Hitachi

Hitachi, Ltd.
	Hitachi Headquarters in Marunouchi
Native name	株式会社日立製作所
Romanized name	Kabushiki gaisha Hitachi Seisaku-sho; lit. "Share Company Hitachi Manufacturing Plant"
Type	Public KK
Traded as	TYO: 6501; Nikkei 225 component; TOPIX Core30 component
ISIN	JP3788600009
Industry	Conglomerate
Founded	1910; Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan
Founder	Namihei Odaira
Headquarters	Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Hiroaki Nakanishi (chairman); Toshiaki Higashihara (president and CEO);
Products	Electronics; Industrial machinery; Telecoms equipment; Power plants; Information system; Materials; Auto parts; Power tools; Elevator & Escalator; Defense technology; Heavy equipment; Supercomputers[1][2]; Semiconductor manufacturing equipment;
Services	Consulting; Financial services;
Revenue	¥9.480 trillion (2019)[3]
Operating income	¥516.5 billion (2019)[3]
Net income	¥321.0 billion (2019)[3]
Total assets	¥9.626 trillion (2019)[3]
Total equity	¥3.262 trillion (2019)[3]
Number of employees	295,941 (2019)[4]
Website	www.hitachi.com

Hitachi, Ltd. (株式会社日立製作所, Kabushiki gaisha Hitachi Seisaku-sho, lit. "Hitachi Works Corporation") (Japanese pronunciation: [çi̥taꜜtɕi]) is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (Hitachi Gurūpu) and formed part of the Nissan zaibatsu and later DKB Group of companies before DKB merged into the Mizuho Financial Group. As of April 2019, Hitachi operates ten business segments, ranging from IT, including AI and big data, to Construction Machinery.[5][6]

Hitachi is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indices. It is ranked 38th in the 2012 Fortune Global 500 and 129th in the 2012 Forbes Global 2000.[7]

History

Former Hitachi logo (1968–1992). The icon on the left is still used by Hitachi Rail and its subsidiaries, as well as the favicon.

Hitachi was founded in 1910 by electrical engineer Namihei Odaira in Ibaraki Prefecture.[8][9][10] The company's first product was Japan's first 4-kilowatt (5 hp) induction motor, initially developed for use in copper mining.[11]

The company began as an in-house venture of Fusanosuke Kuhara's mining company in Hitachi, Ibaraki. Odaira moved headquarters to Tokyo in 1918.[12] Odaira coined the company's toponymic name by superimposing two kanji characters: hi meaning "sun" and tachi meaning "rise".[13]

World War II 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.[14]

Hitachi America, Ltd. was established in 1959.[15] Hitachi Europe, Ltd. was established in 1982.[16]

From 2006 to 2010, Hitachi lost US$12.5 billion. This prompted Hitachi to restructure and sell a number of divisions and businesses, a process that is expected to finish in 2021.[17][18][19][20]

In March 2011, Hitachi agreed to sell its hard disk drive subsidiary, HGST, to Western Digital for a combination of cash and shares worth US$4.3 billion.[21] Due to concerns of a duopoly of WD and Seagate Technology by the EU Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, Hitachi's 3.5" HDD division was sold to Toshiba. The transaction was completed in March 2012.[22]

In January 2012, Hitachi announced it would stop producing televisions in Japan.[23] In September 2012, Hitachi announced that it had invented a long-term data solution out of quartz glass that was capable of preserving information for millions of years.[24] In October 2012, Hitachi agreed to acquire the United Kingdom-based nuclear energy company Horizon Nuclear Power, which plans to construct up to six nuclear power plants in the UK, from E.ON and RWE for £700 million.[25][26] In November 2012, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries agreed to merge their thermal power generation businesses into a joint venture to be owned 65% by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 35% by Hitachi.[27][28] The joint venture began operations in February 2014.[29]

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.[30] In May 2016, Hitachi announced it was investing $2.8 billion into its IoT interests.[31]

Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster 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.[32] Hitachi is taking for 2016 an estimated ¥65 billion write-off in value of a SILEX technology laser uranium enrichment joint venture with General Electric.[33][34]

In February 2017, Hitachi and Honda announced a partnership to develop, produce and sell motors for electric vehicles.[35] On March 14, 2018, Zoomdata announced its partnership with Hitachi INS Software to help develop big data analytics market in Japan.[36]

In December 2018, Hitachi Ltd. announced it would take over ABB Ltd.'s power grid division for $6.4 billion.[37] Also in 2017, private equity firm KKR 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.[38][39][40][41]

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 planned to become a company specialized in IT and infrastructure maintenance in near future.[42]

In 2019, Hitachi sold its medical imaging business to Fujifilm for US$1.7 billion. Showa Denko 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.[43][44][45][46][47] Hitachi also suspended the ABWR development by its British subsidiary Horizon Nuclear Power as it did not provide an adequate "economic rationality as a private enterprise" to proceed.[48]

In October the same year, Honda was reported to be in talks with Hitachi to merge the two companies' car parts businesses, creating a components supplier with almost $17 billion in annual sales, the second largest among the Japanese car parts companies. Hitachi retained the control of the new company with a 67 percent stake.[49][50]

Products and services

Automotive systems

Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas Offices, Farmington Hills, Michigan

Car Information Systems
Drive Control
Electric Powertrain Systems
Engine Management Systems

Construction machinery

A Hitachi hydraulic excavator in use

Hydraulic Excavators
Forestry Equipment
Mechanical & Hydraulic Cranes
Mining Dump Trucks
Crawler Dump trucks
Wheel Loaders

Defense systems

Military vehicles
Vetronics
Crisis management
C4I systems
Satellite image processing systems
Social Infrastructure security business (in coordination with Hitachi's Infrastructure Systems Group)[51]
Electric propulsion technology
Electro-mechanical systems (including some robotics research & development)
Advanced Combat Infantry Equipment System [ACIES] (JSDF) - Primary contractor

JGSDF Type 87 Artillery Support Vehicle
JGSDF Type 92 Mine Clearance Vehicle
JGSDF Type 96 120 mm self-propelled mortar
JGSDF Type 99 Artillery Support Vehicle

Digital media and consumer products

2008 Hitachi air conditioning outdoor unit

The Magic Wand vibrating massager

Air conditioning equipment - Joint venture with Johnson Controls
Hitachi Magic Wand[52][53]
Optical disc drives - Joint venture with optical disc drive division of LG as Hitachi-LG Data Storage
Refrigerators
Washing machines

Electronic systems and equipment

Financial services

Leasing
Loan guarantees
Invoice finance (via the Hitachi Capital arm of the business)
Consumer finance (personal and retail)
Business finance

Advanced materials

Specialty steels
Wires and cables

Information and telecommunication systems

The Hitachi factory in Toyokawa, Japan

ATMs
Servers
Disk array subsystems
Data storage and analytics solutions[55]
- Hitachi Vantara
Internet of Things
- Hitachi Lumada[56]
Mainframe computer operating system[57]
Software
Outsourcing services
Telecommunications equipment

Power systems

Nuclear, thermal and hydroelectric power plants
Wind Power Generation Systems
Power Grids

Social infrastructure and industrial systems

Hitachi's G1TOWER, currently the world's tallest elevator research tower,[58] located at Hitachinaka, Ibaraki

Elevators
Escalators
Industrial machinery and plants
Railway vehicles and systems
- Hitachi A-train

Other

Logistics (Through Hitachi Transport System)
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 (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, 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 international management and technology consulting subsidiary with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, was integrated with Hitachi Vantara in 2019.

Hitachi Metal

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.

Hitachi Rail

A British Rail Class 395 train produced by Hitachi

Hitachi Rail is the rolling stock manufacturing division of Hitachi.[59]

The rail division delivered 120 CQ311 series railcars to MARTA from 1984 to 1988.

Hitachi markets a general-purpose train known as the "A-train", which uses double-skin, friction-stir-welded aluminium body construction.[60] Hitachi's products have included the designing and manufacturing of many Shinkansen models, including the N700 Series Shinkansen.[60]

On February 24, 2015, Hitachi agreed to purchase the Italian rolling stock manufacturer AnsaldoBreda and acquire Finmeccanica's stake in Ansaldo STS, the railway signaling division of Finmeccanica[61] The purchase was completed later that year,[62] at which point the company was renamed as Hitachi Rail Italy. Since then, Hitachi has obtained a majority stake in Ansaldo STS.[63]

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.[64]

Hitachi Works

Hitachi Works consists of three factories: Kaigan Works, Yamate Works, and Rinkai Works. Yamate Works, the oldest of the three factories, was founded in 1910 by Namihei Odaira as an electrical equipment repair and manufacturing facility. This facility was named Hitachi, after the Hitachi Mine near Hitachi, Ibaraki.

Spin-off entities from Hitachi Works include Hitachi Cable (1956) and Hitachi Canadian Industries (1988).

Other subsidiaries

Hitachi Zosen
Hitachi High-tech
Hitachi Automotive Systems
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (co-owned by General Electric)
Hitachi Global Life Solutions - Manufacturing home appliances, air conditioners.

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.[65]

Hitachi Solutions America - A consulting firm and systems integrator focusing primarily on Microsoft Dynamics. Hitachi Solutions America acquired Ignify, a Microsoft Dynamics Solution provider, in December 2015.[66]

Discontinued or divested businesses

Aircraft
- Hitachi T.2
- Hitachi TR.2
Aircraft Engines
- Hitachi Hatsukaze
Ships - Merged with the shipbuilding operation of NKK corporation to form Universal Shipbuilding Corporation[67]
Displays
- Plasma and LCD Televisions - Ceased production[68]
- Small LCDs - Divested to be part of Japan Display
- Projectors - Sold to Maxell
Semiconductors - Spun off to be part of Elpida Memory and Renesas Technology
Personal computers - Ceased production[69]
Mobile phones - Merged with Casio's cellphone manufacturing business, then absorbed into NEC Mobile Communications
Batteries - Sold to Maxell
Drilling instruments (Hitachi Via Mechanics) - Sold to The Longreach Group[70]
Hard disk drives - Separated division for this product line as Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, then HGST was purchased by Western Digital
Mainframe computer hardware - Stopped exporting in 2000; Ceased production in 2017 to focus on the operating system business.[57]
Chemical vapor deposition equipment (Hitachi Kokusai Electric) - Sold to KKR and renamed Kokusai Electric[71]
Power tools (Hitachi Koki) - Sold to KKR and renamed Hikoki[71]
Car navation system (Clarion) - Sold to Faurecia[71]
Wind turbines - Ceased production[72]
Chemical products (Hitachi Chemical) - Sold to Showa Denko and renamed Showa Denko Materials
Medical diagnotic equipment - Sold to Fujifilm
Gas turbines (Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems) - Shares held by Hitachi transferred to Mitsubishi[73]

Corporate social responsibility

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 in Medan, the Indonesian Christian University in Jakarta, Padjadjaran University in Bandung, General Soedirman University in Purwokerto and Muhammadiyah University in Malang).[74]

gollark: ++exec```pythonprint("hi")```

gollark: ++exec --debug```pythonprint("hi")```

gollark: Great!