Niterra Co., a Japanese company whose mainstay product is spark plugs for automotive engines, plans to accelerate the diversification of its business into sectors such as semiconductors, as the company expects to face headwinds caused by the public's rapid transition to electric vehicles, said Keiji Suzuki, who became the company's president in April, during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.
The following is excepted from the interview.
The Yomiuri Shimbun: How do you view the current conditions of the automobile market?
Keiji Suzuki: This wave of expansion in the EV market is coming about five years later than I thought it would. Still, I don't believe internal-combustion engine vehicles will be able to maintain their current volume. Over the next five to ten years, the number of new internal-combustion engine vehicles entering the market will likely become smaller than the number being phased out.
Yomiuri: How do you assess the business climate surrounding your NGK brand of spark plugs?
Suzuki: The NGK brand has gained widespread recognition and a well-established position around the world. We are increasing our market share through the high quality and reliability of the products. We enjoy strong approval in regions such as Southeast Asia, as well as in developed nations. In contrast, our competitors hold a large share of the market in China and India, where price sensitivity is high. Expanding sales in these markets will be a challenge for us going forward.
We want to strengthen sales of high-value-added products to drive revenue growth. These products use precious metals and offer superior performance in ignitability and fuel efficiency. As the proportion of these products increases in new vehicles, the ratio of such products among replacement parts will also gradually rise.
Acquiring EV parts manufacturer
Yomiuri: You have set a goal of increasing sales revenue from non-automotive sectors. Could you elaborate?
Suzuki: In addition to the automotive sector, we are now focusing on semiconductor-related operations. We supply components for equipment used to secure semiconductor wafer substrates. Our strength lies in our development capabilities, which can satisfy demand for miniaturization and stacking of semiconductors. The semiconductor-related business is an area where we must grow our sales revenue over the next five years.
In 2025, we acquired Toshiba Materials Co. (now Niterra Materials Co.), a company that manufactures components for electrified vehicles. The purchase was highly meaningful for us, as it brought us into a field that will let us offset (future losses from) internal-combustion engine vehicles. The company manufactures components that dissipate heat generated by inverters, which turn direct electrical current into alternating current, as well as components for bearings used in electrified vehicles.
Yomiuri: Your company changed its English name to Niterra Co. from NGK Spark Plug Co. in 2023. Can you talk about that?
Suzuki: Niterra means "making the Earth shine." Because it has such a positive meaning, I have a very favorable impression of it. The decision to change the company's English name to Niterra and rename the corporate group to the Niterra Group has been very effective.
The Japanese name -- Nippon Tokushu Togyo -- is also very well-loved. It carries significant prestige and a rich history. We are currently discussing whether to change the Japanese name to Niterra as well, but we haven't yet begun considering when we would implement such a change. We intend to retain this traditional name to some extent.
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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.
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