The official announcement from Nikon states that Nikon Corporation “has begun discussion on the demolition of some of existing buildings and construction of two new buildings at its subsidiary, Tochigi Nikon Corporation” and goes on to indicate “the construction of the new buildings is aimed to reinforce the manufacturing system of interchangeable lenses for digital cameras and microscope objectives. This construction will begin in fiscal year 2025 and is scheduled to complete in fiscal year 2027. Nikon will build a resilient system that can flexibly respond to customer requests and efficiently produce a variety of lenses.”
While there is no clear indication that lenses for the RED Digital Cinema cameras are included in the plans for the new factories, Nikon has already stated that developing lenses for cinema is in the its plans. Interviewed by Televisual, the new RED Digital Cinema CEO, Keiji Oishi, noted that the company is considering lens development for cinema, as a part of their strategic plan to enter strongly into the cinema market.
Keijio Oishi added that “after the acquisition completed, we already began exchanging our technology and knowledge. We are actively considering lens development for cinema, and we are aware that many of customers use the old NIKKOR.”
The new buildings will allow Nikon to consolidate in two new areas all the work that until now has been scattered on multiple existing buildings, which will be demolished, the company notes, to build the two new areas, which will have a total floor space close to 20,000 m2. With this move Nikon is strengthening its business fundamentals under its current Medium-Term Management Plan, and will invest approximately 100 billion yen (909.09 million US dollars) by 2030 to develop production facilities that support all of Nikon’s businesses.
According to Nikon, “the construction of the new buildings is aimed to reinforce the manufacturing system of interchangeable lenses for digital cameras and microscope objectives” a goal that makes absolute sense for the company, as it is one of the world’s few manufacturers that begins its manufacturing process from the production of optical glass, Nikon offers NIKKOR F lenses for single-lens reflex cameras and NIKKOR Z lenses for mirrorless cameras.
The production of high-end lenses at the new buildings is part of the project… and doing it at home may also be part of Nikon’s plan. By being able to inscribe the “made in Japan” in some of its high-end lenses, the company may be making it easier to compete with other brands. There is no indication in Nikon’s announcement, though, that this move means any drastic changes for the production factories in both Thailand and China. It’s clear, also from Nikon words, they want to “build a resilient system that can flexibly respond to customer requests and efficiently produce a variety of lenses.” Which will, very probably, be the origin for some of the new cinema lenses that will be available in the future.
All this happens less than one month after the company announced that the total production of NIKKOR lenses for the brand’s interchangeable lens cameras reached 120 million as of April 2024. In 2023, NIKKOR celebrated the 90th anniversary of its first product release. Drawing inspiration from the NIKKOR brand’s remarkable 90-year history and its endless technological advancements, Nikon remains committed to contributing to the development of imaging culture, with the hope of expanding possibilities for imaging expression.
