Canatu and DENSO deepen cooperation in the automotive industry

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 12/5/2024 at 7:11 am EET.

According to Canatu’s press release, DENSO and Canatu signed a new Memorandum of Understanding in November, which will deepen their cooperation to commercialize transparent camera heaters and accelerate the development of new products. With this agreement, Canatu will strengthen its cooperation with DENSO in the following three key areas:

1. Research and development: In addition to Canatu CNT-based transparent heaters, the two companies aim to develop new application technologies, such as solar panels.
2. Mass production technology: Further joint development of Canatu CNT manufacturing equipment and processes, ensuring compliance with automotive quality standards required for mass production.
3. Establishing a global supply chain: Exploring supply systems to ensure stable and reliable delivery of CNT products worldwide.

According to Canatu, collaboration in the research and development phase does not necessarily lead to significant commercial results. The agreement also has no direct impact on revenue or profit. The potential future impact will depend on the progress of the development phase.

DENSO is one of Canatu's largest shareholders and the companies have a long history of cooperation. In 2021, Canatu signed a major co-development agreement with DENSO for reactors developed for CNT membrane manufacturing for the automotive industry. In April 2024, this new H-100 reactor became operational, which has significantly increased the production capacity of CNT membranes. In our long-term forecasts, the automotive sector currently accounts for just over 10% of revenue, which is much less than the semiconductor sector. We have explained our assumptions in more detail in our recent Initiation of coverage report.