL for 200-MHz CMOS LSI

1984

Development of the world’s fastest 121-order linear phase FIR digital filter LSI for CD players

1985

1987

The Nikkei Excellent Service Award is received for the digital filter IC for recording and playback
Development of world’s first digital filter IC for DAT

1989

6-inch production line (H Building) is completed
“Radio Technology Magazine” Award for the high-performance 20-bit 8fs digital filter ICs for CD players, the “SM5803AP ”
Development of melodies IC for telephone device and home appliances

Application by era

1990s

1990

1990

Development of the 1-bit DAC (Σ DECO) for audio

1992

Development of the PLL for pagers running at 1V and 90MHz

1993

Development of the asynchronous sample rate converter IC for audio

1994

ISO9001 certification regarding quality management system is acquired
Development of the world’s first compression type shock-proof memory controller

1995

1996

ISO14001 certification for Environmental Management System is acquired

1997

Development of the EL driver IC

1998

Development of the world’s first digital filter IC for high-resolution audio

1999

QS-9000 certification, the standard for quality system requirements in the automotive industry, is acquired-9000」

Application by era

2000s

2000

2000

Development of the multi-purpose high-frequency clock generator
Development of the quick charge control IC for NiMH/NiCd batteries
Development of the high-frequency BiCMOS oscillator IC

2002

Development of the high-speed target tracking vision chip

2003

A Director of Small and Medium Enterprise Agency Encouragement Prize is won in relation to the crystal oscillator IC at FY2003 Kanto Region Invention Award hosted by Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation.
Development of the radio-controlled clock receiver IC
Development of the white LED driver IC and the video filter/buffer IC

2004

High speed object tracking vision chip won a Technology Prize and Tomoda Prize from the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers
Development of the FSK Transceiver IC for Specified Low Power Radio Stations

2005

2005

Nippon Precision Circuits Inc.’s equity ownership shifts to Seiko Corporation (present Seiko Group Corporation).
Development of driver IC for gyro sensors

2006

Company name is changed from Nippon Precision Circuits Inc. to Seiko NPC Corporation.
Capital is increased to 1 billion yen.
ISO/TS16949 certification is acquired.

2007

Taiwan Liaison Office is opened.

2008

Thermopile Infrared Sensor chip with built-in amplifier is announced at the ISSCC 2008 international conference

2009

High-precision crystal oscillator IC with built-in frequency adjustment function is developed

Application by era

2010s

2010

2011

Mass production and shipment of compact, high-precision Optical Encoders is started

2012

Development of optical sensor IC with ultra-small package,
Development of voltage-controlled crystal oscillator IC with low phase noise

2013

Patent for VCXO IC with built-in varicap is acquired

2014

Corporate slogan “With precision, New moments” is established
Development of the magnetic sensor module

2015

2015

Patent for multi-band receiver IC for radio clock is acquired
Development of the 50dpi magnetic line sensor module

2016

Development of the COB type Infrared Sensor module

2017

IATF16949 certification is acquired

2018

Dual output type crystal oscillator IC “7701” is developed

2019

Crystal Oscillator ICs in “7101 series” for automotive use is developed

Application by era

2020s

2020

2020

Telework at sales offices in Tokyo, Osaka, and Taiwan depending on the number of people infected with COVID-19 is started.
Temperature-compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO) IC is developed

2021

Research and development of crystal oscillator circuit for post 5G information communication system with the adoption of a national subsidy project is started.
A basic patent on production technology using a gold black layer that realizes high sensitivity in infrared sensors is obtained.
IC testers and handlers with external appearance inspection for latter process accompanying increased production of SPXO, TCXO and sensor products are enhanced
Development of a new package for optical encoders for servo motor control

2022

Developed a voltage-controlled crystal oscillator (VCXO) with small size and low phase noise with built-in new varicap.

2023

Developed three reflective incremental optical encoder products.
SMD-04B, SME-08A, SME-08B
Developed reflective absolute Linear optical encoder "SM3414"
Introduced collaborative robots and AI-based visual inspection equipment into the testing-process, reducing the physical burden on operators and building a system to increase production.

Application by era