After Ten Years Designing Chargers in Osaka, CIO Builds Its First One in Japan

Ten years designing chargers in Osaka. Now CIO is building one in Japan. NovaPort III hits Kickstarter November 5

OSAKA , JAPAN, October 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- CIO decided to build a charger in Japan before it had a domestic factory, a Japanese parts supplier, or a clear path to mass production. Ten years after the company's founding in Osaka, that decision has become NovaPort III, the first CIO charger built in Japan, launching on Kickstarter on November 5. A pre-launch page is live now on Kickstarter, where backers can sign up to be notified when the campaign opens.

CIO was founded in 2017 and spent its first decade designing chargers and power banks in house while working with external manufacturing partners to build them. Each product was refined through candid feedback from users, and over time CIO heard a recurring expectation from customers who chose it as a Japanese brand. As the company reached its tenth anniversary this year, it set out to answer that expectation by bringing the details refined over ten years into production in Japan.

"Simply making it in Japan isn't enough," said CIO President Nakahashi. "It's not about the fact that it was made in Japan. We have to create the meaning of making it in Japan ourselves."

The first obstacle was finding a factory. CIO consulted roughly 30 domestic manufacturers, and far fewer than expected had the combination of small USB charger experience, stable capacity, quality control systems, and floor space the project required. Asahi Electronics, which has manufactured products in Fukushima Prefecture for more than 40 years, agreed to take it on. Its president, Mr. Sugano, offered a warning that shaped the rest of the project: being made in Japan alone does not make a product worth buying. NovaPort III would have to earn its place on performance and price first.

The second obstacle was the parts list. When CIO showed its first version to technical advisor Ichiken, his first question was whether it held any Japanese parts at all. It held none. Rather than design around whatever domestic parts happened to be available, CIO set the product's requirements first, then searched for Japanese components that could meet them on size, heat, safety, and supply. KOA, a resistor manufacturer in Nagano Prefecture, became one of the suppliers that moved the list well beyond zero, and the share keeps growing as more parts are qualified.

CIO is open about where things stand. In this first phase, component procurement and circuit board assembly take place in China. Firmware flashing, screen installation, final assembly, power on testing, aging tests at maximum load, packaging, and shipping take place in Japan. CIO brought the later stages home first because they are where quality and accountability can be most clearly guaranteed.

The company also sees production in Japan as something to sustain, not a one time label. A domestic factory needs steady orders to keep its people and equipment in place, and continuous production lets experience build up on the line for the next process and the next product. That makes NovaPort III a first step rather than a finish line.

NovaPort III is a 65W charger with two USB-C ports and four selectable charging modes. Pledge levels, early bird pricing, and full specifications will be announced when the campaign opens on November 5. Sign ups are open now Kickstarter.

CIO is a Japan based consumer electronics brand headquartered in Osaka, designing charging accessories including power banks, wall chargers, car chargers, and cable management products, sold direct to consumers in the US through Shopify and Amazon. CIO has won Japan's Good Design Award three consecutive years, 2022 through 2024.

Alex M
CIO.co.,ltd
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