Takemitsu Takizaki

Takemitsu Takizaki
Born	10 June 1945 (Forbes)
Nationality	Japanese
Residence	Osaka, Japan (Forbes)
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Founder of Keyence; founder of the Keyence Foundation

Japanese businessman; founder and honorary chairman of the factory-automation sensor maker Keyence

Takemitsu Takizaki (born 1945; Japanese: 滝崎武光) is a Japanese businessman who founded Keyence, which makes sensors and measuring equipment for factory automation.^[1]^[2] He set up the business in Itami, Hyōgo Prefecture, in March 1972 under the name Lead Electric (リード電機), and it took the name Keyence in 1986.^[2]^[3] Forbes says he stepped down as chairman in 2015. He stayed on the board as honorary chairman until June 2026, when he retired as a director but kept the honorary title.^[1]^[4] On 20 October 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Takemitsu Takizaki 107th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$24.25 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as Sensors.^[1]^[5] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Takemitsu Takizaki 128th, at US$20.3 billion.^[6] Since 2020 he has given more than 11 million Keyence shares to the Keyence Foundation, a scholarship charity he chairs.^[7]^[2]

Early life

Forbes gives his date of birth as 10 June 1945.^[1] The sources checked for this profile gave no details of his family background or education.

Keyence

According to Keyence's securities report, Takizaki founded Lead Electric in Itami in March 1972 to develop, make and sell automatic control and electronic equipment. In April 1973 it began making sensors for factory automation. In May 1974 it was incorporated as Lead Electric Co., Ltd. in Amagasaki.^[2] The company moved its head office to Osaka Prefecture in the 1980s and set up a US subsidiary in 1985. It took the name Keyence in 1986 and listed on the Osaka Securities Exchange in 1987. It established subsidiaries in China in 2001, in India and Brazil in 2011 and in several Southeast Asian countries after that, and says it now operates from 250 locations in 46 countries.^[3]

In the year to 20 March 2026 Keyence reported consolidated revenue of ¥1,169.3 billion and net profit attributable to owners of the parent of ¥445.2 billion.^[2] In 2022 Nikkei described it as a highly profitable company with an operating margin of about 50%.^[7] Forbes says that sales outside Japan make up roughly two-thirds of revenue, and that customers include auto-parts makers, electronics companies and food packagers.^[1]

In April 2026 Keyence announced that Takizaki would retire as a director when his term ended at the general meeting on 12 June 2026, keeping the title of honorary chairman.^[4]

Shareholding

Keyence's securities report for the year to 20 March 2026 lists Takizaki as a direct shareholder with 7.654 million shares (3.15%) and the Keyence Foundation with 11.1 million shares (4.57%). The largest shareholder was a company named T.T Corporation (株式会社ティ・ティ) with 15.07%. The filing does not identify who owns T.T Corporation.^[2] Forbes put Takizaki's stake at 25% in 2018 and at nearly 23% in 2019.^[1]

Wealth

Forbes gives sensors as the source of his wealth and classes him as self-made.^[1]

Wealth history

Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 26 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2001. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.^[6]^[1]

Forbes estimates by list year
Year	World's Billionaires rank	Net worth (US$ bn)
2001	182	2.5
2002	277	1.6
2003	236	1.7
2004	247	2.2
2005	228	2.6
2006	224	3.0
2007	323	2.8
2008	428	2.7
2009	261	2.5
2010	307	3.1
2011	288	3.8
2012	314	3.5
2013	299	4.3
2014	207	6.6
2015	174	7.6
2016	163	7.2
2017	102	12.3
2018	68	17.5
2019	69	16.3
2020	47	17.4
2021	62	25.8
2022	61	23.9
2023	77	21.0
2024	87	23.1
2025	102	19.5
2026	128	20.3

Philanthropy

The Keyence Foundation (公益財団法人キーエンス財団) was set up in 2018 with Takizaki as its representative director. It gives grants that do not have to be repaid to students at Japanese universities.^[7]^[8] In 2020 he gave it 3.65 million Keyence shares, 1.5% of the company. On 16 March 2022 he gave a further 7.45 million shares, about 3% of the company, worth some ¥390 billion at the time.^[7] Nikkei reported in 2022 that the foundation selected scholars directly with no restriction by university or faculty, paid new first-year students ¥80,000 a month for four years, and planned to make about 500 new scholarship awards and about 2,000 one-off grants that year.^[8] The foundation's website now lists four programmes: scholarships of ¥120,000 a month for new undergraduate and master's students, one-off grants for students already enrolled, and help repaying student loans.^[9] Forbes gives the value of the 2022 gift as nearly US$3 billion.^[1]

Political activity

No political offices, donations or lobbying activity in Takizaki's name were found in the sources checked.

International and political links

This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."