Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co., Ltd. (NDK) was established in 1948 with a founding philosophy of “contributing to the prosperity of society and world peace through our service to customers.” This philosophy is founded on a belief that providing reliable, high-quality and attractive products at an appropriate price can be useful to customers and can, by extension, help society prosper. Moreover, the founder believed that enhancing communication among people through accurate information would promote international understanding as a cornerstone of lasting peace. This belief was generated by the founder, Masamichi Takeuchi, from his experiences of the war. Since its foundation, as a company specializing in the manufacturing of quartz crystal devices for frequency control, selection, and detection, NDK has created various frequencies and has helped electronics develop from inside the devices.
Quartz crystal devices primarily had applications in clocks and in the communications equipment field. Subsequently, given that microcontrollers have come to be used for so many applications, crystal devices are now used across a wide range of fields, from digital appliances through automobiles to smartphones. Looking ahead, it is expected that the number of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) installed in automobiles will increase and that 5G-compatible smartphones will become more widespread as progress is made with the next-generation communication standard 5G base stations infrastructure. As a result, crystal devices are expected to be increasingly in demand for automobiles, 5G-compatible base stations and smartphones.
As 5G requires highly accurate and highly reliable crystal devices that meet the needs for high frequencies and miniaturization, we clarified our policy in the Mid-Term Management Plan announced on June 19, 2020, to work on product differentiation by the processing of high-precision, high-reliability products that utilize our cultivation of high-quality synthetic quartz crystals and photolithography technologies. We also aimed to reap the fruits of these business opportunities and build a robust management structure capable of reliably securing profits.
Under the Mid-Term Management Plan, we aim to achieve net sales of \42.0 billion, and to secure an operating income ratio of 7% in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. However, owing to strong demand for automotive electronics, we expect to clear this target a year early, reaching \42.5 billion in net sales in the fiscal year ending March 2022. Moreover, we have trimmed fixed costs to levels in line with plans by making progress on structural reforms including undertaking workforce rationalization measures throughout the Group. At the same time, we aim to achieve the operating income ratio target of 7% by continuously raising automotive electronics sales into the next fiscal year onward and increasing sales of cutting-edge compact products for 5G-compatible small base stations and smartphones. Especially for 5G-compatible smartphones, the 76.8MHz crystal units with built-in thermistors (equipped with photolithography blanks), which received the first certification for 5G smartphones from Qualcomm Technologies of the United States, is expected to contribute to the profitability improvement.
NDK is committed to implementing its Mid-Term Management Plan and steadily improving profitability. NDK will provide highly reliable and high-precision products required in the 5G era and continue to contribute to the creation of a safe, secure, and comfortable society.