100 Stories1985 A & T Battery

Along with semiconductors and liquid crystals, small rechargeable batteries are considered one of the three sacred treasures that support our multimedia society. After small rechargeable batteries such as nickel-cadmium batteries and nickel metal hydride batteries, we are now in the era of lithium-ion batteries. The developer of lithium-ion batteries, who also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019, is Honorary Fellow Dr. Akira Yoshino.

There are several reasons why lithium-ion batteries have been in the limelight so much. These reasons include their high energy density, large battery capacity, long life, low self-discharge properties, and high operating voltage. To commercialize lithium-ion batteries, Asahi Kasei established a joint venture company, A & T Battery, with Toshiba Corporation in 1992.

A & T Battery began selling Asahi Kasei's Hipore™ for lithium-ion battery separators in 1993. One month later, the company began selling lithium-ion batteries. A & T Battery was created through a 50-50 joint venture between Asahi Kasei and Toshiba, based on the results of joint development of lithium-ion batteries, as the conditions for commercialization of the batteries had been met. In 1994, Toshiba Battery also took a stake in the company, making it a three-way joint venture of Asahi Kasei 40%, Toshiba 40%, and Toshiba Battery 20%.

Each of these companies is made up of members from parent companies with long histories, and there is no end to the cultural differences in the way they are organized, the way they conduct their business, and the way they make decisions. The other researchers were impressed by the open and free atmosphere, symbolized by Asahi Kasei's culture of using more casual honorifics (appending -san to people’s names), which allowed them to express their opinions and ideas more freely, even to their superiors.

In 1999, five members of A & T Battery, including four members of A & T Battery and Dr. Akira Yoshino, received the Chemical Technology Award at the Chemical Society of Japan Awards for their involvement in the development of lithium-ion batteries. The reason for the award was that the technology matched the strong needs of the world, was a purely domestic technology that could be proud of in the world, and was recognized as something that could contribute to the development of the chemical industry, given that it had been sold steadily since its launch, with sales reaching approximately 250 billion yen in fiscal 1998.

Kenji Otsuka of A & T Battery said, “We are delighted that this product, which Asahi Kasei pioneered globally, was selected for the prestigious Grand Prize for Science and Technology. It is especially encouraging for those of us on loan to A & T Battery,” he commented joyfully on behalf of the award winners.

However, in 2000, the following year, Asahi Kasei announced that it would transfer all of its shares in A & T Battery to Toshiba and dissolve the joint venture. Toshiba had decided to make A & T Battery a wholly owned subsidiary as one of its strategies to grow and expand this business, which was expected to become even more important for cell phones and notebook PCs.

Asahi Kasei, on the other hand, had been involved in the management of the battery business itself as a joint venture partner of A & T Battery in order to commercialize its unique basic lithium-ion battery technology. However, Asahi Kasei decided to concentrate on separators and fuel cell membranes as a battery materials manufacturer, leading to the transfer of Asahi Kasei’s A & T Battery shares.

After the stock transfer, Asahi Kasei's patents and know-how related to this business were licensed to the new company, and employees who have been transferred to the new company can continue to work in this business as before, after transferring to Toshiba if they wish.

When the A & T Battery joint venture was dissolved, battery researchers went their separate ways, some of whom “continued to work on battery materials at the Kawasaki Plant,” while others tackled new research themes. Among them was Masaya Yamashita, who would go on to develop the electronic compass.