NEC Corporation Spins Off NEC Tokin High-Capacity Laminated Li-ion Business to New Subsidiary, With Focus on Automotive Sector
13 February 2010
NEC Corporation is spinning off NEC Tokin’s high-capacity laminated Li-ion battery business into a new wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC called NEC Energy Devices, as of 1 April. NEC will manage the new large-capacity Li-ion battery subsidiary directly, including investment, operation, production and technology.
The high-capacity laminated lithium-ion secondary battery business is a center of the NEC Group’s new energy business, the company said. NEC plans to accelerate the business with aggressive investment mainly through the electrode business for high-performance lithium-ion batteries for automobiles.
Growing its Li-ion automotive electrode business will require establishing high quality management systems to achieve quality standard for automotive parts, to collaborate with automobile manufacturers closely and to invest sufficient management resource including continuous investment in R&D in order to overcome development competition from rival companies, NEC said.
NEC Tokin will concentrate its management resources on the growth of its electronics component business, including capacitors and EMC, and promoting the development of products that drive awareness of energy markets that are environmentally friendly, including lithium-ion capacitors, magnetic materials and piezoelectric sensors. NEC Tokin will also continue to provide full support and quality assurance to its battery consumers.
In April 2007, NEC, NEC Tokin and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. jointly established Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) to advance the development and production of high performance lithium-ion battery packs for automobiles. (Earlier post.) NEC Tokin established an electrode production line outside of Tokyo for the mass production of electrodes supporting the battery packs.
NEC-Tokin (Japan) has expanded to Thailand, China and USA. The laminated battery spin-off could produce laminated batteries (plus other components) in all four countries within a very short time.
Their close relationship with Nissan will also become a good business opportunity.
Posted by: HarveyD | 13 February 2010 at 09:49 AM
yet anther positive entry into BEV power sourcing. The momentum for EVs is gaining every day.
Posted by: sulleny | 13 February 2010 at 02:14 PM
There's nothing 'fringe' about BEV's when you see folks like NEC moving in. Making this the a wholly-owned sub. shows complete confidence in this venture.
Posted by: danm | 13 February 2010 at 04:23 PM
NEC and Nissan have been working together since the early 90s. We did not see GM working with GE since that time. The Japanese believe that there is a synergy which is greater than the sum of the parts. They also believe in a national industrial policy which some in the U.S. would call anti free market and socialism.
Posted by: SJC | 14 February 2010 at 10:47 AM