OEM

OEM stands for original equipment manufacturer, a company that builds a product or component that gets sold under a different company's brand, or gets built directly into another company's finished product. A memory chipmaker selling to a laptop brand, or a battery maker supplying an automaker, are both OEM relationships: the end customer usually never sees the OEM's name at all, only the brand on the finished product. The term is used both ways, though. In autos and much of industry, OEM more often means the company selling the finished branded product, such as the automaker itself, so check which sense a source means.

Being an OEM supplier can mean strong, recurring demand if the relationship is sticky, but it also means the OEM's profits depend heavily on the pricing power and purchasing decisions of a much smaller number of large buyers, rather than a broad base of end consumers.