Maruwa: Where Cloud Computing Meets Ceramics
February 2025
Disclosure: I do not own shares in Maruwa Co Ltd. At the time of writing, my portfolio consists of Applied Materials, ATOSS Software, Cadence Design Systems, Constellation Software, Fair Isaac, Fortinet, KLA Corp, Mastercard, Microsoft, MSCI, NVIDIA and Visa.
Summary
Maruwa Co Ltd (TYO:5344) is a historic company with a very modern growth story. The story begins in 1800s Japan, where a family of artisans started manufacturing ceramic art and fine porcelain for traditional Japanese banquets. It soon became evident to Maruwa that their expertise in ceramics was of high value not just on the banquet table. In the 1960s, Maruwa shifted its business model and started producing ceramics for electrical components, such as circuit boards and chip resistors (source). Fast forward to today, and Maruwa is now a market leader in highly advanced ceramic substrates, which as we will see are crucial to semiconductors and the future of data centres. Maruwa's centuries of ceramic expertise is now highly sought after - and it's no longer banquets that are driving growth.
While demand has steadily increased in recent years, Maruwa isn’t an overnight success story. Maruwa's shares have grown in value by over 800% since 2019.
