The company was founded in 1891 by H.P Prior, who would later become chairman of the Danish industry council, under the name of "Nordisk Elektrisk Ledningstraad og Kabel-Fabrik". It quickly expanded, buying up other companies, and in 1898 was named "Nordiske Kabel og Traadfabrik".
Over the next 90 years the company was active in a number of sectors outside the cable industry, including glass, aluminium, steel, nails, fasteners etc. primarily for the Danish market.
In 1990 the current company structure was established. Over the next 10 years, a series of mergers and sell offs were made with the aim of concentrating on a smaller number of core businesses. NKT Holding sold the electricity distribution manufacturer Lauritz Knudsen to Schneider in 1999, the semi-conductor manufacturer GIGA to Intel in 2000, and the underwater pipe manufacturer NKT Flexibles in November 2012.
In September 2016, the NKT Board of Directors announced the intent to split NKT Holding A/S into two separately listed companies, NKT and Nilfisk, as a consequence of the acquisition of ABB HV Cables business. The split took place October 12, 2017.
In 2022, NKT decided to sell NKT Photonics and focus 100% on electricity cales.
