The Nichia Corporation was founded in 1956 by Nobuo Ogawa [jp] (1912-2002) at Aratano-cho, Anan, Tokushima to produce calcium phosphate for fluorescent lamp phosphors.

One of Nobuo Ogawa's more well-known decisions was to support Shuji Nakamura to do research on gallium nitride light-emitting diodes, when it was generally considered a very risky business.

[5] The research turned out to be a great success; however, the company received scrutiny for the small size of the ¥20,000 (US$180) bonus initially awarded to Nakamura for his 1993 invention of the first high brightness blue-light LED, which was based on gallium nitride.

[1] Nichia Corporation's competitors include Seoul Semiconductor, Cree, Everlight Electronics, Lumileds, Epistar and Osram.

In January 2006, Nichia launched a lawsuit against rival LED manufacturer Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd., alleging design patent infringement.