Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)

Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is a term used when one company makes a part or subsystem that is used in another company's end product.

The term is used in several ways, and the ambiguity of the term's usage can sometimes be unclear, even in context. It can alternately refer to a part or subsystems maker, the maker of a system that includes subsystems, an end product producer, or an automotive part that is manufactured by the same company that produced the original part used in assembly. OEM (original equipment manufacturer) is a broad term whose meaning has evolved over time. In the past, OEM referred to the company that originally built a given product, which was then sold to other companies to rebrand and resell. Over time, however, the term is more frequently used to describe those companies in the business of rebranding a manufacturer's products and selling them to end customers.