What EMS does

Nagase ChemteX America LLC, operating commercially under the brand NCU, is a specialty chemicals formulator and manufacturer headquartered in Delaware, Ohio. The company develops custom-formulated adhesives, conductive materials, and encapsulants built on four core chemistry platforms: acrylics, epoxies, silicones, and urethanes. Its product portfolio is organized across five lines spanning industrial assembly, microelectronics, photoresist, printed electronics, and solar/photovoltaic applications. NCU was rebranded from Materials Innovator in December 2020 to deepen alignment with its parent, Japan's NAGASE Group, of which it is a wholly-owned subsidiary.

The technology stack centers on chemistries with tightly controlled performance envelopes. Electrically conductive adhesives are formulated with resistivity as low as 5.0 x 10^-5 ohm-cm; thermally conductive variants reach 25 W/mK with electrically insulating options; dry film photoresists support aspect ratios up to 8:1 with hydrophobic surface treatments for harsh etch environments; and silver, carbon, and dielectric inks enable flexible printed electronics, biosensors, and membrane switches. Manufacturing is supported by ISO 9001:2015 and IATF 16949:2016 certifications, the latter being a hard requirement for sale into automotive Tier suppliers.

Revenue is generated through direct, quote-based B2B sales to North American OEMs. End markets span at least eight verticals: filter, lighting, automotive, appliance, medical, semiconductor/PCB, solar, and broader microelectronics. Pricing is not publicly disclosed, and the company positions custom formulation against catalog products as its primary value proposition. No end-customer logos are disclosed, no funding or M&A activity is reported, and stated headcount is in the 11-50 range.

Name

EMS

Legal name

Nagase ChemteX America LLC

Website

https://emsadhesives.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Nagase ChemteX America LLC (NCU) is a Delaware, Ohio-based specialty chemicals formulator that develops custom adhesives, conductive materials, and encapsulants for industrial, microelectronics, photoresist, printed electronics, and solar OEMs across North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty industrial adhesives and encapsulants

NAICS

Chemical Manufacturing (325)

SIC

Adhesives & Sealants (2891), Miscellaneous Chemical Products (2890), Industrial Organic Chemicals (2860)

akta.pro primary industry

Conductive/ESD & EMI-Shielding Compounds (IMANABAH)

Keywords

• Industrial adhesives
• Conductive adhesives
• Potting compounds
• Printed electronics inks
• Photoresist materials

Headquarters

HQ city

Delaware

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Adhesive and Encapsulant Products: Sale of formulated adhesives, conductives, and encapsulants including acrylics, epoxies, silicones and urethanes for industrial, microelectronics, and solar applications

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Nagase ChemteX America LLC (NCU/EMS) is a formulator and manufacturer of specialty adhesives, conductive materials, and encapsulants based on acrylic, epoxy, silicone, and urethane chemistries. The company sells these formulated chemical products directly to original equipment manufacturers in appliance, automotive, filter, lighting, medical, microelectronics, photoresist, printed electronics, and solar markets.

Product overview

Nagase ChemteX America LLC (NCU) is a global formulator and manufacturer of adhesives, conductives, and encapsulants serving the appliance, automotive, filter, lighting, medical, and microelectronics markets. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio organized across five product lines: (1) Industrial products for abrasive assembly, filter assembly, lighting assembly, needle assembly, potting compounds, permanent magnet assembly, and UL potting; (2) Microelectronics products including circuit assembly, COB encapsulants, electrically conductive adhesives, LED assembly, thermally conductive adhesives, and UV cure assembly; (3) Photoresist products comprising dry film photoresist (DF series), hydrophobic dry film photoresist, and liquid photoresist (NR series); (4) Printed Electronics including membrane switches, biosensors, heaters, surface mount adhesives, and low cost film applications; and (5) Solar products for stringing, shingling, and back contact applications. NCU has formulated state-of-the-art acrylics, epoxies, silicones, and urethanes for over 20 years, providing innovative and cost-effective solutions for original equipment manufacturers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Abrasive Assembly Adhesives Adhesive solutions for flap wheels, honing stones, abrasive disks, and button constructions including one/two component epoxies, induction curable epoxies, and cyanoacrylate adhesives for abrasive product manufacturers.
• Filter Assembly Adhesives Adhesives for end cap bonding, side seam assembly, and molded end caps using one/two component epoxies and two component silicone formulations, serving filter manufacturers.
• Lighting Assembly Adhesives Adhesives for lens-to-reflector bonding, halogen lamp coating, and base bonding including one/two component epoxies, silicones, and UV adhesives for lighting manufacturers.
• Needle Assembly Adhesives UV cure and heat cure adhesives for needle bonding applications with optically clear, moisture resistant, and flexible high impact resistant formulations.
• Potting Compounds Potting compounds for power supplies and transformers including one/two component epoxies, two component silicone adhesives, and UV curable formulations with various viscosity and cure options.
• Permanent Magnet Assembly Adhesives Adhesives for magnet-to-shell/rotor bonding, gel banding, and balancing applications using one/two component epoxies, induction curable epoxies, and surface activated reactive acrylics.
• UL Potting Compounds UL 94V-O rated potting compounds for electronics including low viscosity and thermally conductive epoxy formulations.
• Circuit Assembly Adhesives and Encapsulants Adhesives and encapsulants for circuit assembly including glob top encapsulants, dam/fill materials, UV cure encapsulants, and flex circuit/printer head assembly adhesives for electronics manufacturers.
• COB (Chip on Board) Encapsulants Chip on Board encapsulants including glob top, dam fill, and cavity fill materials with superior environmental protection and moisture resistance for microelectronics manufacturers.
• Electrically Conductive Adhesives Electrically conductive die and component attach adhesives for microelectronics applications including low cost, flexible, and low temperature cure formulations with resistivity from 5.0 x 10^-5 to 9 x 10^-4 ohm-cm.
• LED Assembly Adhesives Die attach adhesives for LED assembly including conductive and high thermal conductivity formulations for LED manufacturers.
• Thermally Conductive Adhesives High thermal conductivity electrically conductive die and component attach adhesives for power devices and LEDs with thermal conductivity ranging from 5-25 W/mK.
• UV Cure Assembly Adhesives UV cure adhesives and chip encapsulants including dam and fill materials for smart cards and general circuit assembly.
• Dry Film Photoresist (DF series) NCU Dry Films exhibiting excellent hydrophobicity and chemical resistance for permanent MEMS applications and etch applications requiring high aspect ratio/resolution, including DF-1000, DF-2000, DF-3000, DF-3500, and DF-4000 series with aspect ratios up to 8:1.
• Hydrophobic Dry Film Photoresist Hydrophobic surface, high contact angle dry film photoresist with dual layer coating (hydrophobic and hydrophilic) for enhanced chemical resistance, including DF-4014 and DF-4017 series.
• Liquid Photoresist (NR series) NR Series liquid photoresists with excellent chemical resistance and resolution capabilities, including NR-2500, NR-2300, NR-2200, and NR-2050 formulations with batch-to-batch consistency.
• Membrane Switch Materials Printed electronics materials for membrane switches including silver circuit traces, carbon resistors/contact pads, and dielectric insulators for PET film circuitry.
• Biosensor Materials Conductive circuitry and electrode materials for biomedical sensors including silver-vinyl, silver-urethane, silver-epoxy, silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl), and carbon formulations for ECG, EEG, defib pads, and glucose sensors.
• Heater Materials Silver circuit traces, carbon heating elements, and PTCR self-regulating heater materials for PET film circuitry and flexible substrates.
• Surface Mount Adhesives SMT adhesives for attaching surface mount devices including CA-188-2, UF-1571, DB-1561, UF-9526, and EC-9519 formulations.
• Low Cost Film Applications Silver circuitry and dielectric materials for low temperature 60°C cure applications on thin low-cost film including CI-1088, CI-2062, and DI-7548.
• Solar Stringing and Shingling Adhesives Low cost conductive adhesives for solar cell stringing and shingling including 561-147-1, 561-147-2, and CA-152 formulations with snap cure and low bleed properties.
• Solar Back Contact Adhesives Conductive adhesives for tabbing back contact cells and back contact applications including CA-151, CA-152, CA-183, DB-1588-3, DB-1588-4, and DB-1588-7 products with low temperature cure options.

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Broad incumbents

• Henkel: Global specialty chemicals leader whose Adhesive Technologies division competes directly with NCU across industrial, automotive, and electronics adhesives; vastly larger scale and global footprint, but with broader portfolio rather than NCU's niche specialty formulations.
• 3M: Industrial adhesives and specialty materials incumbent serving automotive, electronics, and healthcare OEMs with structural and conductive adhesives; comparable to NCU's customer base and chemistries, though 3M operates as a diversified industrial conglomerate.
• Dow (DOWSIL silicones): Major silicone adhesives and encapsulants supplier through its DOWSIL line, directly competing with NCU's potting compounds, UV cure, and silicone-based industrial products; significantly larger scale and broader chemistry portfolio.
• DuPont: Diversified specialty materials company with electronics and industrial adhesives (including former Dow Corning silicones portfolio) overlapping NCU's microelectronics encapsulants, conductive adhesives, and photoresist-adjacent chemistries.

Direct peers

• H.B. Fuller: Pure-play industrial adhesives manufacturer with comparable product lines in electronics, automotive, and packaging adhesives; similar business model of custom-formulated solutions for OEM customers, though significantly larger and globally distributed.
• Parker LORD: Specialty adhesives and coatings manufacturer with strong positions in conductive adhesives, structural bonding, and magnet/rotor assembly — overlapping directly with NCU's permanent magnet assembly, electrically conductive, and automotive product lines.
• Master Bond: US-based specialty formulator of epoxies, silicones, urethanes, and UV-curable systems for electronics, medical, and industrial applications; closest size and business-model comparable to NCU, emphasizing custom formulations and small-batch specialty chemistries.
• Creative Materials: Specialty formulator of conductive inks, adhesives, and coatings for printed electronics, medical electrodes, and flexible circuits — direct overlap with NCU's biosensor, membrane switch, and printed electronics product lines.
• AI Technology (AIT): Specialty formulator of electrically and thermally conductive adhesives, die-attach materials, and underfills for microelectronics; directly comparable to NCU's CA/DA conductive adhesive and LED/power-device product lines at a similar scale.

Emerging players

• Panacol-Elosol: European specialty adhesives manufacturer focused on UV-curable and conductive adhesives for electronics assembly; comparable in chemistry focus and customer overlap (microelectronics, medical device assembly) but smaller and regionally focused.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about EMS