Born on April 11, 1908, in Nikko-machi, Kamitsuga District, Tochigi (today Nikko). His father Ibuka Hajime was an electrical engineer and Waseda graduate; his father died shortly after his birth, and mother and son moved to Kobe. After Waseda Middle School he graduated from the Electrical Engineering Department of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University (1933), and entered PCL (Photo Chemical Laboratory, the predecessor of Toho Studios). In 1937 he became independent and founded Japan Optical Sound Industries, and in 1940 Japan Measuring Instruments. During the war he cooperated in naval research and development, and during this period he became acquainted with Morita Akio, which led to their postwar collaboration. In October 1945 he founded the 'Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute' in a burned-out building on the third floor of the Shirokiya in Nihombashi, Tokyo (with about 20 employees). On May 7, 1946, he and Morita, 38 and 25 respectively, founded 'Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation' (capital 190,000 yen), the forerunner of Sony. Initially they made radio repairs, electric rice cookers, and electric cushions, with no great success, but with Japan's first tape recorder, the 'Model G,' in 1950, Japan's first transistor radio, the 'TR-55,' in 1955, and the small 'TR-63' radio in 1958 they had a world hit, and in 1958 the company was renamed 'Sony Corporation.' In 1959 the world's first all-transistor TV 'TV8-301,' in 1968 the Trinitron color TV, and so on — he always pursued world-firsts. He retired as president in 1971 and held successively the positions of chairman and honorary chairman. In later years he took an interest in early childhood education and founded the Early Development Association in 1969 (renamed the Sony Education Foundation in 1972), and with books such as 'Kindergarten is Too Late' preached the importance of early education. He died in Tokyo on December 19, 1997, at 89.

A born engineer who found joy from the heart in invention and discovery. He called employees the 'Sony family' and fostered a free-spirited organizational climate. His creed was 'do what others do not' and 'do not make the same thing as other companies,' always pursuing world-firsts and industry-firsts. The exquisite complementary relationship with Morita Akio — Ibuka's technological vision and Morita's marketing sense — supported Sony's rapid growth. His passion for early childhood education in later years was itself the philosophy of an engineer 'opening human potential.'

Sony, founded by Ibuka and Morita, sent out into the world the Walkman (1979), the CD (1982, co-developed), the PlayStation (1994), the Handycam, and so on, becoming a symbol of Japan's postwar technological strength and creativity. Ibuka's ideal of 'products that give dreams and hope to people' is still carried on as Sony's DNA. In 1992 he received the Order of Culture. The Sony Education Foundation still supports early childhood and science education, and his book 'Kindergarten is Too Late' is read as a bible for parents. At the founding site near Shirokiya in Nihombashi, the Sony Archives was opened in 2016, exhibiting Sony's history. A Ibuka Masaru Memorial Hall had also been planned in his hometown of Nikko, Tochigi.