() is a Japanese
multinational conglomerate
Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to:
* Conglomerate (company)
* Conglomerate (geology)
* Conglomerate (mathematics)
In popular culture:
* The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes
** Co ...
corporation headquartered in
, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the
Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later
DKB Group and
Fuyo Group of companies before DKB and
Fuji Bank
The was one of Japan's major banks during the post–World War II era. It combined with Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan in 2000 to form Mizuho Financial Group, and changed its name to Mizuho Corporate Bank in 2002 after t ...
(the core Fuyo Group company) merged into the
Mizuho Financial Group. As of 2020, Hitachi conducts business ranging from
IT, including
AI, the
Internet of Things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
, and
big data
Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...
, to
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
.
Hitachi is listed on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange
The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed co ...
and
Nagoya Stock Exchange
Nagoya Stock Exchange (名古屋証券取引所 ''Nagoya Shōken Torihikijo'', NSE) is a stock trading market in Nagoya, Japan. It is Japan's second largest exchange, behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
History
The Nagoya Stock Exchange (NSE) is t ...
and its Tokyo listing is a constituent of the
Nikkei 225
The Nikkei 225, or , more commonly called the ''Nikkei'' or the ''Nikkei index'' (), is a stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It has been calculated daily by the '' Nihon Keizai Shimbun'' (''The Nikkei'') newspaper since 1950 ...
and
TOPIX
, commonly known as TOPIX, along with the Nikkei 225, is an important stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in Japan, tracking all domestic companies of the exchange's Prime market division. It is calculated and published by the T ...
Core30 indices. It is ranked 38th in the 2012
Fortune Global 500 and 129th in the 2012
Forbes Global 2000
The ''Forbes'' Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world, published by ''Forbes'' magazine. "The Global 2000" annual ranking is assembled by ''Forbes'' using a weighted assessment of four metrics: sales, profi ...
.
History
Hitachi was founded in 1910 by electrical engineer
Namihei Odaira
was a Japanese entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded Hitachi.
Life
Odaira was born on January 15, 1874, in Ienaka, Shimotsuga, Tochigi Prefecture (present-day Tsugamachi Kassenba, Tochigi), the second son of Odaira Sōhachi and Chiyo.
...
(1874–1951) in
Ibaraki Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...
. The company's first product was Japan's first
induction motor
An induction motor or asynchronous motor is an AC electric motor in which the electric current in the rotor needed to produce torque is obtained by electromagnetic induction from the magnetic field of the stator winding. An induction mot ...
, initially developed for use in
copper mining.
The company began as an in-house venture of
Fusanosuke Kuhara
was an entrepreneur, politician and cabinet minister in the pre-war Empire of Japan.
Biography
Kuhara was born in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture into a family of ''sake'' brewers. His brother was the founder of Nippon Suisan Kaisha and his uncle Fu ...
's mining company in
Hitachi, Ibaraki
250px, Hitachi Sakura Festival
is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 174,219 in 78,209 households and a population density of 770 persons per km2. The percentage of the population aged over 65 w ...
. Odaira moved headquarters to
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
in 1918. Odaira coined the company's
toponymic
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a p ...
name by superimposing two ''
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
'' characters: ''hi'' meaning "sun" and ''tachi'' meaning "rise".
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
had a significant impact on the company with many of its factories being destroyed by Allied bombing raids, and discord after the war. Founder Odaira was removed from the company
and
Hitachi Zosen Corporation was spun out. Hitachi's reconstruction efforts after the war were hindered by a labor strike in 1950. Meanwhile, Hitachi went public in 1949.
Hitachi America, Ltd. was established in 1959.
The Soviet Union started to produce air conditioners in 1975. The
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
factory was established under the license of Japanese company Hitachi. Volumes of production of air conditioners in the USSR were small, about 500,000 per year. However air conditioners were a matter of great pride. Mainly window air conditioners were produced. Most of the output was exported.
Hitachi Europe, Ltd. was established in 1982.
From 2006 to 2010, Hitachi lost US$12.5 billion, the largest corporate loss in Japanese history. This prompted Hitachi to restructure and sell a number of divisions and businesses, a process that is expected to end in 2021.
In March 2011, Hitachi agreed to sell its
hard disk drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...
subsidiary,
HGST, to
Western Digital
Western Digital Corporation (WDC, commonly known as Western Digital or WD) is an American computer drive manufacturer and data storage company, headquartered in San Jose, California. It designs, manufactures and sells data technology produc ...
for a combination of cash and shares worth US$4.3 billion. Due to concerns of a duopoly of WD and
Seagate Technology
Seagate Technology Holdings plc is an American data storage company. It was incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology and commenced business in 1979. Since 2010, the company has been incorporated in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquart ...
by the EU Commission and the
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...
, Hitachi's 3.5" HDD division was sold to
Toshiba
, commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...
. The transaction was completed in March 2012.
In January 2012, Hitachi announced it would stop producing televisions in Japan. In September 2012, Hitachi announced that it had invented a long-term data solution out of
quartz glass
Fused quartz, fused silica or quartz glass is a glass consisting of almost pure silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) in amorphous (non-crystalline) form. This differs from all other commercial glasses in which other ingredients are added which change ...
that was capable of preserving information for millions of years. In October 2012, Hitachi agreed to acquire the United Kingdom-based nuclear energy company
Horizon Nuclear Power
Horizon Nuclear Power is a British Energy industry, energy company that was expected to build new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009, with its head office in Gloucester, and is now owned by Hitachi.
On 17 Ja ...
, which plans to construct up to six nuclear power plants in the UK, from
E.ON and
RWE
RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States. The company is Europe's most climate threatening Company, the world's number two in offsh ...
for £700 million. In November 2012, Hitachi and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...
agreed to merge their thermal power generation businesses into a joint venture to be owned 65% by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 35% by Hitachi.
The joint venture named Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) began operations in February 2014.
In October 2015, Hitachi completed a deal with
Johnson Controls to form a joint-venture that would takeover Hitachi's HVAC business. Hitachi maintained a 40% stake of the resulting company, Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning. In May 2016, Hitachi announced it was investing $2.8 billion into its
IoT
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other com ...
interests.
Following the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...
in 2011 and the extended temporary closure of most Japanese nuclear plants, Hitachi's nuclear business became unprofitable and in 2016 Hitachi CEO Toshiaki Higashihara argued Japan should consider a merger of the various competing nuclear businesses.
Hitachi is taking for 2016 an estimated ¥65 billion write-off in value of a
SILEX
Silex is any of various forms of ground stone. In modern contexts the word refers to a finely ground, nearly pure form of silica or silicate.
In the late 16th century, it meant powdered or ground up "flints" (i.e. stones, generally meaning the cl ...
technology laser
uranium enrichment joint venture with
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
.
In February 2017, Hitachi and
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
announced a partnership to develop, produce and sell motors for electric vehicles. Also in 2017, private equity firm
KKR
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strateg ...
bought Hitachi Kokusai's (itself a subsidiary of Hitachi) semiconductor equipment division, becoming Kokusai Electric. In 2019,
Applied Materials announced that it would acquire Kokusai Electric from KKR for US$2.2 billion. The deal was later terminated in 2021.
In 2018, Hitachi stopped selling televisions in Japan because its market share had dropped to 1%, opting to sell Sony TVs through its existing dealer network.
On March 14, 2018,
Zoomdata
Zoomdata is a business intelligence software company that specializes in real-time data visualization of big data, streaming data, and multisource analysis. The company's products are deployable on-prem, in the cloud, and embedded in other a ...
announced its partnership with Hitachi INS Software to help develop big data analytics market in Japan.
In December 2018, Hitachi Ltd. announced it would take over 80% of
ABB Ltd.
ABB Ltd. is a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to create ...
's power grid division for $6.4 billion renaming it Hitachi-ABB Power Grids in the process. In October2021, the enterprise was rebranded HitachiEnergy.
[
]
From 2008 to 2018, Hitachi has reduced the number of its listed group companies and consolidated subdiaries in Japan from 22 to 4 and around 400 to 202, respectively, through restructuring and sell-offs. It plans to become a company specializing in IT and infrastructure maintenance in the near future.
In 2019, Hitachi sold its medical imaging business to
Fujifilm for US$1.7 billion.
Showa Denko
, founded in 1939 by the merger of Nihon Electrical Industries and Showa Fertilizers, both established by a Japanese entrepreneur Nobuteru Mori, is a Japanese chemical company producing chemical products and industrial materials.
SDK's products ...
bought
Hitachi Chemical from Hitachi and other shareholders, at US$42.97 per share. Until then, Hitachi Chemical had been considered to be a core unit of the group. Hitachi also suspended the
ABWR development by its British subsidiary
Horizon Nuclear Power
Horizon Nuclear Power is a British Energy industry, energy company that was expected to build new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009, with its head office in Gloucester, and is now owned by Hitachi.
On 17 Ja ...
as it did not provide an adequate "economic rationality as a private enterprise" to proceed.
In October 2019, the talks between
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
and Hitachi to consolidate their four automotive parts businesses,
Showa,
Nissin and
Keihin of the former and the latter's Hitachi Automotive Systems, have reportedly begun, resulting in the creation of a "mega supplier" named Hitachi Astemo incorporated in January 2021.
In September 2020, Hitachi abandoned plans to create nuclear power plants in Gloucestershire and Wales due to issues with funding due to the impact of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. In the same month, Hitachi Capital agreed to be bought by its second-largest shareholder, business partner, and former rival
Mitsubishi UFJ Lease, which has invested in the Hitachi subsidiary in 2016.
In November 2020, it announced that Hitachi Metals and
Hitachi Construction Machinery
is a Japanese construction equipment company which is into the manufacturing, sales and service of construction machinery, transportation machinery, and other machines and devices. It is a subsidiary of the Hitachi Group.
History
Hitachi Cons ...
, both being some of the last remaining listed subsidiaries, will likely be detached from the group according to the restructuring plan. In December, Hitachi sold a 60% stake in its overseas home appliance business to Turkish
Arcelik for US$300 million.
In December 2021, it was announced by OPG that they had selected GE-Hitachi to construct two BWRX-300 reactors at the Darlington site in Ontario, Canada. OPG and GE-Hitachi will be collaborating on the design, planning and preparation of license materials for the construction of Canada's first SMR which is planned to enter operation in 2028.
Products and services
Automotive systems
* Car Information Systems
* Drive Control
* Electric Powertrain Systems
* Engine Management Systems
Construction machinery
* Hydraulic Excavators
* Forestry Equipment
* Mechanical & Hydraulic Cranes
* Mining Dump Trucks
* Crawler Dump trucks
* Wheel Loaders
Defense systems
*
Military vehicle
A military vehicle is any vehicle for land-based military transport and activity, including combat vehicles; both specifically designed for, or significantly used by military and armed forces. Most military vehicles require off-road capabiliti ...
s
*
Vetronics
Vetronics, a portmanteau of vehicle and electronics, is a technological designation used extensively in the military domain. The term also has limited usage in other contexts and in company branding, particularly in the veterinary and medical doma ...
*
Crisis management
*
C4I systems
* Satellite image processing systems
* Social Infrastructure
security
Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...
business (in coordination with Hitachi's Infrastructure Systems Group)
*
Electric propulsion technology
*
Electro-mechanical systems (including some
robotics
Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...
research & development)
* Advanced Combat Infantry Equipment System
CIES
The International Centre for Sports Studies, known mostly by the initials CIES from the French ''Centre International d'Etude du Sport'', is an independent, research and education organization, located in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
It had a resear ...
(
JSDF
The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, the ...
) - Primary contractor
Digital media and consumer products
*
Air conditioning equipment
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
- jointly with
Johnson Controls
*
Hitachi Magic Wand
*
Optical disc drive
In computing, an optical disc drive is a disc drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves within or near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can only r ...
s - jointly with optical disc drive division of
LG as
Hitachi-LG Data Storage
Hitachi-LG Data Storage (HLDS, HL-DT-ST or H-L Data Storage), a joint venture between Hitachi and LG, is a manufacturer of DVD and Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage form ...
* White goods (
refrigerator
A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...
s,
washing machine
A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a home appliance used to wash laundry. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids and ...
s, etc.) - majority stake of ex-Japan business sold to
Arcelik.
Electronic systems and equipment
* Test and measurement equipment
*
Particle therapy equipment
*
Cell culture equipment
Advanced materials
* Specialty steels
* Wires and cables
Information and telecommunication systems
*
ATMs
*
Servers
*
Disk array subsystems
*
Data storage
Data storage is the recording (storing) of information (data) in a storage medium. Handwriting, phonographic recording, magnetic tape, and optical discs are all examples of storage media. Biological molecules such as RNA and DNA are conside ...
and
analytics
Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data. It also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It ...
solutions
**
Virtual Storage Platform
Virtual Storage Platform is the brand name for a Hitachi Data Systems line of computer data storage systems for data centers. Model numbers include G200, G400, G600, G800, G1000, G1500 and G5500
History
Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform, also kno ...
*
Internet of Things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
** Hitachi Lumada
*
VOS3 Mainframe computer
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
*
Software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...
*
Outsourcing services
Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...
*
Telecommunications equipment
Telecommunications equipment (also telecoms equipment or communications equipment) are hardware which are used for the purposes of telecommunications. Since the 1990s the boundary between telecoms equipment and IT hardware has become blurred as a ...
Power systems
*
Nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
* Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear space
*Nuclear ...
and
hydrogen power generation systems
*
Power Grids
An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...
*
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
Social infrastructure and industrial systems
*
Elevator
An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
s
*
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...
s
* Industrial machinery and plants
* Railway vehicles and systems
**
Hitachi A-train
The Hitachi A-train is a family of rail rolling stock built and designed by Hitachi Rail using a common base and construction techniques. The stock is designed to facilitate a number of product life-cycle improvements including ease of manufacture ...
Others
* Logistics
* Property management
Subsidiaries
Hitachi Vantara
Hitachi Vantara is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi which provides hardware, software and services to help companies manage their digital data. Its flagship products are the
Virtual Storage Platform
Virtual Storage Platform is the brand name for a Hitachi Data Systems line of computer data storage systems for data centers. Model numbers include G200, G400, G600, G800, G1000, G1500 and G5500
History
Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform, also kno ...
(for enterprise storage), Hitachi Unified Storage VM for large-sized companies, Hitachi Unified Storage for small and mid-sized companies, Hitachi Content Platform (archiving and cloud architecture), Hitachi Command Suite (for storage management), Hitachi TrueCopy and Hitachi Universal Replicator (for remote replication), and the Hitachi NAS Platform.
Since September 19, 2017, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has become part of Hitachi Vantara, a new company that unifies the operations of
Pentaho
Pentaho is business intelligence (BI) software that provides data integration, OLAP services, reporting, information dashboards, data mining and extract, transform, load (ETL) capabilities. Its headquarters are in Orlando, Florida. Pentaho was ...
, Hitachi Data Systems and Hitachi Insight Group. The company name "Hitachi Data Systems" (HDS) and its logo is no longer used in the market.
Hitachi Consulting, the group's international management and technology consulting subsidiary with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, was integrated with Hitachi Vantara in 2019.
Hitachi Metals
Among other things, Hitachi Metals supplies materials for aircraft engines and fuselage components (e.g. landing gear), along with finished components for same and other aerospace applications. It also provides materials, components and tools for the automotive and electronics industries. Among the Hitachi Metals facilities is Hitachi Metal Yasugi Works or Tatara Works, one of the oldest furnaces in Japan, famously featured as a main backdrop in ''
Princess Mononoke
is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida ...
'', a Japanese animation film set in the
Muromachi period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
.
As of September 2020, Hitachi Metals is set to be divested as part of the long-term restructuring plan being executed by the group.
Hitachi Rail
''Hitachi, Ltd. Railway Systems Business Unit'', known as Hitachi Rail is the
rolling stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...
and
railway signalling
Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormou ...
manufacturing division of Hitachi.
Hitachi built the first railway carriage in 1924 for the domestic japanese market and soon became one of the main railway suppliers in Japan. By 1964 Hitachi was one of only three companies that built the world’s first fleet of high-speed trains, the
shinkansen. ''Hitachi Rail Europe'' (legally ''Hitachi Rail Limited'') was established in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
as the European headquarters of the company in 1999. Other
subsidiaries
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...
are:
* HITACHI RAIL ESPANA S.L.,
* HITACHI RAIL HONOLULU JV,
* HITACHI RAIL STS,
* AUSTRALIA PTY LTD,
* HITACHI RAIL STS CANADA, INC.,
* HITACHI RAIL STS DEUTSCHLAND GMBH,
* HITACHI RAIL STS FRANCE SOCIETE PAR ACTIONS SIMPLIFIEE,
* HITACHI RAIL STS HONG KONG LIMITED,
* HITACHI RAIL STS HURONTARIO HOLDINGS INC.,
* HITACHI RAIL STS INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED,
* HITACHI RAIL STS MALAYSIA SDN BHD,
* HITACHI RAIL STS MOBILINX HURONTARIO GP INC.,
* HITACHI RAIL STS RAILWAY SIGNALING TECHNOLOGY (BEIJING) COMPANY LIMITED,
*
HITACHI RAIL STS S.P.A.,
* HITACHI RAIL STS SWEDEN AB,
* HITACHI RAIL STS UK LTD,
* HITACHI RAIL STS USA, INC.,
* HITACHI RAIL STS USA INTERNATIONAL CO.
* HITACHI RAIL WASHINGTON LLC.
The rail division delivered 120 CQ311 series railcars to
MARTA
Marta may refer to:
People
* Marta (given name), a feminine given name
* Märta, a feminine given name
* Marta (surname)
:István Márta composer
* Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer
Places
* Marta (river), an ...
from 1984 to 1988.
Hitachi markets a general-purpose train known as the "
A-train
is a series of business simulation video games developed and published by Japanese game developer Artdink in Japan. The first game in the series was published in 1985. The first release in the United States was ''Take the A-Train II'', published ...
", which uses
double-skin
The double-skin façade is a system of building consisting of two skins, or façades, placed in such a way that air flows in the intermediate cavity. The ventilation of the cavity can be natural, fan supported or mechanical. Apart from the type o ...
,
friction-stir-welded aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
body construction.
Hitachi's products have included the designing and manufacturing of many
Shinkansen models, including the
N700 Series Shinkansen.
On February 24, 2015, Hitachi agreed to purchase the Italian rolling stock manufacturer
AnsaldoBreda
Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the dea ...
and acquire
Finmeccanica's stake in
Ansaldo STS, the
railway signaling
Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormou ...
division of Finmeccanica
The purchase was completed later that year,
at which point the company was renamed as
Hitachi Rail Italy
Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi#Hitachi Rail, Hitachi Rail o ...
. Since then, Hitachi has obtained a majority stake in Ansaldo STS.
Hitachi Monorail builds monorail systems with 10 built to date.
In July 2020, Hitachi signed an exclusive agreement with Hyperdrive, a UK-based lithium-ion battery company, to bring battery-powered trains to the country.
Late in 2021 Alstom announced the transfer of business relating to
Bombardier Zefiro
Zefiro is a family of high-speed passenger trains designed by Bombardier Transportation (now Alstom) whose variants have top operating speeds of between ; and .
The family consists of: the ''Zefiro 250'', which has a top operating speed of an ...
to Hitachi Rail and should be completed in early 2022.
Late 2022 Hitachi Rail won the contract to supply train sets for
Ontario Line
The Ontario Line is an under-construction rapid transit line in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its northern terminus will be at Eglinton Avenue and Don Mills Road, at Science Centre station, where it will connect with Line 5 Eglinton. Its southern te ...
being planned in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
.
Hitachi Astemo
Hitachi Astemo, which stands for "Advanced Sustainable Technologies for Mobility", is a 67-33 joint venture between Hitachi and
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
, which merged their four auto parts affiliates and division, the latter's three
keiretsu
A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The ''ke ...
companies
Showa Corporation,
Keihin Corporation, and
Nissin Kogyo
is a Japanese automotive parts company that makes vehicle braking systems and aluminium products. The company was founded in 1953 and is listed on the first section Tokyo Stock Exchange. As of March 2017, the company had 1.54 billion dollars in ...
, and the former's wholly owned Hitachi Automotive Systems, to be better equipped for the changing car market environment, frequently represented as CASE, for which they will integrate their assets to accelerate development of new technology and software.
Hitachi Astemo is considered a "mega supplier", as annual sales of the four predecessors combined stood at $17 billion, placing it as the second largest among the compatriot auto suppliers.
Other subsidiaries
The rest of the group companies include:
*Hitachi High-tech
*
Hitachi Construction Machinery
is a Japanese construction equipment company which is into the manufacturing, sales and service of construction machinery, transportation machinery, and other machines and devices. It is a subsidiary of the Hitachi Group.
History
Hitachi Cons ...
**
Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe)
*
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (co-owned by
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
)
*Hitachi Global Life Solutions - Selling home appliances except
audiovisual
Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions.
Audiovisual service prov ...
products.
*
Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning - A/C business majority-owned by Johnson Controls since 2015.
*Hitachi Digital Media Group - Selling electronic products including
video projectors under its brand name.
*Hitachi Plant Technologies - Engaging in the design, development, manufacture, sale, servicing, and execution of social and industrial infrastructure machinery,
mechatronics, air-conditioning systems, industrial plants, and energy plant equipment in Asia and internationally.
*Hitachi Communication Technologies America - Providing communications products and services for the telecommunications, cable TV, utility, enterprise, industrial and other markets.
*Hitachi Solutions America - A consulting firm and systems integrator focusing primarily on
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of Business Applications, containing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). Microsoft markets Dynamics applications through a network of reselling partners who provide speciali ...
. Hitachi Solutions America acquired
Ignify
Ignify was an ERP, CRM, POS and e-commerce software company headquartered in Long Beach, California with more than 500 employees in 8 countries. Ignify's tagline is "Igniting Ideas. Delivering Results." Ignify was founded by Sandeep Walia and Pa ...
, a Microsoft Dynamics Solution provider, in December 2015.
*Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems - producing industrial automation systems and equipment.
*Hitachi Transport System - providing one-stop logistics services.
*Hitachi Energy
Discontinued or divested businesses
Hitachi Capital
*
Leasing
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
* Loan guarantees
* Invoice finance
* Consumer finance (personal and retail)
* Business finance
Bought by
Mitsubishi
The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries.
Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
, it had been the group's financial business arm.
Hitachi Works
Spin-off
Spin-off may refer to:
*Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity
* Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...
entities from Hitachi Works include
Hitachi Cable
was established in 1956 as a manufacturer of electric wire and cable for power distribution. The company, based in Tokyo, Japan, was formed from Hitachi Densen Works, the Hitachi Works Corporate spin-off, spin-off previously known as Densen Works ...
(1956) and Hitachi Canadian Industries Limited (founded 1988 in
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
and closed in 2016 as Mitsubishi-Hitachi Power Systems).
As Hitachi pulled out of MHPS and handed over the control to
MHI, Hitachi Works was also transferred, becoming part of Mitsubishi Power.
Others
Other former businesses Hitachi had had include the following:
*Aircraft
**
Hitachi T.2
**
Hitachi TR.2
The Hitachi TR.1 was a small airliner developed in Japan in 1938, produced in small numbers as the TR.2. It was a low-wing, cantilever monoplane with retractable tailwheel undercarriage and a fully enclosed cabin. The design strongly resembled ...
* Aircraft Engines
**
Hitachi Hatsukaze
The Hitachi Hatsukaze (初風, Hatsukaze - fresh wind), also known as the Hitachi GK4 (short Navy), Hitachi Army Type 4 110hp Air Cooled Inline (Army long), Hitachi Ha47 (Army Hatzudoki) and Ha-11 model 11 (unified), was Hitachi's fourth design i ...
*
Hitachi Zosen
** Ships - Business merged with the shipbuilding operation of
NKK corporation to form
Universal Shipbuilding Corporation
(informally JMU) is a Japanese ship building marine engineering and service company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan.
It's Japan’s second largest shipbuilder after Imabari Shipbuilding, with shipyard facilities in Kure, Hiroshima, Yokohama, ...
* Displays
**
Plasma
Plasma or plasm may refer to:
Science
* Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter
* Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral
* Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics
Biology
* Blood pla ...
and
LCD
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...
Television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
s - Ceased production. Brand name continues to be licensed to
Vestel
Vestel is a Turkish home and professional appliances manufacturing company consisting of 18 companies specialised in electronics, major appliances and information technology. Vestel's headquarters and production plant are located in Manisa, while ...
for TVs sold at
Argos
Argos most often refers to:
* Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece
** Ancient Argos, the ancient city
* Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Argos or ARGOS may also refer to:
Businesses
* ...
in the UK.
** Small LCDs - Divested to be part of
Japan Display
, commonly called by its abbreviated name, JDI, is the Japanese Display device, display technology joint venture formed by the merger of the small and medium-sized Liquid-crystal display, liquid crystal display businesses of Sony, Toshiba, and Hi ...
**
Projector
A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer types ...
s - Sold to
Maxell
, commonly known as Maxell, is a Japanese company that manufactures consumer electronics.
The company's name is a contraction of "Maximum capacity dry cell". Its main products are batteries, wireless charging products, storage devices, LCD/laser ...
* Memory chips - Spun off to be part of
Elpida Memory
Micron Memory Japan, K.K. is a Japanese subsidiary of Micron Technology. It was formerly known as established in 1999 that developed, designed, manufactured and sold dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) products. It was also a semiconductor fou ...
*System LSIs - Spun off to be part of
Renesas Technology
is a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, initially incorporated in 2002 as Renesas Technology, the consolidated entity of the semiconductor units of Hitachi and Mitsubishi excluding their dynamic random-access memo ...
*
Personal computers - Ceased production
* Mobile phones - Merged with
Casio
is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturing corporation headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Its products include calculators, mobile phones, digital cameras, electronic musical instruments, and analogue and digital watches. It ...
's cellphone manufacturing business, then absorbed into
NEC Mobile Communications
NEC Mobile Communications was a mobile phone manufacturer established 1 May 2010. It started as a joint venture among three Japanese electronics manufacturers NEC, Casio and Hitachi, where NEC owned 70.74%, Casio 20.00% and Hitachi 9.26%. At one ...
* Batteries - Sold to Maxell
* Drilling instruments (Hitachi Via Mechanics) - Sold to The Longreach Group
* Hard disk drives - Separated division for this product line as
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
HGST, Inc. (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) was a manufacturer of hard disk drives, solid-state drives, and external storage products and services.
It was initially a subsidiary of Hitachi, formed through its acquisition of IBM's disk dr ...
, then HGST was purchased by
Western Digital
Western Digital Corporation (WDC, commonly known as Western Digital or WD) is an American computer drive manufacturer and data storage company, headquartered in San Jose, California. It designs, manufactures and sells data technology produc ...
*
Mainframe computer hardware - Stopped exporting in 2000; Ceased production in 2017 to focus on the operating system business.
*Hitachi Kokusai Electric - Sold to
KKR
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strateg ...
**Telecommunication equipment
**
Chemical vapor deposition
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vacuum deposition method used to produce high quality, and high-performance, solid materials. The process is often used in the semiconductor industry to produce thin films.
In typical CVD, the wafer (substra ...
equipment
*
Power tool
A power tool is a tool that is actuated by an additional power source and mechanism other than the solely manual labor used with hand tools. The most common types of power tools use electric motors. Internal combustion engines and compressed ...
s (Hitachi Koki) - Sold to KKR and renamed
Hikoki
*
Car navigation system (Clarion) - Sold to
Faurecia
*
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
s - Ceased production
*
Chemical products (Hitachi Chemical) - Sold to
Showa Denko
, founded in 1939 by the merger of Nihon Electrical Industries and Showa Fertilizers, both established by a Japanese entrepreneur Nobuteru Mori, is a Japanese chemical company producing chemical products and industrial materials.
SDK's products ...
and renamed Showa Denko Materials
*
Medical diagnostic equipment - Sold to
Fujifilm
*
Thermal power generation system (
Mitsubishi
The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries.
Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
Hitachi Power Systems) - Shares held by Hitachi transferred to Mitsubishi
Philanthropy
In August 2011, it was announced that Hitachi would donate an electron microscope to each of five universities in Indonesia (the
University of North Sumatra
The University of Sumatera Utara ( id, Universitas Sumatera Utara) or USU is a public university located in the city of Medan in North Sumatra, Indonesia.
It is situated in Padang Bulan, in the Medan Baru subdistrict of Medan, close to the City ...
in
Medan
Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, as well as a regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra. According to the National Development Planning Agency, Medan is one of the four main ...
, the
Indonesian Christian University
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
in
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
,
Padjadjaran University in
Bandung
Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...
,
General Soedirman University in
Purwokerto
Purwokerto is a large but non-autonomous town on the island of Java, Indonesia. It is the capital of Banyumas Regency, Central Java province. The population of the four districts which comprise the town at the 2010 census was 233,951 and 22 ...
and
Muhammadiyah
Muhammadiyah ( ar, محمدية; 'followers of Muhammad'); also known as the Muhammadiyah Society ( id, Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah) is a major Islamic non-governmental organization in Indonesia.A. Jalil HamidTackle the rising cost of living longer ...
University in
Malang
Malang (; ) is a landlocked List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of East Java. It has a history dating back to the age of Singhasari, Singhasari Kingdom. It is the second most popul ...
).
See also
*
ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Japanese companies established in 1910
Aircraft engine manufacturers of Japan
Audio equipment manufacturers of Japan
1940s initial public offerings
Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
Companies listed on the Nagoya Stock Exchange
Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Computer security companies
Conglomerate companies of Japan
Consumer electronics brands
Defense companies of Japan
Display technology companies
Electrical engineering companies of Japan
Electrical wiring and construction supplies manufacturers
Electronics companies of Japan
Elevator manufacturers
Equipment semiconductor companies
Escalator manufacturers
Fuyo Group
Home appliance manufacturers of Japan
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning companies
Industrial machine manufacturers
Japanese brands
Robotics in Japan
Midori-kai
Military vehicle manufacturers
Mobile phone manufacturers
Multinational companies headquartered in Japan
Nuclear technology companies of Japan
Power tool manufacturers
Public safety communications
Rail infrastructure manufacturers
Robotics companies of Japan
Rolling stock manufacturers of Japan
Conglomerate companies established in 1910
Wind turbine manufacturers
Steam turbine manufacturers
Mining equipment companies
Manufacturing companies established in 1910
Electronics companies established in 1910
Carburetor manufacturers
Electric motor manufacturers
Engine manufacturers of Japan
Pump manufacturers
Tool manufacturing companies of Japan