[Company analysis] TDK Corporation (TDK)

「TDK Corporation」is a major electronic device manufacturer in Japan, and they usually handle electronic materials such as ferrites and capacitors, electrical parts, magnetic heads, and secondary batteries. In the past, this company used to handle recording media products such as cassette tapes, which was known to the general consumer for it, but now they withdraw it completely. It is also one of the three major parts manufacturers in Japan, 「Kyocera Corporation(京セラ)」,「TDK Corporation」and「Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.(村田製作所)」. The number of consolidated employees is approximately 104,781.

 

1. Company Profile

2. Summary and Features

3. Major Business

4. Financial Information

 

 

 

1. Company Profile

 

※Unit is JPY million, as of 2019

Company name	TDK Corporation
Company name (Japanese)	TDK
Date of establishment	Saturday, December 7, 1935
Headquarters location	〒103-6128 東京都中央区日本橋二丁目5番1号
Capital	32,641
Consolidated sales	1,381,806
Consolidated operating profit	107,823
Consolidated total assets	1,992,480
Consolidated capital	883,756
Capital adequacy ratio	44.4%
Consolidated number of employees	104,781

 

 

 

2. Summary and Features

 
This company was founded in 1935 by Katou Yogoro(加藤与五郎) and Takei Takeshi(武井武), who were doctors at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The main purpose of this establishment was for the industrialization and commercialization of the ferrite that they invented. In the past, they handled electronic parts such as ferrite, video tapes, and analog / digital audio tapes. However, since the 1980s, they decided to change their portfolio of core business into recording media, magnetic heads, electronic components, and lithium-ion batteries.

Some people are able to recognize them as a recording media brand. That is true, but as the profitability of the recording media business deteriorated steadily, as of 2007,「TDK」transferred this business to「IMAITION」in the United States. did. After that, they continued to manufacture only data storage tapes for business use. Soon after, this business was also withdrawn as of October 2013.  

However, in other fields, they are actively conducting M & A and expanding the scale of their business, and promoting globalization of management. At present,「TDK」has more than 100 factories, research laboratories, and sales offices in 30 countries around the world. And the overseas production ratio is about 86%. Overseas sales account for more than 91%, and overseas shareholder ratio reaches 40%.

The greatest strength of this「TDK」is that it has the ability to perform all the process of product development in-house, from material process development to software development and evaluation simulation. As a result, the integrated production of electronic parts and devices improves both productivity and quality control capabilities. In addition, they can make their technology and know-how to be confidential and this allow them to keep their competitive advantages.

 

 

3. Major Business

 

■ Recording device
Since 2008, this company become No.1 company in this field. And they are the Japan's largest manufacturer of HDD head parts. The OEM market share exceeds 30%, and they also manufacture and sell HDD suspensions and precision processed parts.

■ Electronic parts
They manufacture and sell ferrites and magnets (ferrite magnets and rare earth magnets). In particular, MLCC (multilayer ceramic capacitor), which is said to be rice in the industry, has the third largest share in the world.

■ Other
They handle FA products (semiconductor manufacturing equipment, chip mounters, etc.) and anechoic chambers.

 

 

 

4. Financial information

 

※Unit is JPY million

		2016	2017	2018
Consolidated sales		1,178,257	1,271,747	1,381,806
Consolidated operating profit		208,660	85,633	107,823
Consolidated total assets		1,664,333	1,905,209	1,992,480
Consolidated net assets		802,118	831,232	883,756
Breakdown of sales	Manual parts business	528,225	417,757	433,406
	Sensor application products	42,850	77,355	76,467
	Magnetic application products	329,850	277,548	272,807
	Film application products	247,693	442,822	537,502
	Others	29,639	56,265	61,624