Chapter 213
Happy New Year!
The year 2025 has begun. Our company was founded in 2000, so thanks to you we have been able to celebrate our quarter century. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for this, as it is the result of your support. Well, last year started off tough with the Noto Peninsula earthquake, but this year is not going to be a peaceful one either. There is no doubt that the whole world is heading in a suspicious direction, with Ukraine with no end in sight, the conflict in the Middle East, the protectionist policies of the Trump administration in the United States, and the rightward shift of major European countries. The military budgets of countries around the world, which are piling up in the name of national defense, are rapidly increasing. According to data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) (2022), global military spending reached a record high of $2.2398 trillion, up 3.7% from the previous year. Ukraine jumped significantly from 36th place to 11th place, an increase of 640%, excluding US support. Despite a large increase, Japan's defense spending only increased by 5.9% in dollar terms due to the weak yen, dropping it to 10th place. This is the same result as when Japan was overtaken by South Korea in per capita GDP last year. Japan's defense spending has remained stable at around 1% of GDP, but has been declining since peaking in 6th place in 1990 as the country's national power has weakened. Since economic power and the strength of the yen are proportional, it is likely that Japan's fall will accelerate in the future. By the way, the United States remains in first place with a 40% share, followed by China with 13% and Russia with 3.8%. What we can see from these figures is that even if China and Russia join forces, they will not be able to compete at all, with less than half of the US's share. If we think about it that way, the Trump administration's egoistic stance, which advocates America First, is not necessarily a bad thing in the sense that it will lead to world peace. In these uncertain times, there are endless factors to worry about, but all we can do is to do our best to do what we can now. I still remember the excitement I felt when I saw the faint light of UV-LED 24 years ago. The next seven years were hellish days with a deficit, but now the luminous efficiency has exceeded 50%, and with the addition of further shortening of wavelengths, applications have progressed in various applications such as sensors, resin curing, exposure, and sterilization. And as the production of mercury is finally restricted, it is expected that the demand for UV-LEDs will increase dramatically. However, as an industry as a whole, many LED manufacturers in developed countries have been forced to go out of business due to the influence of the huge number of LED manufacturers that were established with the support of the Chinese government, who are mass-producing and selling at low prices without regard for supply and demand. In the midst of this, our company is working on the development of cutting-edge technologies such as µLEDs and photonic crystals, and is striving to survive in fields where Chinese companies cannot keep up. In addition, a research report by Tsubota Labo, a venture company spun off from the Keio University School of Medicine, has revealed that near-ultraviolet rays play an important role in biological mechanisms, such as slowing the progression of myopia in children and suppressing depression. In the future, all of our employees are determined to return to their roots and work hard to contribute to people's health by using UV-LED-based lighting instead of blue LED-based lighting. We look forward to your continued guidance and support this year.
New Year Greetings
January 6, 2025
Thoughts on the New Year
