Tokyo Tech and TDK Conclude Organizational Alliance Agreement

Inventors of ferrite, Dr. Yogoro Kato (left)
and Dr. Takeshi Takei (right)

Relations between Tokyo Tech and TDK have a long history extending back to the invention and commercialization of ferrite in 1930. Ferrite, a magnetic material and one of Japan's most important original inventions, grew out of the research of Dr. Yogoro Kato and Dr. Takeshi Takei at Tokyo Tech's Department of Electrochemistry. TDK was founded on December 7, 1935, to engage in the commercialization of ferrite. The company was initially called Tokyo Denki Kagaku Kogyo after the name of the Institute's department that made the invention. It was a pioneering university-launched venture company in Japan.

Subsequently, ahead of the rest of the world, ferrite came to be applied in wireless communication equipment and radios in Japan, and later it influenced the evolution of all kinds of electronic devices, such as the deflection yoke cores used in television cathode-ray tubes and transformers to adjust voltage. Nowadays ferrite is used in a wide range of applications, including smartphones, tablets, and, in the automobile field, hybrid and electric vehicles. Ferrite contributes immensely to society as an important electronic component in state-of-the-art electronic equipment.