When a wave reaches a market, a No.1 product should not miss it. Katana had AI read the 134 companies whose annual reports use phrases such as world share or world top, and we list the 21 that state clearly that one of their products is No.1 in the world. We then checked in the latest results whether the wave is still running.
Markets move in waves. Today AI and cybersecurity draw attention, and five years ago few people expected semiconductors to boom as they have. In U.S. companies' October earnings, Seagate, which makes hard disk drives for data centers, reported July–September revenue up 61% from a year earlier, and Eli Lilly, which sells obesity drugs, reported revenue up 39%.
But a wave does not always lift Japanese companies' sales. If demand grows worldwide but foreign products take it, it never reaches Japanese companies.
A No.1 product in the world is different. Buyers have no substitute, so when a wave reaches the market that uses the product, it is hard to see the company missing out. So we first looked for companies whose annual reports themselves state a No.1 global position in a product, and then checked in the latest earnings whether the wave for that product has continued since the report was written.
“We want companies whose annual report itself states that one of their products holds the No.1 global market share, and to check whether demand for that product is still growing.”
Claude built and ran the screen through Katana's MCP connection. We used word conditions to keep companies whose main annual report sections use any of six phrases for a global No.1 position (such as world share, world top and world No.1), turned this profile into two questions entered in English, and had the AI read each report, question by question. We checked the supported and top-ranked companies against the report text. Claude checked the latest results and share prices in each company's earnings reports and presentations. Judgments and data as of November 1, 2026; share prices are October 30 closes.
Katana computes its metrics for every company.
AI reads each annual report and judges support and counterevidence.
The questions were entered in English and judged in order. For the first question, passages containing world share, world top or world No.1 were read first. Sections 03 and 04 use the first question; the second question and the latest results are used in section 05.
read the filings and picked 21.
Of 134 companies, 24 were supported on the first question (whether the report clearly states that one of its own products is No.1 in the world), 35 had counterevidence, and 75 could not be confirmed. After checking the report text we list 21: semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, water, cars, and others.
Sales of advanced resists, and of its NTI developer and copper-wiring CMP slurry, both with the top global share, grew as chips shrank and wiring layers increased.Filing ↗
Its main product, batch deposition equipment, ranked No.1 in global sales share in the 2025 market for batch ALD equipment (TechInsights).Filing ↗
Sony is working to strengthen its world No.1 position in image sensors and to rebuild its business base for profitable growth.Filing ↗
In healthcare, it aims to keep and expand its top global share in pharmaceutical purification materials by adding capacity ahead of market growth.Filing ↗
Large high-pressure pumps are the essential heart of reverse-osmosis seawater desalination, and the group has the top global share in this field.Filing ↗
In its powertrain business (formerly automotive engine bearings), it again achieved the top global market share in 2025 (company estimate).Filing ↗
As the maker with the top global share, it develops new pivot assemblies for data center servers and nearline drives, the growing part of the HDD market.Filing ↗
In semiconductor manufacturing and diagnostics, it builds on measurement and analysis technology centered on its CD-SEM, which holds the No.1 global share.Filing ↗
It is focusing on new grades for NMC cathodes, where it has the top global share, and for growing LFP cathodes.Filing ↗
To secure its top global share in chloroprene rubber, it is developing differentiated new grades and expanding the business.Filing ↗
In vision care materials, where it has the top global share, its U.S. coatings subsidiary decided to move its headquarters to expand R&D and production.Filing ↗
In motorcycles, parts for engine vehicles, led by its transmission assemblies with the top global share, did well, with especially strong growth in India.Filing ↗
In tires for farm and forestry machinery, expected to be about 40% of the off-highway tire market, the group has the top share.Filing ↗
With a sharp rise in its China share and more sales to European makers, its global share in wiper blade rubber rose from 50% in fiscal 2024 to 58%.Filing ↗
Despite IC shortages, sales of automotive products rose, led by coated separators and automotive optical parts.Filing ↗
In air traffic control, it keeps the No.1 global market share.Filing ↗
This segment develops and makes office multifunction printers, in which it has the top global share, along with other imaging and edge devices.Filing ↗
Founded in 1961, it developed the world's first mass-produced compact sushi robot in 1981 and grew into the world No.1, selling sushi robots in more than 90 countries.Filing ↗
Nichirei Foods is world No.1 in acerola (its own estimate).Filing ↗
Its microneedle cosmetic Deep Patch series has been certified by Guinness World Records as the world No.1 in sales for six straight years.Filing ↗
Its main product, the Perfect One all-in-one gel series, is certified by Guinness World Records as the world No.1 in sales in the facial moisturizing gel market.Filing ↗
Note: we checked the report text and left out 5 of the 24 companies the AI supported. Taiyo Holdings, Sumitomo Electric and Exedy say "world top class" or "world top level," not No.1; Nireco cites a partner's global share; and SourceNext refers to another company's engine. Osaka Soda and Fukoku, which could not be confirmed, were added after we confirmed the No.1 claim in the report text. Fukoku does not use the word No.1, but its wiper blade rubber has a 58% global share, more than half the market. Many companies with large semiconductor shares, such as Tokyo Electron and DISCO, do not use phrases for a No.1 position in the main sections of their annual reports, and are not among the 134.
If a No.1 product is only a small part of revenue, its growth barely moves the company's numbers. So for the 16 companies whose reports let us confirm how much of revenue comes from the business that includes the No.1 product, we list that share and the forward PER, largest share first. PER is based on the October 30 share price and the company's own profit forecast for this year.
| Company | No.1 product | Revenue share | PER |
|---|---|---|---|
| Torishima Pump | Desalination pumps | Nearly all | 13.5x |
| Shinnihonseiyaku | Moisturizing gel | Most | 12.5x |
| Suzumo | Sushi robots | Core | 14.4x |
| KOKUSAI | Deposition tools | 60% | 29.1x |
| Daido Metal | Engine bearings | 53% | 10.2x |
| Fukoku | Wiper rubber | 47% | 11.8x |
| Kureha | Battery binders | 38% | 21.4x |
| Maxell | Car batteries | 33% | 12.5x |
| Denka | Synthetic rubber | 25% | 16.5x |
| Sony | Image sensors | 17% | 19.3x |
| MinebeaMitsumi | HDD parts | 17% | 14.4x |
| EIZO | ATC monitors | 15% | 17.5x |
| Mitsui Chemicals | Lens materials | 15% | 16.8x |
| Osaka Soda | Drug purification | 15% | 15.7x |
| FUJIFILM | Chip developer, slurry | 14% | 15.0x |
| RICOH | Office printers | 7% | 16.6x |
Revenue share is that of the business including the No.1 product. Torishima Pump's PER uses the company's outlook excluding a one-time gain.
The 8 companies where that business is 30% or more of revenue have a median PER of 13.0 times; the 8 below 30% have 16.6 times. The below-30% side is lined with large companies such as Sony, FUJIFILM and Mitsui Chemicals, where the No.1 product is one of many businesses. On the 30%-or-more side, only semiconductor maker KOKUSAI ELECTRIC (29.1x) and battery materials maker Kureha (21.4x) stand out as high.
The more a No.1 product carries a company, the more directly the strength of being No.1 shows in its results. Yet the market puts a lower price on exactly the companies that entrust their results to a No.1 product.
Annual reports come out about three months after the fiscal year-end, so the trends they describe are six months to a year old. For the 8 companies carried by their No.1 product, we list growth in the year of the report next to growth in the latest quarterly results since then (April–September 2026). Claude, connected through Katana's MCP, checked the latest results in each company's earnings reports and presentations.
| Company | Year of report | Latest quarter | PER |
|---|---|---|---|
| KOKUSAI | Sales −1.6% | Sales +45.6% | 29.1x |
| Torishima Pump | Sales +7.4% | Orders +43.2% | 13.5x |
| Maxell | Batteries ±0% | Batteries +41.8% | 12.5x |
| Suzumo | Sales +1.9% | Sales +16.6% | 14.4x |
| Fukoku | Functional +3.7% | Functional +7.8% | 11.8x |
| Daido Metal | Bearings +4.3% | Bearings +3.4% | 10.2x |
| Kureha | Binders down | No recovery yet | 21.4x |
| Shinnihonseiyaku | Sales +2.7% | Main product down | 12.5x |
Growth is year on year. Maxell's batteries include the battery business it took over from Murata Manufacturing. Torishima Pump's sales fell as shipments to the Middle East were delayed, but the company says demand for its desalination pumps, where it has the top global share, remains firm.
The biggest change was at KOKUSAI ELECTRIC. Its sales fell in the year of the report, but when investment in high-performance memory for generative AI returned, sales rose 46% in the next quarter and the company raised its full-year forecast. When a wave returns, a No.1 product catches it.
Where the wave itself has stopped, being No.1 does not bring growth. Kureha booked an impairment on its battery binders as EV adoption slowed, and in its latest results it still could not say demand had returned to recovery. At Shinnihonseiyaku, sales of its No.1 moisturizing gel fell.
Annual reports describe No.1 products and their trends in the same form for every company. When we checked the trends of the companies found this way in the latest results, the wave continued at 6 of the 8. Even so, apart from KOKUSAI ELECTRIC, their PERs sit at 10 to 14 times: No.1 companies outside the fields in the spotlight are priced low even while their waves continue. They may be out of the spotlight now, but if the market's wave shifts and their product moves to the center of attention, they may draw notice as the No.1.
Katana narrows companies with its own metrics, and AI reads annual reports to judge qualitative conditions. For complex theses and company profiles, the selection you used to do one company at a time, AI now runs across the Japanese market.
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