Magnax - joint venture between Japanese Konica (Konishiroku Photo Industry Co., Ltd.) and American Ampex. Cooperation between the companies began in 1979, in 1980 a joint venture company Konishiroku Ampex Co., Ltd. was created, in early 1981 cassettes were produced from Ampex materials, at the end of the year a Japanese factory began operating. In 1983, Ampex decided to exit the consumer magnetic tape business. Konishiroku Ampex terminated the joint venture agreement with Ampex, again becoming a subsidiary of Konishiroku Photo Industry, and changed its name to Konica Magnetics Co., Ltd. Since then, audio cassettes have been produced only under the Konica brand.