Editing NMB

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{{Infobox Company
| company_name = NMB Technologies Corporation
| company_logo = [[File:Nmb_logo.png]]
| vector_logo =
| company_type = 
| foundation = 1968
| founder = 
| location_city = Chatsworth, California
| location_country = USA
| key_people = 
| industry = Electronics
| homepage = [http://www.nmbtc.com/ http://www.nmbtc.com/]
| footnotes =
| parent = Minebea Co., Ltd.
| fcc = AQ6
}}

'''NMB Technologies''' is a Chatsworth-based technology company. It is most famous for its [[Hi-Tek Series 725]] keyboards (through its Hi-Tek acquisition) and IBM/Lenovo [[ThinkPad keyboard]]s.

==History==
'''Nippon Miniature Bearing Corporation''' was established in Los Angeles, California in September 1968 as a subsidiary of Nippon Miniature Bearing Co., Ltd.<ref name="history"/> The parent company Nippon Miniature Bearing changed its name in October 1981, after a series of acquisitions, to Minebea Co., Ltd.

NMB Corporation of the US merged with NMB's later US subsidiary NMB Technologies, Inc. in July 1999 to form the present-day NMB Technologies Corporation.

===Hi-Tek Corporation acquisition===
NMB entered the keyboard market in 1983 when Nippon Miniature Bearing Co., Ltd. (now Minibea) purchased [[Hi-Tek Corporation]] and placed it under NMB.<ref name="US-DOC" /> At the time Hi-Tek just developed the [[Hi-Tek Series 725]], better known as "Space Invaders";<ref name="DMilo-F" /> these keyboards had just come to market at the point of the acquisition.<ref name="DMilo-T" /> The earliest [[NMB Hi-Tek First Generation keyboards]] do not bear NMB branding on the PCB. The membrane system used with [[NMB dome with slider]] is also thought to have been under development at Hi-Tek prior to the acquisition.<ref name="DMilo-T" />

Early Series 725 keyboards cite only '''Hi-Tek Corporation''', of Garden Grove California on the rear label.<ref name="kaineko2" /><ref name="rzwv" /> Later keyboards cite '''NMB Technologies Inc Hi Tek Keyboard Division'''', of Chatsworth, CA.<ref name="RT101" /> Keyboard PCB inscriptions suggest a separation between NMB and [[Hi-Tek|Hi-Tek Corporation]] by writing "NMB Hi-Tek Corporation" with the "NMB" logo enclosed in a separate box.<ref name="GH" /> A 1988 newspaper article refers to '''NMB Hi-Tek''' as part of NMB Technologies, with the parent company located in Chatsworth, CA.<ref name="LAT" /> 

NMB keyboards were produced in Thailand. Minebea established a manufacturing division, NMB Thai, Ltd. in Thailand in 1980.<ref name="history" /> Minebea's corporate history does not make any reference to the acquisition of Hi-Tek Corporation, nor do NMB themselves.

===Leaving the keyboard market===
On the 29th November 2013, Minebea stated their intention to liquidate their subsidiary Shanghai Shun Ding Technologies Ltd. with a planned date of 31st of March 2015; Shun Ding was their keyboard manufacturing subsidiary, and Minebea took the decision to exit the keyboard market.<ref name="Shun_Ding" /> The name of Shun Ding (as "Shunding") can be seen in the [[Korea Certification]] details on the rear label of the [[Dell RT7D50]].

==Products==
===Keyboards===
*[[:Category:NMB keyboards|NMB keyboards]]

<gallery widths=250 heights=167>
File:NMB-Hi-Tek-Gen1-AT-Front.JPG | One of the first keyboards made after the acquisition of Hi-Tek Corporation
</gallery>

===Switches===
*[[:Category:NMB switches|NMB switches]]

<gallery widths=250 heights=187>
File:NMB-Hi-Tek-Gen2-XT-038681-Spacebar-Switch.JPG           | [[Hi-Tek Series 725]] switches from second-generation keyboards
File:NMB-Hi-Tek-112980-006-Switches-Right.JPG                | Switches from second-generation keyboards
File:NMB Hi-Tek -- black -- black with cyan for spacebar.jpg | Clicky Series 725 switches
File:AppleDesign Keyboard (NMB,B) -- switches.jpg            | [[NMB dome with slider]] switches in the NMB version of the [[AppleDesign Keyboard]]
</gallery>

==External links==
*Spirit of Baraka — [http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/baraka0669 Photograph of the NMB keyboard factory in Bang Pa-in, Thailand]

==References==
<references>
<ref name="DMilo-F">Deskthority — [https://deskthority.net/post223560.html#p223560 Hi-Tek Corp. History]</ref>
<ref name="DMilo-T">Telephone conversation with D'Milo Hallerberg, 2015-08-03</ref>
<ref name="US-DOC">US Department of Commerce — [https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/docs/publications/fordirinv/fordirinv_comm_1983.pdf Foreign Direct Investment in the United States 1983]</ref>
<ref name="Shun_Ding">Minebea — [http://www.minebea.co.jp/english/news/press/2013/1188198_6010.html Announcement regarding Liquidation of Subsidiary]</ref>
<ref name="kaineko2">kaineko2 — [http://park8.wakwak.com/~kaineko2/keyboard/album20111013.html NMB AQ659ZAT]</ref>
<ref name="rzwv">ちゃたりたいね — [http://kbd.rzw.jp/nmb/aq659zrt-101a/ RT-101+ AQ659ZRT-101A ピーチ軸]</ref>
<ref name="RT101">Deskthority — [http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8/nmb-rt101-t4076.html NMB RT101+]</ref>
<ref name="GH">geekhack — [http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=4757.msg68398 Weird keyboard is here.]</ref>
<ref name="LAT">Los Angeles Times — [http://articles.latimes.com/1988-03-08/business/fi-732_1_nmb-technologies Electronics Giant Forms Subsidiary in Chatsworth]</ref> 
<ref name="history">Minebea — [http://www.minebea.co.jp/english/company/aboutus/history/index.html History]</ref>
</references>

[[Category:List of all brands & companies]]
[[Category:Contemporary brands & companies]]
[[Category:American brands & companies]]
[[Category:OEM companies]]