This Week in Imaging: A Look at Current Industry Patnerships

by Kathleen Wirth · Published October 3, 2025 · Updated October 3, 2025

This week was notable in the document-imaging industry for OKI Industries of Japan joining Ricoh and Toshiba Tec’s ETRIA joint venture, which is dedicated to the development of office copier/MFPs and related solutions, creating a partnership of three OEMs.

Here’s a look at the current state of OEM partnerships. Virtually every company has some kind of partnership now, either through acquisition or product sourcing:

Xerox-Lexmark, Xerox-HP Inc., Xerox-Fujifilm Business Innovation, and Xerox-Kyocera

In July 2025, Xerox completed its acquisition of Lexmark for $1.5 billion. Notably, the Acquisition gives Xerox access to Lexmark’s strong A4 portfolio and to markets in Asia-Pacific.

As for HP, Xerox abandoned its proposed acquisition of HP in 2020. But it does have a partnership with HP. In 2019, HP and Xerox announced a technology and Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) partnership. Xerox sources some A3 and A4 hardware engines from HP, while Xerox supplies HP with toner for some of its products. Xerox also sells HP PCs, displays and accessories along with some HP services.

However, since Xerox has acquired A4 specialist Lexmark, it may not be sourcing A4 equipment from HP.

Xerox also continues to source equipment from Fujifilm Busiess Innovation, which was previously known as Fuji-Xerox, and which Xerox partly owned

More recently, Xerox recently announced that it was partnering with Kyocera to sell Kyocera inkjet presses.

Ricoh and Brother

A more recent partnership is between Ricoh and Brother. In June 2025, Ricoh and Brother announced a new alliance in the U.S. The partnership allows Ricoh to resell Brother’s A4 products.

Ricoh and Fujitsu

Ricoh purchased Fujitsu’s document-scanner business, PFU Limited, in 2005.

Canon and HP

At this point, the industry’s strongest partnership is between Canon and HP. The two companies have a very strong relationship going back several decades, and HP has sourced many laser-print engines from Canon.

Epson and Fiery

Epson purchased Fiery in 2024 for $568.7 million. The acquisition gives Epson access to Fiery production-level controllers and software to enable Epson to develop its commercial-printer initiatives.

Sharp Corporation and Fujifilm Business Innovation

Sharp recently partnered with Fujifilm, marketing Fujifilm’s production-print offerings.

Konica Minolta and Fujfilm Business Innovation

In July 2024, Konica Minolta and Fujifilm Business Innovation announced a joint venture to coordinate the procurement of raw materials and parts for their office and production printers.

Going further back, Konica acquired Minolta in 2003, and HP purchased the Indigo commercial print business in 2001. For its part, Ricoh acquired three document-imaging-related companies: Savin in 1995, Lanier in 2001, and Gestetner, also in 1995.

Fujifilm and Xerox Partner Up

One thing in particular that stands out from this review is that both Xerox and Fujifilm now have partnerships with many other companies. That’s likely because both companies had said they would expand their partnerships after Fujifilm failed to acquire Xerox – with Fujifilm stating it would source products to other companies besides Xerox, and Xerox stating it would source from other companies besides Fujifilm.

This Week in Imaging

Office/Home and Wide-Format Printing

New HP AI-Assisted Scanning for Document Summaries, New Envy All-in-Ones, Large Format Printer

Fujifilm Business Innovation Launches Apeos 3561 Series with Cloud Connectivity, Advanced Scanning

Partnerships

OKI Officially Joins ETRIA Copier/MFP Joint Development Company

Wide-Format and Commercial Printing

Canon U.S.A. Previews Colorado XL-Series, Provides More Details

Canon Previews New Colorado XL Wide-Format UV Gel Printer

New Konica Minolta Inkjet Print Head Jets Two Colors from a Single Print Head

Legal Briefs

Xerox Accuses Copier Dealer of Fraud, Kickback Schemes