The group's first unit NCT U made their debut on April 9, 2016 with the digital singles "The 7th Sense" and "Without You." The second unit NCT 127, based in Seoul, debuted on July 7, 2016, with the EP NCT #127. The third unit NCT Dream made their debut on August 24, 2016 with the digital single "Chewing Gum." The fourth unit WayV, based in China, debuted on January 17, 2019 with the single album The Vision.
For more information on activities of sub-units, please refer to their respective articles NCT 127, NCT Dream and WayV.
Preparations for NCT began in late 2013, through SM Entertainment's trainee group SM Rookies. Members were cast through various auditions, with Johnny, Yuta, Ten, Mark, and Renjun joining the company via SM Global Auditions, while the remaining members were discovered through street casting, personal recommendations, and community entertainment shows.In January 2016, SM founder Lee Soo-man gave a presentation at the SM Coex Artium titled "SMTOWN: Neo Culture Technology 2016," speaking about the agency's plans for a new boy group in line with their "culture contents" strategy that would be debuting different teams based in different cities around the world.
On April 4, 2016, SM Entertainment announced NCT's first unit, NCT U (the "U" standing for United), which at the time consisted of six members: Taeil, Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, and Mark. NCT U released digital singles "The 7th Sense" (Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, and Mark) on April 9 and "Without You" in two versions on April 10 (a Korean version sung by Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun, and a Chinese version with the addition of SM Rookies' Kun).On April 9, 2016, NCT U made their first broadcast appearance with NCT On Air on V Live, hosted by Super Junior's Kim Hee-chul. The same day, they had their first live performance in China at the 16th Music Feng Yun Bang Awards, with the addition of Chinese members Kun and Winwin.
