TE Connectivity plc (TEL)

TE Connectivity is a global industrial technology company whose connectivity and sensor solutions distribute power, signal, and data for next-generation transportation, energy networks, automated factories, and data centers supporting artificial intelligence. It became an independent, publicly traded company in 2007 and traces its connectivity roots to 1941. On September 30, 2024, it changed its jurisdiction of incorporation from Switzerland to Ireland, and it acquired Richards Manufacturing in fiscal 2025. The company estimates its two segments served a combined market of about $200 billion at fiscal year end 2025.

The business is organized into two reportable segments. Transportation Solutions sells terminals and connector systems, sensors, heat shrink tubing, relays, and application tooling. Its sales split into automotive (75%), commercial transportation (15%), and sensors (10%). Industrial Solutions sells terminals and connector systems, interventional medical components, heat shrink tubing, relays, wire and cable, and filters. Its end markets are digital data networks (28%), automation and connected living (27%), aerospace, defense and marine (19%), energy (17%), and medical (9%). Applications range from data center and wireless infrastructure equipment, factory automation, rail, building automation and home appliances to power utility and renewables equipment and surgical and interventional devices.

Customers are manufacturers, utilities, OEMs, and engineering procurement construction companies, many of them industry leaders with relationships going back years. No single customer accounted for a significant share of net sales in fiscal 2025, 2024, or 2023. The company sells into about 130 countries. Fiscal 2025 net sales were 38% Asia-Pacific, 33% Europe/Middle East/Africa, and 29% Americas. Direct sales to manufacturers were about 75% of net sales, and the rest goes through third-party distributors. Backlog was $6.2 billion at fiscal year end 2025, with the majority expected to be filled in fiscal 2026. Business is mildly seasonal, with the third and fourth fiscal quarters typically strongest.

Products move from manufacturing facilities to distribution centers around the world, or sometimes directly to customers, using road, rail, sea, and air carriers. Principal raw materials include plastic resins, precious metals such as gold, silver, and palladium, and copper, aluminum, brass, and steel. Many of these come from a limited number of countries or suppliers. The company relies on patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and manufacturing know-how, though it does not depend on any single patent. It competes with thousands of companies, from multinationals to local manufacturers, on breadth of offering, innovation, price, quality, delivery, and service. Named rivals include Amphenol, Molex, Yazaki, Aptiv, Sumitomo, Sensata, Honeywell, Hubbell, Carlisle, Integer, Omron, JST, and KET. At fiscal year end 2025 it employed about 93,000 people, including 13,000 contract employees and roughly 55,000 in manufacturing, across more than 50 countries.