Producer
Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire
Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire LLC (Fort Wayne, Indiana; joint venture formed 2019: Superior Essex contributed its magnet wire division, Furukawa Electric contributed its winding wire division) is the world's largest magnet wire manufacturer, holding an estimated 20-25% global market share. Produces round, rectangular, and film-insulated enameled copper magnet wire (AWG 10 to AWG 44) at multiple US facilities (Fort Wayne IN headquarters; other domestic plants) and international operations. Also produces aluminum magnet wire and winding wire for industrial, automotive, EV motor, transformer, and defense applications. Fort Wayne, Indiana has been the center of Superior Essex/Essex Group magnet wire production since the 1930s. The joint venture combined the #1 US magnet wire maker (Superior Essex/Essex Group) with the #1 Japanese magnet wire maker (Furukawa Electric) — creating a dominant global duopoly position alongside Sumitomo Electric. Customers include GE, Siemens, ABB, and every major transformer and electric motor OEM in North America.
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Round Magnet Wire (Transformer & Motor)
55%Rectangular / Strip Magnet Wire
20%EV & Automotive Motor Wire
15%Aluminum Magnet Wire & Specialty
10%
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Did you know2023
Essex Furukawa's magnet wire is simultaneously the critical consumable in: (1) EV traction motor stators — every Tesla, GM Ultium, and Ford F-150 Lightning electric motor contains hundreds of feet of hairpin magnet wire wound through the stator; (2) grid power transformers — the windings in every distribution transformer stepping utility voltage down to household current are magnet wire; (3) wind turbine generators — the generator at the top of each wind turbine nacelle uses magnet wire stator windings; (4) diesel backup generator alternators — the alternator in every hospital, data center, and telecom tower backup generator uses the same class of magnet wire. The same Fort Wayne factory supplies wire to the EV transition (decarbonizing transport) and to the fossil-fuel backup systems (maintaining reliability during the transition). Essex Furukawa has no known substitute at scale: the US produces essentially no magnet wire except through Essex Furukawa and a handful of regional producers. A single-facility disruption in Fort Wayne would simultaneously constrain EV motor production, transformer manufacturing, and backup generator alternator production across North America.
Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire LLC ↗Origin2023
The American half of Essex Furukawa traces to the Essex Wire Corporation, founded in 1930 in Fort Wayne, Indiana — a city that became the center of US magnet wire production because of its position in the Midwest manufacturing belt and access to copper from Great Lakes refineries. Essex Wire was part of the electrification era's hidden supply chain: as the US built out its power grid, every transformer required thousands of feet of tightly wound enameled copper wire, and Essex supplied it. The company grew through every wave of electrification — rural power cooperatives in the 1930s, wartime motor production in the 1940s, suburban appliance manufacturing in the 1950s, and industrial automation thereafter. Furukawa Electric, the Japanese partner, traces its wire operations to 1884 — a spinoff of the Sumitomo copper mining and smelting business, giving it copper sourcing that predates industrial Japan. The 2019 joint venture between these two century-old magnet wire lineages created the world's largest magnet wire producer, controlling roughly 20-25% of global supply from Fort Wayne.
Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire LLC ↗Concentration2019
The Essex Furukawa Magnet Wire joint venture (formed July 2019) combined Superior Essex's #1 North American position with Furukawa Electric's #1 Japanese position to create a single entity controlling an estimated 20-25% of global magnet wire supply. This was not a hostile takeover or distressed merger — it was a deliberate market consolidation by the two dominant regional magnet wire leaders. The resulting entity is larger than its next two competitors combined in the Western world. Essex Furukawa's scale allows it to set de facto industry pricing benchmarks: when Essex Furukawa adjusts its copper surcharge formula, the entire North American magnet wire market follows within 30 days. Essex Furukawa's pricing publications are effectively the market clearing price for round magnet wire in North America, with Rea Magnet Wire and smaller producers referencing Essex Furukawa's monthly copper adjustment bulletins.
Magnetics Magazine (independent trade press) ↗