TDK Corp. and Toshiba Corp. have agreed to establish a joint venture (JV), called TDK Automotive Technologies Corp., which will engage in the development, manufacture and sales of automotive inverters for hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles.
Many countries plan to impose more stringent regulation of automobile exhaust emissions in 2020 and after, in an effort to prevent air pollution and global warming. This trend toward stricter regulation is expected to greatly affect the global automobile market, contributing to an increase in demand for hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the global market and greatly increased use of electric, fuel-cell and other eco-friendly vehicles.
Under such market conditions, TDK is currently strengthening its energy unit business, which mainly consists of hardware in power conversion for hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as software that controls such hardware as strategic growth products in the medium- to long-term. TDK offers a lineup of products, such as DC-DC converters, on-board chargers and wireless power transfer systems that are currently being developed. The DC-DC converter in particular utilizes the magnetic material technologies that are the strength of TDK. They are one of the smallest in the industry and offer high efficiency and other product advantages that have won global recognition and a delivery record of more than 2.5 million units in aggregate.
Upon the establishment of the JV with Toshiba, TDK’s energy unit business is expected to expand, as the addition of automotive inverters to TDK’s product lineup will broaden its product range and enable the company to meet diverse customer demand.
Toshiba develops technologies to meet automobile manufacturers’ requirements for low-fuel consumption that combine advanced capabilities in automotive inverters with 120 years of cumulative know-how in motors. By integrating power semiconductor modules, Toshiba’s inverters secure high levels of heat dissipation in a short time, and also contribute to downsizing that reduces space requirements. Toshiba aims to strengthen its competitiveness in the growing market for automotive inverters and motors by combining its highly efficient automotive motors with automotive inverters developed by the JV and DC-DC converters developed by TDK, and proposing them as a system for hybrid and electric vehicles.
The business is scheduled to begin operations on Dec. 1.
