SHOWA DENKO TO TRANSFER ITS RARE-EARTH ALLOY R&D BUSINESS TO TDK CORP.

Showa Denko K.K. has agreed to transfer its business sector that conducts research and development on rare earth magnetic alloys to TDK Corp. (TDK) around the end of January 2019. SDK and TDK concluded a transfer contract today. The assets subject to this transfer consist mainly of a business sector which conducts R&D in Chichibu Plant as a part of the Showa Denko Group’s rare earth magnetic alloy business and SDK’s intellectual property rights on rare earth magnetic alloys. Rare earth magnets are used as materials necessary for downsizing and energy efficiency improvement of home appliances and motors installed in HDDs, wind turbines and factory automation devices. Thus rare earth magnets are used in various situations of society. SDK started to manufacture rare earth magnetic alloys in 1986. Since then, SDK has been developing new technologies, and successfully developed alloys for neodymium magnets which do not contain heavy rare earth metals such as dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb) but have a magnetic force equivalent to conventional rare earth magnets. In this way, SDK has been contributing to the realization of society conserving natural resources and energy.