Profile: NIDEC CORPORATION (NJ)

Nidec Corporation (Nidec), incorporated on July 23, 1973, is a manufacturer of electric motors and a manufacturer of electronic machinery and components, and other products. The Company is organized in five business: Small Precision Motors, Mid-size Motors, Machinery, Electronic and Optical Components and Others. In June 2008, Nidec acquired Shanghai Nidec Automotive Electric Motors Limited. In August 2008, it acquired 68.4% interest in Copal Yamada, which manufactures and designs precision molds. In December 2008, Nidec discontinued its optical pickup unit (OPU) business. In March 2009, it disposed of all its interest in Nidec Nemicon Corporation, its subsidiary.

Small Precision Motors

Small Precision Motors include hard disk drives spindle motors, other small precision brushless direct current (DC) motors (for optical disk drives, laser printers, copiers, polygon scanners), brushless DC fans (for game machine consoles, microprocessor units, servers, personal computers (PC), communication devices, automobiles), and other small precision motors (for refrigerator ice makers, mobile phones, compact disc (CD) players, digital versatile disc (DVD) players, and other products). The Company manufactures spindle motors for hard disk drives used in PCs, computer servers, and a range of digital consumer electronics. This product category represented 57.7% of its Small Precision Motors sales for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 (fiscal 2009). Its hard disk spindle motors include 3.5-inch form factor, 2.5-inch form factor and Sub-1.8-inch form factor.

The principal products in other small precision brushless DC motors category are brushless DC motors used in optical disk drives primarily for PCs, digital video recorders, and office equipment, including laser printers and hybrid copiers. This product category represented 23.3% of the Company’s Small Precision Motors sales in fiscal 2009.

The Company’s brushless DC fans, which are used to disperse the excess heat generated by electronic components, thereby keeping electrical equipment cool, have applications in PCs and computer servers, game machine consoles, mobile phone base stations and a variety of other products that require cooling functions. It mainly supplies brushless DC fans to one of the microprocessor manufacturer, all the high-end game machine manufacturers, and the networking and communications equipment suppliers. This product category represented 11.9% of the Small Precision Motors sales in fiscal 2009. Other Small Precision Motors category consists of various types of small electric motors other than brushless DC motors, which are manufactured and sold by its consolidated subsidiaries, and includes stepping motors for refrigerator icemakers, optical disk drives, camcorders, digital still cameras and car navigation systems, vibration motors for mobile phones, brush DC motors for CD and DVD players, and servo motors for industrial equipment and home appliances.

Mid-size Motors

The Mid-size Motors business provides electric motors with power output higher than that of small precision motors and has applications in home appliances, automotive systems, household systems and industrial equipment. The automotive motor business is conducted by the Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Nidec Motors and Actuators. The operations of the home appliance motor business and the household systems and industrial motor businesses are mainly conducted by its wholly owned subsidiaries, Nidec Shibaura Corporation and Nidec Power Motor Corporation. This business represented 12.6% of the Company’s consolidated net sales in fiscal 2009.

Machinery

The Machinery business consists of various equipment and machinery mainly for industrial use. A significant portion of the operations of this business are conducted by Nidec Sankyo Corporation in the transfer robot and card reader industry, Nidec-Shimpo Corporation in the power transmission equipment and other industries, and Nidec-Read Corporation in the semiconductor package inspection equipment and other industries. The remaining operations are managed by Nidec Copal Corporation in the factory automation system industry, Nidec-Kyori Corporation in the high-speed pressing machine industry, Nidec Tosok Corporation in the die bonder industry, and other subsidiary companies.

Electronic and Optical components

The Electronic and Optical Components business is conducted primarily by Nidec Copal Corporation in the camera shutter and lens unit, metal casing and other industries, Nidec Sankyo Corporation in the precision plastic molding, home appliance unit and other industries, and Nidec Electronics Corporation in the encoder, switch, trimmer potentiometer, actuator and other industries. The Company’s primary customers are some of the digital camera manufacturers, mobile phone manufacturers and various control device manufacturers. This business represented 20.0% of its consolidated net sales in fiscal 2009.

Others

The others business includes various operations consisting of sales from pivot assemblies for hard disk drives, automobile parts and logistics. Operations are conducted by the Company, Nidec Tosok Corporation and other subsidiaries. This business segment represented 4.5% of its consolidated net sales in fiscal 2009.

The Company competes with Alphana Technology Co., Ltd., Minebea Technology Co., Ltd., Panasonic Shikoku Electronics Co., Ltd. and Samsung Electro-Mechanics.