TDK-Lambda News

One year after the acquisition of Lambda by TDK, Takeo Suzuki, Representative Director & President of Densei-Lambda, has his eye on other takeovers in order to reinforce market strength.


Markt&Technik: Mr. Suzuki, when TDK took over Lambda a year ago, TDK-Lambda moved up to World No. 2 in the sector. Following the Astec-Artesyn deal, you're now only in third place. Do you want to get back to second place?

Takeo Suzuki: Our main aim is to establish TDK-Lambda as a total power solution company on the market. It doesn't matter to us whether we're in second or third place. First and foremost, we want to grow.

In this respect, we're not just bent on achieving organic growth, but on following a two-part acquisition strategy as well. At a national level – for instance, in North America – we shall take over smaller manufacturers that cover niche markets. As far as this type of acquisition is concerned, we're thinking in the region of 10 to 15 million dollars. At the same time, we shall also be striving to expand our market volume at an international level. In this case, we're thinking of an acquisition of 50 to 100 million dollars.

With these takeovers, will you be concentrating on particular market or technology segments?

At present, our share of the entire market is about six percent. This means that we're well behind the market leader, Delta, who has twelve percent. The situation is quite different when it comes to power supply for industrial applications. In this field, TDK-Lambda is the clear market leader, with twenty-four percent, in front of Power-One, with four percent. Our aim in going for further acquisitions, therefore, is to strengthen our position in the market as a whole – with a certain focus being on DC/DC business.


Especially in the industrial sector, European power specialists have responded to manufacturers that have an aggressive price policy – such as Mean-Well – by offering "slimmed down" devices. Are you planning to do something similar?

As far as our home market, Japan, is concerned, these manufacturers with an aggressive price policy are not important, because of the high demands in terms of reliability that the market has – especially in the industrial sector. At an international level, however, we shall respond to business models such as those of Delta and Mean-Well by introducing an appropriate range of products.

The consolidation process in the power-supply market is speeding up, especially in the DC/DC area. Will future capability in the power sector depend principally on cost structures or on the strength of technical innovation?

In two or three years at the very latest, there'll no longer be any way around digital controlled power supplies, above all in the high-end sector. Anyone who doesn't keep up with the times in technical terms will very quickly be marginalized. In the future as well, the low-power segment will certainly be principally influenced by price, and therefore by production aspects. I estimate that, in a few years, China will no longer be playing the dominating role as a production site that it plays now. Along with large EMS companies, we have also started to reduce our production capacity in China, and have begun to transfer it to Thailand, Vietnam, or Malaysia.

The interview was conducted by Engelbert Hopf.