Glass

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles — the most famous gallery in Europe — is lined with glass made by Saint-Gobain, and that 17th-century royal order still defines the company's character: founded in 1665 by royal decree to break Venice's glassmaking monopoly, Saint-Gobain has spent 350 years turning materials science into architecture and industry. It is now one of the world's largest building materials companies. The modern company's portfolio is built around 'light and living': glass (flat glass for buildings and vehicles, glass containers), high-performance materials (ceramics, abrasives, and the reinforcements used in wind turbine blades and composites), and building distribution (a network of DIY and construction stores across Europe). Its low-emissivity glass and gypsum systems are standard in energy-efficient buildings worldwide. With about 160,000 employees and annual revenue near €48 billion, Saint-Gobain operates in 75+ countries and has reinvented itself repeatedly — from glassmaker to construction giant to a leader in sustainable building materials, with carbon-reduction targets that its customers increasingly demand. For construction buyers, the company's reach means one supplier for windows, insulation, drywall, and the adhesives that hold buildings together.

In 1907, Japan produced no flat glass of its own — every pane was imported from Europe. AGC (then Asahi Glass) changed that, making the country's first domestically produced flat glass and becoming the foundation of an industry. More than a century later, AGC is one of the world's largest glass makers, and glass is only part of the story: the company has evolved into a materials company serving construction, automotive, electronics, and life sciences. The business today spans three areas: glass (architectural glass, automotive glass, and the glass substrates inside displays), electronics (semiconductor-related materials, glass for solar panels and batteries), and chemicals & ceramics (fluoropolymers, and the glass used in pharmaceutical packaging). AGC's float glass process innovations and its specialty glass for smartphones — the chemically strengthened cover glass found in many devices — are industry staples. With about 50,000 employees and annual revenue near ¥1.7 trillion, AGC has transformed itself from 'the glass company' into a diversified materials supplier, with a growing business in EV battery materials and biopharma containers. For construction and electronics buyers, AGC offers one of the world's most complete glass-and-materials portfolios, backed by a century of manufacturing depth.