Transformation
From Ferrite to the Future: TDK’s 90 Years of Evolutions and Innovations
In December 1935, TDK was born in Japan with a mission to industrialize a newly invented magnetic material called ferrite. This breakthrough sparked a long lineage of technological innovations that would go on to enable radios, televisions, personal computers, smartphones, cars, and virtually every electronic device.
TDK will mark the 90th anniversary of its founding in December 2025. The company that rose to global prominence in the 1980s with its music cassette tapes has since diversified into a broad spectrum of advanced technologies, growing into a global enterprise with more than 100,000 team members across over 30 countries and regions. While many companies choose to remain in specific lines of business, TDK has continuously reshaped its key businesses to meet the demands of each era.
This article traces TDK’s unchanging spirit of creativity and explores the company’s transformation as it looks ahead to the next 100 years.
It all began with ferrite
In 1930, researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (now part of the Institute of Science Tokyo) invented ferrite, the world’s first oxide-based magnetic material. At the time, its applications were still unknown. But TDK’s founder, Kenzo Saito, saw immense potential in this new material—and believed it could spark a new industry in Japan. Driven by the goal of industrializing ferrite, he established Tokyo Denki Kagaku Kogyo (now TDK) on December 7, 1935.
Ferrite cores dramatically improved the performance of wireless communication equipment and radios. By the end of World War II, TDK had shipped a total of five million units. After the war, ferrite cores were adopted for use in black-and-white televisions, whose demand exploded when broadcasting began in Japan during the 1950s. Through ferrite, TDK helped spread television throughout Japan, opening the door to the information age.
TDK technologies and products grew out of ferrite
Building on magnetic technologies rooted in ferrite, TDK kept investing in the development of new products, including magnetic recording tapes. In 1968, leveraging its proprietary materials and processing technologies, the company succeeded in creating a cassette tape capable of recording music in high fidelity—an innovation that radically transformed how people enjoyed music.
Magnetic technologies continued to evolve within TDK, finding applications in inductors, magnetic heads, sensors, and other electronic components—dramatically broadening TDK’s technological reach. As home appliances proliferated and lifestyles shifted, TDK grew as a key player that empowered an increasingly electronics-driven society.
Reinventing itself through the decades
Since its founding, TDK has never confined itself to a single business domain. Instead, it has consistently reshaped its core offerings in response to the needs of each era. Four innovations symbolize TDK’s 90-year journey: ferrite cores, music cassette tapes, multilayer inductors, and thin-film magnetic heads. Each innovation overturned conventional wisdom and brought significant value to people’s lives and to industry.
Having gained global brand recognition through its music cassette tapes, TDK expanded its research and development into inductors, capacitors, and electronic components. In 1980, TDK became the world’s first to develop a multilayer chip inductor, now an indispensable component for the miniaturization and high performance of electronic devices.
Magnetic heads for hard disk drives, an outgrowth of magnetic technologies, played a crucial role in expanding computer storage capacity, pushing the digital era forward. More recently, compact, high-capacity lithium-ion batteries—another key product category—have enabled the miniaturization of smartphones, laptops, and mobile devices, driving the progress of information and communications technologies.
TDK has continually evolved as a company in tandem with societal changes. Its willingness to move beyond past successes and expand its possibilities has been the driving force behind 90 years of growth.
Looking ahead towards 2035: A vision for the future
Since the 2000s, TDK has expanded its business portfolio through proactive mergers and acquisitions, bringing together innovative technologies and talent from around the world. Today, TDK operates more than 250 sites in over 30 countries and regions, with a global team of more than 100,000 team members.
TDK now champions its long-term vision, TDK Transformation—a commitment not only to transforming itself but also to supporting transformation across society. At the center of this shift is the rise of the AI ecosystem. AI is rapidly spreading across every field—servers and data centers, smartphones and digital devices, cars, healthcare, robotics, and infrastructure. It is reshaping both industry and everyday life in profound ways. With a diverse portfolio spanning passive components, sensor products, magnetic application products, and energy application products, TDK is positioned to play a significant role in underpinning this expanding ecosystem. As TDK approaches its 90th anniversary—and looks forward to its 100th in 2035—the company will continue to embrace change and boldly deliver new value to the world.
A sequel to this article will showcase the challengers and innovators whose stories have driven these transformations.
