More than 50 years after the TDK brand became a household name with its best-selling cassette tapes, the Japanese group has transformed itself into the power behind the world’s smartphones and is now vying for a piece of the artificial intelligence market.
Audiophiles and collectors are still willing to splurge upwards of $200 on TDK’s discontinued cassettes, but the company itself has moved on and out of sight of consumers with its internal batteries.
“Since we divested the cassette business, brand recognition of general consumers, unfortunately, has been deteriorating. However, our contribution to society has been increasing,” chief executive Noboru Saito told the Financial Times at its Tokyo headquarters. “This is kind of a paradox or gap that I am strongly feeling.”