On May 8, the estimated figures of electronic parts manufacturers for the 2018 fiscal year were revealed. Five out of six companies will be likely to have higher business gains from setting targets in the middle stage to reinforce the growing automotive and industrial machinery businesses. This is to compensate with their loss from the decelerating smartphone market as well as to reassure that there should clearly be other business solutions to obstacles in smartphone markets.
Minebea revealed that in the 2017 fiscal year, the company has made higher profits from manufacturing electronic parts for gaming as well as bearing and it is expected that it will have higher business gains in the next fiscal year, aiming toward the highest profit estimate over the past years. Although the sales of back light parts for smartphones with Organic Electro-Luminescence has dwindled, president Yoshihisa Kainuma confirmed that the sales target will increase in the next fiscal year.
Another manufacturer of electronic parts for gaming is Alps Electric. Despite its lower income estimate in the 2018 fiscal year, director Junichiro Yokota stated that “Its sales depends mainly on each individual game, yet it is likely that we will gain more income in the next fiscal year while the smartphone market is experiencing a challenge.” In addition, we may have to consider our investment in this quarter more carefully. 
TDK’s sales of “power bank products” and “energy supplies” for smartphones is satisfactory. Shigenao Ishiguro, the president of TDK, has disclosed its plan for an investment in the motorcycle industry this year and its budget allotment for research and development for the sensor manufacturing business, which was undersold in the previous fiscal year. The new investment in automotive and industrial machinery manufacturing will contribute to earnings in March 2020.
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is another company forecasting that its net sales from the automotive industry in the 2018 fiscal year will increase by 14.8%, compared with that in the previous fiscal year. President Tsuneo Murata said that “the sales increase today is from condensers due to the new era of electric cars” and that the company is planning to boost its production capacity. 
Kyocera is another electronic automotive parts manufacturer with higher sales. President Hideo Tanimoto projected that “the business will grow steadily in the next fiscal year.” However, he expressed concerns over the smartphones market share that “its share value has considerably gone down this year,” so Kyocera is targeting the automotive industry which sees more stabilized growth.
Nonetheless, Nidec seemed to succeed most in restructuring its business and expected a rise in profits by more than 5.8% in this fiscal year. Nidec’s new drive forces are small motors, robots and energy-saving electronics as well as appliances. CEO Shigenobu Nagamori said that “Nidec will tale investments more seriously” and will target other growing businesses as a result of the scarce number of electric automotive manufacturers nowadays.
These companies have clearly alienated themselves from the decelerating smartphone market and turned to invest in the other businesses. However, their business direction will be more evident in March 2019.