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KYOCERA Develops World's Fastest Thermal Printhead for Card Printers


Company Will Mass-Produce High-Resolution Printhead Using Proprietary Design Technology Starting March 1; Device Allows Print Speed of 50mm Per Second




KYOTO, Japan, Feb 17, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Kyocera Corporation /quotes/comstock/13*!kyo/quotes/nls/kyo (KYO 89.86, -0.04, -0.04%) (TOKYO:6971) today announced that it has successfully developed the new KLE Series thermal printhead for desktop card printers used to print onto rigid materials such as ID cards and credit cards. The new printhead is capable of 300-dpi, full-color, high-resolution printing at 50mm per second -- the industry's highest speed*1 for this type of printhead. The company will begin mass production March 1, 2010.

Enhancements to the KLE Series printhead structure using Kyocera's design technology have increased the print speed beyond that of its predecessor -- which was already the industry's front-runner in print speed. The new printhead employs Kyocera's proprietary double partial glaze (DPG) structure in the real edge head*2. The DPG structure uses the convex shape of the heat-storage glaze layer to increase thermal efficiency for printing, thus achieving a speed about 1.5 times that of the company's conventional real-edge printhead. This series also achieves a high-resolution print quality by using a split structure for the heater.

Kyocera, which holds the top market share in the printhead industry, expands its lineup with this new product to meet customers' wide range of needs and to realize the high-speed and high-resolution print quality required in the desktop card printer market.

Product Overview
Model KLE Series Thermal Printhead
Dimensions 66x31x9mm (WxDxH)
Production locations Front-end process in Kagoshima Hayato Factory (Japan)
Back-end process in Nagano Okaya Factory (Japan)
Mass production schedule Full-scale mass production starts from March 1, 2010
Production target 3,000 units/month with target of 10,000 units/month after one year



*1 The KLE Series is the industry's fastest thermal printhead for desktop card printers (based on Kyocera's research as of February 9, 2010).

*2 Real edge printheads place the heating element on the edge of the substrate to enable printing without bending the media. Real edge printheads are mainly used for rigid materials such as plastic cards.

For more details about the Kyocera KLE Series Thermal Printhead: http://global.kyocera.com/news/2010/0203_kvpn.html

About KYOCERA

Kyocera Corporation /quotes/comstock/13*!kyo/quotes/nls/kyo (KYO 89.86, -0.04, -0.04%) (TOKYO:6971)(http://global.kyocera.com/), the parent and global headquarters of the Kyocera Group, was founded in 1959 as a producer of fine ceramics (also known as "advanced ceramics"). By combining these engineered materials with metals and plastics, and integrating them with other technologies, Kyocera has become a leading supplier of solar power generating systems, telecommunications equipment, electronic components, laser printers, copiers, semiconductor packages, cutting tools and industrial ceramics. During the year ended March 31, 2009, the company's net sales totaled 1.13 trillion yen (approximately USD11.5 billion). The company, which marks its 50th anniversary and the 40th anniversary of its U.S. operations this fiscal year, is ranked #418 on Forbes magazine's 2009 "Global 2000" listing of the world's largest publicly traded companies.

SOURCE: Kyocera Corporation
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