What happened after TDK left the cassette business?
Do you know what happened to TDK after it left the cassette business? The distinguished Japanese company that defined an era still remains one of Japan’s representative companies! Let us introduce its present situation.
In July 2007, TDK transferred its TDK-brand recording-media sales business to the American company Imation. TDK thus survived as a cassette brand name, but TDK’s own once-flourishing cassette business effectively ended. Eight years later, Imation also withdrew from recording media. Sales ended in late December 2015, bringing the history of TDK cassettes to a close.
And today’s TDK?.. More than 100,000 employees worldwide, over 250 factories, research and development centers and sales offices in more than 30 countries and regions. For the fiscal year ending in March 2022, it ranked 89th among Japanese companies by revenue. It remained a giant corporation! Moreover, revenue for the fiscal year ending in March 2023 rose 14.7% year on year to 2 trillion 180 billion 800 million yen! Operating profit reached 168 billion 800 million yen, also up 1.2%. Both revenue and operating profit set new records.
Its four main business segments are passive components, sensor products, magnetic products and energy products. Since the company does not work directly with consumers, the TDK name no longer appears before us as visibly as it did on cassettes. Yet its ceramic capacitors and sensors serve electric vehicles, for example, while high-frequency components go into smartphones. TDK’s electronic components and sensors are used in cars and information and communications equipment, as well as industrial equipment: wind turbines, solar-power systems and other renewable-energy equipment, machine tools and various production installations. We use TDK products in everyday life without realizing it.
TDK’s four main business segments today
Energy products
Energy products generate 53.8% of revenue. They include lithium-ion batteries for information and communications markets, AC-DC switching and adjustable power supplies, DC-DC converters, battery-charging power supplies and onboard power supplies for electric vehicles.
Passive components
Passive components account for 26.4% of the total. This business originates in TDK’s traditional magnetic material, ferrite. The company supplies various capacitors, including ceramic types, inductive devices, high-frequency components, piezoelectric-material components and circuit-protection components.
Magnetic products
Magnetic products, connected with data-storage technologies including cassette tape, account for 9.2%. High-performance magnetic heads essential to cloud services and ferrite magnets help conserve energy and resources and increase the efficiency of cars and industrial equipment.
Sensor products
Sensor products account for 7.8%. High-function, high-value-added sensors underpin TDK’s own sensing solutions. Its lineup includes magnetic, temperature, pressure and MEMS sensors, among many others.