Published: March 18, 2025

Table of Contents

The President Joined Development of a Legendary Gaming Console in His Early Career!
Former Ricoh Electronic Devices Contributed to Popularization of Mobile Phones!
How Will the Future of Nisshinbo Micro Devices Be Like?
After Interview

On March 26, 2024, Keiichi Yoshioka became the representative director, president of our company. Some may think that the president is somehow out of reach as he is the top of the company, but on the other hand want to know his personality. To reveal these questions, our editorial staff of this blog interviewed the president!

★★★

What Is the President of Our Company Like?

First of all, we will introduce the president’s profile briefly.

Keiichi Yoshioka

Birthday: May 9, 1962

Work Experience
Executive Managing Officer, General Manager of Corporate Strategy Division (March 2023 – February 2024)
Executive Managing Officer, General Manager of Corporate Strategy Division, Corporate Administration Headquarters (January 2022 – February 2023)
Director, General Manager of Corporate Strategy & Planning Center (March 2021 – December 2021)
General Manager of Corporate Strategy & Planning Center (April 2019 – February 2021)
General Manager of Design Technology Department and Manager of Sales Strategy Section in Sales Department (April 2017 – March 2019)
General Manager of Design Technology Department of Former Ricoh Electronic Devices (currently Nisshinbo Micro Devices) (October 2014 – March 2017)
General Manager of 1st Design Department of Electronic Devices Company of Ricoh (October 2011 – September 2014)
Manager of 36th Design Section in 3rd Product Department in Electronic Devices Division of Ricoh (April 2006 – September 2011)
Joined Ricoh Company (April 1985)

The President Joined Development of a Legendary Gaming Console in His Early Career!

In his youth, Keiichi Yoshioka, our president, participated in the development of a CPU^* which was used in the first fully-fledged home video gaming console with a unique red and white design in Japan!

How did he spend his young age at that time? How did he devote himself to developing the CPU?

We guess there are lots interested in those episodes, so we will begin with the introduction of his new employee period.

* CPU: Abbreviation for Central Processing Unit. A central unit which controls the computer, conducts calculations and transmits data.

Why did you want to join Ricoh?

Yoshioka: I studied optical physics (birefringence of crystals using a laser) at the department of physics, school of science in a university. I was interested in Ricoh as it had optical technology such as copiers, cameras and lenses. I heard from one of my seniors at university who joined Ricoh that it launched a center for semiconductor development in Osaka, my home area. The senior invited me to join in a pushy manner, and in the end, I applied to it. During the recruitment interview, I spoke out ideas boldly to the interviewers that I wanted to make Ricoh the top-level company famous for the semiconductor field, which Ricoh had just started and therefore had been unknown at the time. Moreover, I proposed some bossy ambitions such product portfolios I thought Ricoh should enrich, and so on, without understanding its business plans. It was so bold that I cannot think back without fear, but one of the interviewers who was the division head said, “I hope you will realize it!” In the end, I joined the company, feeling good with a lot of worry. Lol

Keiichi Yoshioka, Representative Director and President of Nisshinbo Micro Devices

Were you assigned to the division you wanted to work for after joining the company? Tell me your division and job description at the time.

Yoshioka: The company conducted mass recruitment in the year when I joined it; it hired 400 new graduates, 250 from science and 150 from humanities, and the whole group over 1000 new graduates in total. We were allowed to submit requests for assignments to any division and choose any job. However, as I recalled the senior who invited me, I set the semiconductor division as the first place I wanted to be assigned to. Was it a coincidence? Was it a necessity based on the background of the recruitment? Of course I do not know. Anyway, I was assigned to the semiconductor division as I desired. In detail, there were two job teams in my location, process and design, and I joined the design team. I did not know why I was assigned to the team as this assignment was designated rather by company than by myself, but anyway I wanted to try anything related to semiconductors at the time.

How did you keep your motivation to work after joining the company?

Yoshioka: As I talked earlier, there were no less than 400 colleagues who joined Ricoh with me, and it was natural I could not know who was assigned to where. I am sure it would not have affected my motivation to work negatively even though I had not been assigned to the division I desired. In fact, some members placed in Osaka were assigned to the division they did not desire at all, so we consoled and encouraged each other to work in those days. Eventually, they have been serving for long years and are playing an important role as rehired employees in our company.

To be honest, my second choice was the department of intellectual properties or patents in the head office, which was totally different from the first one. When I joined the company, I lived in a company’s dormitory in Yokohama. There, one of my senior dorm mates who belongs to the department of intellectual properties and took care of me taught me the importance and joy of patents. Influenced by his passion, I decided to apply to the department of intellectual properties as my second choice. I think I was such a pure young man that I was easily affected by enthusiastic seniors, same as my way of company selection. It is off the topic, but I devoted myself to patent applications with great enthusiasm since I had great trouble with patents later. Let me boast a little that I was awarded as the Junior Patent Master from Ricoh’s head office due to achieving registration of over 50 patents.

Junior Patent Master, an award given to employees with more than 50 patents registered

We heard that you participated in the development of the CPU used in a legendary home video gaming console as one of your achievements. From when and in which part of the project did you take part?

Yoshioka: Since the first department of my career developed IPs and libraries, I handled a series process of circuit design, verification, layout design, prototype production, and evaluation for porting (replacement) of 8-bit NMOS CPUs to CMOS CPUs for game consoles and the development of a 16-bit CPUs for the next generation of game consoles, as an IP called CPU (which we called mega cell at that time). 

Were there troubles or impressive events in the development of CPUs for gaming consoles?

Yoshioka: The re-designing of a CPU was impressive. Although we fabricated a CPU licensed from a company in the U.S. according to its blueprint, it did not work at all and was full of bugs. We could not conduct entire simulations for large-scale circuits like CPUs at that time, so we mainly drew circuit diagrams by hand and conducted verifications by human power. It was almost a miracle that we finally succeeded in making the CPU work.

The real problem occurred later: the CPU had a patent infringement issue. While we can research patents on the web now, in those days I went to the patent library in Shitennoji, Osaka, almost every day and searched and considered thoroughly to avoid the patent infringement. As I mentioned that I was concerned about patent applications before, this bitter experience was the catalyst that taught me the importance of patents. It was useful for the development of CPUs, DSPs and graphic processors I oversaw. I always avoided patent infringement in advance while applying for new patents, sticking to original architectures and pursued performance specialized in specific use.

Case: High-performance Graphic Processing Unit, Process: 2 um (CPU for Game Console) to 0.35um/0.25um/0.18um/0.13um/90nm/65nm

CPU development, along with memory, was then a product area known as process drivers, and product development was carried out in parallel with the development of advanced semiconductor processes. To keep up with the current trends, we had to fight against the development period (time) in a fierce battle. The process was still in its infancy, so there were times when we made 10,000 prototypes and only one good product (with a yield rate of 0.01%) would work correctly. We had many failures, but we also had to greedily introduce the latest process technology, IP, and the latest design technology such as CAD/PDK, etc. It was a lot of hard work, but it was refreshing and fun to be able to constantly challenge the latest technology. 

Former Ricoh Electronic Devices Contributed to Popularization of Mobile Phones!

So far, we told the president’s new employee days and the development of CPUs for home video gaming consoles. As we have talked in a company introduction column published after the birth of Nisshinbo Micro Devices, former Ricoh Electronic Devices had achievements of contribution to popularizing mobile phones in its history.

Former Ricoh Electronic Devices succeeded in developing analog-one chips (AOC) which contained almost all the analog functions including power management functions necessary to construct mobile phone systems for the first time in Japan. 50% of mobile phones sold in Japan at that time were equipped with AOC products made by former Ricoh Electronic Devices at that time.

To reveal the situation, we interviewed Tomoyuki Kawazoe, a salesperson at that time and now a managing officer of our company.

In the same way as the president, we will begin with his new employee period.

Why did you want to join Ricoh?

Kawazoe: Because I wanted to enter manufacturing companies which were strong industries in Japan at that time. Especially, I gave the priority to middle-class manufacturers rather than too-huge general electrical manufacturers and found that Ricoh had strong sales teams. I thought students from humanities like me like me could contribute, so I chose Ricoh.

Were you assigned to the division you wanted to work for after joining the company? Tell me your division and job description at the time.

Kawazoe: Although the electronic devices division was not what I desired, I could obtain a sales job I wanted to do. My job was to promote our products to our customers through distributors.

How did you keep your motivation to work after joining the company?

Kawazoe: I could keep motivating myself because the industry was expected to grow and consistent workflow from design, manufacturing to sales made situations of each department and member visible.

Tomoyuki Kawazoe, Managing Officer of Nisshinbo Micro Devices (Salesperson at the time)

When and why did you take part in the development of AOCs for mobile phones?

Kawazoe: I participated in AOC development from the very first stage as a sales and marketing staff. The manager of the design department in those days said to me, “We will develop a test element group (TEG) which contains analog blocks and power management circuits in one chip. If it performs as we expect, let’s go introducing it to our customers.”

I heard that former Ricoh Electronic Devices was the only company at that time that could produce AOCs because its production was technically challenging. Didn’t other companies have production techniques?

Kawazoe: I think it was challenging for competitors to develop and manufacture AOCs because competitors were huge and therefore analog blocks and power management circuits were developed and manufactured in different divisions or used different processes. On the other hand, Ricoh was a small company at that time, so it was suitable to fabricate analog blocks and power supplies in one chip because they were developed and manufactured in the same section.

How did mobile phone evolve before and after the AOC products were adopted?

Kawazoe: As AOCs succeeded in reducing not only size by fabricating analog blocks and power management circuits in one chip but also power consumption sharply, they contributed largely to realizing smaller and lighter mobile phones and prolonging battery life.

After mobile phones evolved uniquely in Japan, former Ricoh Electronic Devices tried to find a way out overseas, and I guess you served many foreign customers. Which was the most impressive country?

Kawazoe: The impressive was China. Just moving around such a huge country was tough, but flights were often delayed and cancelled. I traveled for 3 to 4 hours by express bus to go to areas without trains. Besides, meeting times were easily changed or cancelled. I was confused by the huge gap of culture and ways of thinking at first.

Tell me troubles, impressive stories or fulfillments in serving customers, regardless of in Japan or abroad.

Kawazoe: In Japan, due to low yield, we could not easily supply the products as demanded by our customers. We visited customers every week to discuss future quantities, but eventually we managed to overcome this problem by having customers relax product specifications or accept price increases in order to increase quantities. Overseas, I was contacted on my personal phone every day, including weekends, to make deliveries and hold meetings due to a sharp increase in customer demand. The rewarding part was that we sincerely responded to the customer and were extremely pleased and grateful when we overcame the problem, which led to subsequent major business.

How Will the Future of Nisshinbo Micro Devices Be Like?

So far, we have conducted an interview on the history of the former Ricoh Electronic Devices.

Three years have passed since the former New Japan Radio and the former Ricoh Electronic Devices were merged in January 2022.

Lastly, we heard the two who contributed to the history of the former Ricoh Electronic Devices about what the future of Nisshinbo Micro Devices will be like and what kind of person are wanted in the future.

What do you think is the best part of the overall corporate atmosphere at Nisshinbo Micro Devices? 

Kawazoe: People in the company carry out their roles and duties hard. I think it will be a better company if the spirit of challenge of the former New Japan Radio and the openness of the former Ricoh Electronic Devices permeates the entire company.

Yoshioka: I am often told from inside and outside the company that the company has an open atmosphere. It is hard to get a sense of this because I am used to it, but it may be because employees speak freely and address each other by “san” instead of job titles*. Order is important in a company, but especially since we are an integrated company, we must further improve the openness that is characteristic of Nisshinbo Micro Devices in various aspects, such as between superiors and subordinates, senior and junior employees, colleagues, locations, and sections. In the production division, we have the “Mane-Mane Project,” a project that transcends the boundaries between bases to emulate the good qualities of each location. At Nisshinbo Micro Devices, each organization is working on various improvements, albeit steadily, based on surveys such as employee questionnaires. I think the good thing about Nisshinbo Micro Devices is that improvements can be made organically in each section, not just top-down. 

Note: Calling each other by job titles is common in many Japanese companies.

What kind of company do you want to make of Nisshinbo Micro Devices?

Kawazoe: I want the company to be one that is open, where we can discuss anything, where we can challenge ourselves, where we can care about the people we interact with, and where we can be honest enough to make our families and acquaintances proud.

Yoshioka: First, as we are in the Nisshinbo Group’s business portfolio transformation, we must not just maintain the company but grow it significantly. We are now in the stage of laying the foundation toward our goal of becoming an analog solution provider, and we have begun to explore new businesses and to integrate microwave products with simple components, as well as to provide new modules, units, solutions, and so on. To be able to develop such new products one after another, we need an organization with not only technology, but also a new corporate culture and culture that has the “Nisshinbo Micro Devices character”. We have a long history and experience in the semiconductor business, but if we continue to do the same work as before, there will be no meaning to the integration of our companies, and the organization will not evolve. We would like to create a new organizational climate and culture that is unique to our company, one that is not bound by conventional structures and ways of thinking, but one that allows us to take on challenges and change daily without fear. 

However, we do not yet have enough concrete ideas, both in terms of quality and quantity, to change the culture and climate. I joined the company after proposing a reckless ambition at the interview, and I am particularly looking forward to the suggestions and actions of younger employees. I would be very grateful if they could give me their ideas about what kind of company they would like to make, and we can think about it together. 

Do you have any advice or a word of advice for newcomers to the workforce or those who are currently job hunting?

Kawazoe: I hope that you will find and choose a company that fits your personality and characteristics, a company where you can demonstrate your strengths, and find a job.

Yoshioka: Before entering the workforce, first of all, please do what you can and want to do during your student days without any regrets. In addition, while it is obviously necessary to continue studying at work as you did when you were a student, there is no need to be in a hurry now, as your life as a member of society is obviously much longer than as a student, 40 or 50 years. It is important to proceed with sincerity, one step at a time. In particular, choosing a company is a very big decision in your life, but it is not just about the size or name recognition. I think it is good to ask yourself “What do I want to do? Can I do it?”, and “Is it a good fit for my personality?”

What kind of person would you like to see in Nisshinbo Micro Devices?

Kawazoe: We hope that people who can work hard with integrity and a strong sense of responsibility, and who have strengths of any kind, will come to us.

Yoshioka: When you were young, you probably had relatively concrete dreams, such as wanting to be a soccer player or a pastry chef, but as you grow older, your dreams tend to become vague, such as wanting to be of service to society. While dreams can change even after entering the workforce, I would like people who have concrete dreams to come to Nisshinbo Micro Devices. We, the Nisshinbo Group, are committed to our corporate philosophy “Change and Challenge! For the creation of the future of Earth and People.” Please imagine what you want to create for the future, take on challenges at our company, and make your dreams come true.

After Interview

In this blog post, we took a closer look at the personality of President Yoshioka and introduced the history of the former Ricoh Electronic Devices, including Managing Officer Kawazoe.

As a member of the editorial staff, I was nervous because I am from the former New Japan Radio and work at the Kawagoe Plant, so I did not have many opportunities to talk with them. However, after talking with them, I was joyful and felt refreshed through a wide variety of episodes they told me.

After interviewing them, I realized that having a challenging spirit of “trying first,” having dreams and goals, and having a passion for the job at hand will greatly lead to the growth of the company.

Also, I think it is very important for those who are considering job hunting to know what kind of atmosphere the company has and what kind of people are working there.

The new graduate recruiting website introduces employees in a variety of positions, so if you are interested, please take a look at the “Employee Introductions” section (only in Japanese). And if you have a chance to talk to the president in the future, please let him know what you think of this blog!

New Graduate Recruitment Site of Nisshinbo Micro Devices (only in Japanese)

In this blog post, we touched on the history of the former Ricoh Electronic Devices, but we plan to introduce the history of the former New Japan Radio as well, based on our interview, so please look forward to that as well!