The Nichia Corporation is a Japanese chemical manufacturing company that is most widely known for producing phosphors, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
The founder was Nobuo Ogawa (1912-2002), who supported Shuji Nakamura (1954- ) to do research on gallium nitride light-emitting diodes when it was generally considered a very risky business. It turned out to be a great success. However, the company achieved a certain amount of notoriety for a bonus of 20,000 Yen (-US$180) given to Shuji Nakamura for his invention of the first high brightness blue-light LED, which was based on gallium nitride. They later settled out of court with him for 840 million Yen (-US$7 million) in what was the highest bonus ever awarded by a Japanese company.
After Nobuo Ogawa, the company was headed by Eiji Ogawa. Nichia Corporation's competitors include Seoul Semiconductor, Cree Inc. and Philips Lumileds Lighting Company.
In January, 2006, Nichia launched a lawsuit against rival LED manufacturer Seoul Semiconductor, alleging design patent infringement.
