From printing plates to semiconductors: how DNP moved its technology.
DNP generated ¥1.5125tn of sales and ¥101.0bn of operating profit in FY2025. By sales, Smart Communication was ¥750.3bn, Life & Healthcare ¥512.3bn and Electronics ¥251.8bn. Yet Electronics produced ¥50.7bn of segment operating profit, above Smart Communication at ¥40.0bn and Life & Healthcare at ¥37.2bn. DNP began as a letterpress printer in 1876 and later applied photographic plate-making technologies to precision metal processing. That line reached semiconductor photomasks, display components, optical films and OLED metal masks. At the 1970 Osaka Expo, DNP demonstrated microfabrication by placing 100 years of calendar dates on a 15mm-square silicon plate. In 1999, film-processing technology produced a lithium-ion battery pouch. DNP did not abandon printing; it repeatedly moved the process technologies behind printing beyond paper.