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With over 90 years of experience in the electrical engineering and automation industry, Phoenix Contact has grown over the years to achieve an excess of approximately $2.23 billion in annual sales. Headquartered in Blomberg, Germany, Phoenix Contact has evolved into a global market leader: the company operates their own production sites across ten different countries which work alongside 50 dedicated international sales subsidiaries as well as more than 30 local agencies.

Kingston Technology Corporation is a developer and manufacturer of computer memory and storage products. Located in Fountain Valley, California, this privately held company was founded by John Tu and David Sun in 1987 to supply a severe surface-mount memory chip shortage. Although it is a privately held company, Kingston Technology Corporation employees over 4,000 people and has met over $6 billion dollars in yearly revenue. Their product lines include DRAM, Solid State Drives, USB Drives, Flash Cards, and Wireless Readers that are used on the consumer, business, and enterprise level.

Fremont Micro Devices (FMD) was founded in 2003 in Fremont, California and specializes in non-volatile memory products. This privately-held company currently has offices in the United States, Europe, and China. FMD is fabless, meaning that manufacturing is outsourced, so that the company can focus on innovative design and technology. FMD owns or co-owns with foundries most of the technologies used in their products. Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) technology is a type of memory used in electronics to store small amounts of data in a non-volatile setting (i.e. when power is removed).

Conexant Systems is a spin-off of former conglomerate Rockwell International Corporation. Established in 1999, Conexant was based in Newport Beach, California. Conexant specialized in microchips and other semiconductor products. In 2013, after a 30% decline in revenue in 2011 and after losing its main customer in Eastman Kodak Company (which also filed for bankruptcy), Conexant was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with $195 million in secured debt. The entirety of Conexant’s equity was given to QP SFM Capital Holdings (a unit of Soros Fund Management) as part of the terms of bankruptcy. Conexant’s consistent decline in revenue is explained by a variety of factors: over expansion, the dot-com bubble, and an enormous debt-servicing burden. Immediately after separating from Rockwell, Conexant went on a purchasing spree, acquiring seven companies for almost $2 billion in 11 months. Additionally, after the market crashed in 2000, many of Conexant’s clients (such as the networking equipment vendors Nortel and Lucent) opted out of purchasing from Conexant.

C&K Components is one of two operating divisions (the other being Delta Tech Controls) of CoActive Technologies, a designer and manufacturer of a broad range of engineered interface solutions. C&K Components focuses on switches, smart card connectors, and high-reliability connectors. The company was established in 1957 in Newton, Massachusetts as a manufacturer of magnetic computer memory units. The company has since combined with other specialty companies to become an important supplier of interface and connector technology. In 2007, C&K Components joined the Rudolf Schadow Company of Berlin, Germany (founded in 1945 and specializing in radio repair) and the Jeanrenaud company of Dole, France (a switch manufacturer founded in 1928) to form a new company while retaining the C&K Components name.

Corsair Memory, a private company headquartered in Fremont, California, was originally founded in 1994 under the name Corsair Micro systems. Originally a developer of Level 2 cache modules for OEMs, over time, Corsair decided to shift their primary focus towards high-capacity DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) modules. In 2002, the company began shipping their now-signature high performance memory products to serve the ‘overclocking’ market. Overclocking is a term for boosting computer components beyond what the manufacturer intended, resulting in greater processing power but an increased risk of crashing. In 2010 the company reincorporated itself in Delaware and changed their name to Corsair Components, Inc. With over $500 million in annual revenue, Corsair is a PC-gaming enthusiasts, home computer builders, and others who require high level memory performance.

Kingston Technology Corporation is an American, privately held, multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, sells and supports flash memory products and other computer-related memory products. Their influence spans across the world with manufacturing and logistics facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Taiwan, and Mainland China. They are the largest independent producer of DRAM memory modules, owning 53% of the third-party worldwide DRAM module market share. Other feats include being the second largest supplier of flash memory and USB drives, fourth largest supplier of flash cards, and fifth largest in solid state drives. The company has shown consistent growth since its creation in 1987.

Datalogic, a privately-held computer software company, forecasted growth in its business as of this year 2014 which is attributed to several growth drivers. Main underlying reasons include the strengthening of the company’s leadership in teams penetrating the Automatic Data Capture (ADC) & Industrial Automation (IA) markets. In addition, the company is aiming for constant product innovation through a continued annual R&D investment of no less than 7% of revenue. Forecasted revenues for the year 2014 are between 600-620 million euros, with EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) forecast between 105-110 million euros. THE ROE forecast is at 22-23%. A very considerable improvement in net financial debt is also forecasted, with estimates ranging between 40-50 million euros, due mainly in part to increased cash generation. With the continued focus on value-creation drivers, the company hopes to continue its expansion.

The company, headquartered in Nagoya, Japan, manufactures printers, large machine tools, typewriters, sewing machines, fax machines, as well as other computer-related electronics. Brother distributes their products under their name as well as under OEM agreements with major companies.

The company has since then expanded their product line into field-programmable gate arrays as well as complex programmable logic devices. Altera’s 2013 revenue was over $1.7 billion, pulling in $556.8 million net income.