SKF and Sinoma Nitride, an industry-leading developer and producer of silicon nitride materials and ceramic balls, have entered into a Joint Venture (JV) contract to deepen their cooperation within hybrid ceramic ball bearings. The cooperation is of strategic importance as ceramic bearings is a prioritized emerging technology in SKF’s strategy.

SKF will hold a 30% share in the JV, which will produce nitride rolling elements. With the cooperation, SKF and Sinoma Nitride will be able to provide high-quality hybrid ceramic ball bearing products and solutions to customers in a wide range of industries, including Electric Vehicles (EVs) and industrial applications such as precision machine tools. EVs and high-speed machinery are two of the identified high-growth segments in the Group’s strategic framework.

Henry Wang, President Industrial Region China and North-East Asia at SKF, says: "By working in a localized production of ceramic balls with Sinoma Nitride, we will have the opportunity to continue to optimize the end-to-end production chain and to accelerate the development of the Electric Vehicle industry."

Weiru Zhang, Chief Scientist of advanced ceramics at China National Building Materials, parent company of Sinoma Nitride, says: "The cooperation with SKF will give us the opportunity to provide more competitive ceramic ball bearings to global bearing users and promote the development of ceramic ball bearings.”