Japanese battery maker TDK, an Apple supplier, is responding to a surge in inquiries about a new smartphone battery in Asia. The company hopes the battery will be a game-changer, providing more power to increasingly thin and light devices. According to TDK CEO Noboru Saito, the company is the first to apply a technological breakthrough that its competitors have been exploring to smartphones, mainly to extend the driving range of electric vehicles.

In the first half of 2023, the company began selling products produced by its Hong Kong subsidiary Amperex Technology Ltd. (ATL) produces small lithium-ion batteries with silicon electrodes.

TDK, the world's largest maker of smartphone batteries, is one of several big names stepping up competition in energy storage. Its competitors have taken different strategies with consumer products. Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution are developing batteries with higher energy density and smaller size. Other options include graphene batteries, solid-state batteries, hydrogen fuel cells or sodium-ion batteries.

Saito said that in order to maintain its leading position in the highly competitive smartphone field, TDK will have to continue to pursue proprietary technologies. In the field of smartphones, TDK controls more than one-third of the battery market.

"We need to assume that other companies will enter this space, and we need to develop the next, and then the next, technology to differentiate ourselves and maintain our lead." "There is room for further development of this technology."

TDK is now the only company mass-producing silicon-carbon batteries for smartphones. Interest is particularly strong among mobile phone manufacturers who want to gain an advantage in a saturated market with ultra-thin devices and different designs, which is what high-capacity batteries can do.

According to analysts, Honor's latest foldable smartphone MagicV2 is an example, with a thickness of less than 10 mm. TDK declined to comment and said it would not name any customers. Honor's official website says its phones use silicon-carbon dual batteries and compete with Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi in China and Asian markets. The company declined to comment on its suppliers.


TDK's ATL dominates mobile phone batteries, with more than a third of global market share

TDK says its new cells have 10% more capacity than conventional graphite anode cells, although industry research suggests the technology has the potential to increase capacity by 40% or more. Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda said the product should be able to extend the battery life of more devices, including mobile gaming devices, wearable devices and artificial intelligence-related edge tools, while reducing their size.

For TDK, high-end batteries provide a path to sustainable growth for a product that is seen as commoditized. The battery business accounts for more than half of TDK's annual revenue, and smartphone makers account for the majority of its largest customers. But TDK said on its recent earnings call that growth in its smartphone battery business has been flat, raising concerns about slowing growth due to thin profit margins among customers.

Saito said he expects new products to account for a double-digit share of the company's total smartphone battery sales in the next few years, up from less than 5% currently.


TDK acquired ATL, founded by Zeng Bin, in 2005 and expanded its production into the smartphone market, winning major customers such as Apple and Samsung Electronics. ATL's nascent electric vehicle battery business was spun off in 2011 to Hong Kong-based CATL, with which ATL now has two joint ventures that produce rechargeable batteries and cells for home energy storage, motorcycles and industrial machines.

"Some may say that our battery sales are gradually declining, but I disagree. I guarantee that even in the long term, batteries will be a sustainable and important pillar of the group's portfolio,"Saito said. "As we enter the age of artificial intelligence and the world becomes increasingly connected, the demand for batteries will only grow, and our mission is to meet these needs through new and evolving technologies."