Shimadzu Corporation completed its acquisition of TESCAN GROUP, a Czech Republic-based manufacturer of electron microscopy and analytical instruments, for $711 million. The Japanese analytical and measuring instrument company acquired all shares of Glass HoldCo, which indirectly owns TESCAN, making the electron microscopy company a wholly owned subsidiary. Based on an exchange rate of ¥162 per U.S. dollar, the transaction value is approximately ¥115.2 billion.
The closing completes the share acquisition process that Shimadzu initially announced in December 2025. TESCAN is expected to be included in Shimadzu’s consolidated balance sheet beginning in the second quarter of the fiscal year ending in March 2027 and in its consolidated income statement beginning in the third quarter of that fiscal year.
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic, TESCAN develops instruments that enable customers to observe, process, and analyze the microstructure of materials.
The company’s product portfolio includes scanning electron microscope systems, focused ion beam scanning electron microscope systems, transmission electron microscope systems, X-ray micro-computed tomography systems, and laser processing systems.
These technologies are used across industries and research fields requiring detailed imaging, measurement, and analysis at microscopic and nanoscale levels. TESCAN’s instruments serve customers in markets including semiconductors, life sciences, advanced materials, manufacturing, and academic research.
TESCAN has sold more than 4,000 systems across 80 countries. The company has 898 employees and maintains a particularly established customer presence in Europe and North America.
The acquisition expands Shimadzu’s capabilities beyond its existing analytical and measuring technologies. Shimadzu develops products including chromatographs, mass spectrometers, testing machines, medical imaging systems, and other instruments used by laboratories, manufacturers, healthcare organizations, and research institutions.
Shimadzu plans to combine the compositional analysis and physical-property data generated by its instruments with the surface observation data produced by TESCAN’s electron microscopes and related systems.
The combination is expected to enable Shimadzu to provide more comprehensive, end-to-end analytical solutions. Customers could use the combined technologies to examine a material’s surface structure, determine its chemical composition, evaluate its physical properties, and process samples through a more integrated workflow.
Shimadzu sees potential applications for these combined capabilities in semiconductor development, life sciences, and materials research. These fields increasingly require multiple forms of imaging and analysis to understand complex samples, identify defects, validate performance, and accelerate product development.
In the semiconductor industry, for example, electron microscopy systems can be used to inspect increasingly small and complex structures. Combining detailed imaging with Shimadzu’s analytical and testing technologies could help customers investigate material composition, contamination, structural defects, and performance characteristics.
The acquisition also creates opportunities for the companies to use each other’s sales networks and customer relationships. Shimadzu intends to expand sales of TESCAN products in Asia, where Shimadzu has an established market presence and distribution infrastructure.
At the same time, Shimadzu plans to introduce more of its analytical and measuring products to TESCAN customers in Europe and North America. TESCAN’s existing relationships in these regions could provide Shimadzu with additional opportunities to cross-sell instruments and offer integrated systems.
The transaction supports Shimadzu’s broader strategy of transforming its business from primarily supplying individual instruments to supporting customers’ complete analytical workflows. The company is seeking to provide connected solutions that span sample preparation, observation, measurement, analysis, and data interpretation.
TESCAN will retain continuity across several senior leadership positions following the acquisition. Jean-Charles Chen will continue serving as chief executive officer, Antonín Sedláček will remain chief operations officer, and Pavel Šustek will continue as chief financial officer.
Shimadzu will also appoint executives to TESCAN’s board, including Haruhiko Miyagawa, who will serve as chairman. The updated governance structure is designed to integrate TESCAN into Shimadzu while preserving the operating and technical expertise of the existing management team.
By adding TESCAN’s electron microscopy technologies, installed base, and international customer relationships, Shimadzu is expanding its position in the global analytical and measuring instrument market. The acquisition is expected to strengthen the company’s ability to offer one-stop solutions for customers requiring both detailed surface imaging and broader chemical, structural, and physical analysis.
