Chips: KEMET Corporation and NEC Corporation Announce Agreement to Produce Conductive Polymer Tantalum Capacitors

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, June 15, 1998

KEMET Electronics Corporation, Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA, and NEC Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, both world-leading manufacturers of tantalum capacitors, have entered into a long-term agreement to produce and market high-performance, conductive polymer tantalum capacitors.

The product will be a conductive polymer tantalum capacitor having the benefits of ignition prevention, low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) and high capacitance. This technology will open specific market segments to tantalum capacitors which are currently being served by alternative materials, thereby expanding the existing market for tantalum dielectric capacitors.

The agreement has two main objectives: 1) to increase the availability and supply of conductive polymer tantalum capacitors, and 2) to further the development of this technology to meet the future needs of the worldwide electronics market.

KEMET is the world leader in low ESR tantalum capacitor products with its T510 Multiple Anode Tantalum (MAT) offering ultra low ESR with high capacitance. NEC is the world leader in conductive polymer tantalum technology offering the benefits of low ESR and ignition prevention to the tantalum capacitor. This technology is the basis for the KEMET/NEC agreement. The NEC offerings are marketed under the Neocapacitor trade name.

The agreement also contains provisions for KEMET and NEC to jointly develop and market next-generation capacitor technologies. This agreement covers both the manufacture and marketing of polymer-based capacitors, as well as capacitors manufactured from newly developed materials technologies.

This agreement between the two technology-focused companies will further support and fulfill the constantly changing and demanding needs of the worldwide electronics market.

NEC Corporation pioneered the concept of C&C, the integration of Computers and Communications, and is the only company in the world to be counted among top ranking corporations spanning the wide range of fields essential for this vision of multimedia: computers, communications, and electron devices. Employing in excess of 150,000 people around the world, NEC saw net sales in fiscal year 1997-98 amount to 4,901 billion yen (approximately US $40 billion). FMI: http://www.nec-global.com.

KEMET Corporation, headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, is the largest manufacturer of solid tantalum capacitors in the world and the second largest manufacturer of multilayer ceramic capacitors in the United States. KEMET's common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market's National Market under the symbol KMET. Company information is available via the Internet (http://www.kemet.com).