Which are the leading companies? Canon and Nikon. ... They make their own sensors.
In digital cameras overall, Canon is about number two behind Sony, and Nikon is well down, at five or six. Olympus sells far more digital cameras than Nikon, though in both cases, Sanyo does much of the manufacturing.
Canon and Nikon dominate only in DSLRs, and there the main reason is their established dominance of SLR technology; the sensors are probably less important to their DSLR strength than their lenses, autofocus, light metering, and such.
Also, overall Canon and Nikon do not make their own sensors: most of their digital cameras, the compact digicams, use sensors from Sony, Sanyo and such, while almost all of Nikon's DSLR sensors are made by Sony. Canon's DSLR sensors and the Nikon D2H sensor are the only exceptions, and even then someone like Sony might fabricate the D2H sensor to a Nikon design.