“AI is definitely one technology that is developing very fast. And power management is the second big area”, says Gagan Bansal, President-Sales & Marketing, TDK India, in an exclusive conversation with the ELE Times. As the Indian electronic manufacturing industry aims to reach a worth of $300 billion by the end of 2026, the industry not only has to boost manufacturing but also innovative manufacturing to cater to the growing demands.
He navigated from providing a wide spectrum in the electronic manufacturing market to the research and development for more innovative technology to meet the demands of tomorrow. Also offering a peek into TDK’s strategy to face global uncertainties, along with promising technology that TDK is working on.
Moving from Traditional to Innovative Technology
Tracing TDK’s journey from creating the famous magnetic cassette tapes to batteries and now advanced technology with ADAS and XEV applications in radars and sensors, Gagan Bansal provides an introductory brief into TDK’s capabilities.
He further introduces TDK’s innovative product line, not only for the industrial sector but also for automotive and daily requirements, wherein he underlines TDK’s major mainstay in business as the market moves from ICE vehicles to EVs with nearly 60-70% electronics involved in it.
Apart from the automotive industry, he also mentions a product developed by TDK, which is the noise-cancellation in spatial atmosphere, simply said: noise cancellation without headphones. At this point, he specifically touches on the combination of MEMS-based microphone, piezo-listen speaker, and digital signal processing involved in the product.
Incorporation of AI into TDK
“A lot of our sensor products are now related to AI software,” Gagan Bansal responded to the question on the integration of AI. Recognizing the growing role of AI, he revealed that TDK has taken multiple steps for its inclusion by providing mission-critical components in terms of inductive components and electrolytic capacitors for various AI server applications.
He also recalled that many of their innovative technologies are incorporated with AI, namely the AR-VR technology and smart sensors for spatial noise cancellation and detection of head movement. He further added that their global company, TDK Sensor EI (Edge Intelligence), overlays software for artificial intelligence at the edge of the device, above the existing sensing devices; a growing demand in upcoming technology.
TDK in India
“Electronics manufacturing in India, on a penetration level, is relatively low as compared to the developed part of the world,” as he underlined the low penetration into the Indian market as compared to the developed part of the world, he recognized India as a place full of scale and scope.
To give an idea of TDK’s extensive presence in India, he says, “So we have a localization drive and we are very proud that in our existing units, more than 50% of the inputs are sourced locally over a period of time.” With six operational plants in India, TDK has also invested in four early-stage deep tech ventures into the fields of industrial IoT, agritech, EV charging, and EV bikes, making India the cornerstone in its global strategy.
TDK’s vision for the next half of the decade
Talking about the future of technology and innovation, he underlines the pace at which AI is developing while also sharing concerns around its power consumption and the indispensable need to develop power-efficient alternatives. Stepping into its feet, a bit more in this area, TDK has already begun working on developing an analogue memory product, called spin Memristor, inspired by the functioning of the human brain.
Comparing the human brain to digital memory, he highlighted how, despite being bigger in size, the human brain consumes comparatively less energy in contrast to a digital memory system. Their new product, Spin Memristor, based on the spintronics technology of an electron, aims to store data in an analogue format, which can be used in AI servers to consume less energy.
Concluding his conversation, Gagan Bansal says,” India is a formidable force to reckon with. It is a part of our global strategy as part of TDK, and it will remain to be so.” He also pitches TDK as a technology-ready company for the business to be with in furthering their ambitions and products on a global stage.
