ltd. type public kabushiki gaisha stock company traded as tyo 6501 otc pink hthiy industry conglomerate founded 1910 ; 106 years ago 1910 hitachi ibaraki japan founder namihei odaira headquarters chiyoda tokyo japan area served worldwide key people takashi kawamura chairman hiroaki nakanishi president products electronics industrial machinery telecommunications equipment power plants information systems automotive components materials defense technology construction equipment services consulting financial services revenue 9.774 trillion 2015 1 operating income 482.95 billion 2015 1 profit 217.48 billion 2015 1 total assets 12.433 trillion 2015 1 total equity 2.942 trillion 2015 1 number of employees 336 670 2015 2 website www.hitachi.com hitachi ltd. kabushiki gaisha hitachi seisakusho japanese pronunciation i tat i is a japanese multinational conglomerate company headquartered in chiyoda tokyo japan . it is the parent company of the hitachi group hitachi gur pu and forms part of the dkb group of companies . hitachi is a highly diversified company that operates eleven business segments information & telecommunication systems social infrastructure high functional materials & components financial services power systems electronic systems & equipment automotive systems railway & urban systems digital media & consumer products construction machinery and other components & systems . 3 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 . 4 on january 21 2014 numerous tech articles around the globe published findings from the cloud storage provider backblaze that hitachi hard disks are the most reliable among prominent hard disk manufacturers . 5 6 7 8 9 10 contents 1 history 2 products and services 2.1 aircraft 2.1.1 aircraft engines 2.2 automotive systems 2.3 components and devices 2.4 construction machinery 2.5 defense systems 2.6 digital media and consumer products 2.7 electronic systems and equipment 2.8 financial services 2.9 high functional materials and components 2.10 information and telecommunication systems 2.11 power systems 2.12 social infrastructure and industrial systems 2.13 other 3 subsidiaries and divisions 3.1 current 3.1.1 hitachi communication technologies america 3.1.2 hitachi consulting 3.1.3 hitachi data systems 3.1.4 hitachi electronics 3.1.5 hitachi defense systems company 3.1.6 hitachi metals ltd. 3.1.7 hitachi koki 3.1.8 hitachi plant technologies 3.1.9 hitachi rail 3.1.10 hitachi solutions america 3.1.11 hitachi works 3.1.12 r & d group 3.2 former divisions 3.2.1 hitachi global storage technologies 3.2.2 hitachi printing systems 4 corporate social responsibility 5 references 6 external links history edit former hitachi logo hitachi was founded in 1910 by electrical engineer namihei odaira in ibaraki prefecture . 11 the company s first product was japan s first 5 horsepower electric induction motor initially developed for use in copper mining . odaira s company soon became the domestic leader in electric motors and electric power industry infrastructure . 12 the company began as an in house venture of fusanosuke kuhara s mining company in hitachi ibaraki . odaira moved headquarters to tokyo in 1918 . long before that he coined the company s toponymic name by superimposing two kanji characters hi meaning sun and tachi meaning rise . the young company s national aspirations were conveyed by its original brand mark which evoked japan s imperial rising sun flag . hitachi america ltd. was established in 1959 . 13 hitachi europe ltd. was established in 1982 . 14 in march 2011 hitachi agreed to sell its hard disk drive subsidiary hitachi global storage technologies to western digital for a combination of cash and shares worth us 4.3 billion . 15 due to concerns of a duopoly of wd and seagate 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 . 16 hitachi entered talks with mitsubishi heavy industries in august 2011 about a potential merger of the two companies in what would have been the largest merger between two japanese companies in history . 17 18 the talks subsequently broke down and were suspended . 19 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 . 20 21 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 . 22 23 the joint venture began operations in february 2014 . 24 products and services edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message aircraft edit pre war hitachi t. 2 hitachi tr .2 aircraft engines edit hitachi hatsukaze automotive systems edit hitachi automotive systems americas offices farmington hills michigan car information systems drive control electric powertrain systems engine management systems components and devices edit batteries hard disk drives separated division for this product line as hitachi global storage technologies then hgst was purchased by western digital information storage media lcds construction machinery edit a hitachi hydraulic excavator in use hydraulic excavators forestry equipment mechanical & hydraulic cranes mining dump trucks crawler dump trucks wheel loaders defense systems edit military vehicles vetronics crisis management c4i systems satellite image processing systems social infrastructure security business in coordination with hitachi s infrastructure systems group 25 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 120mm self propelled mortar jgsdf type 99 artillery support vehicle digital media and consumer products edit 2008 hitachi air conditioning outdoor unit the magic wand air conditioning equipment hitachi magic wand 26 27 lcd projectors professional dlp projectors optical disc drives joint venture with optical disc drive division of lg as hitachi lg data storage plasma and lcd televisions refrigerators room air conditioners washing machines note a new product from hitachi called memory glass was to be introduced in 2015 . it is a high density information storage medium utilizing laser etched readable fused quartz . 28 electronic systems and equipment edit lcds medical electronics equipment power tools semiconductor manufacturing equipment test and measurement equipment financial services edit leasing loan guarantees invoice finance via the hitachi capital arm of the business high functional materials and components edit circuit boards and materials copper products high grade casting components and materials magnetic materials and components semiconductor and display related materials specialty steels wires and cables information and telecommunication systems edit the hitachi factory in toyokawa japan atms disk array subsystems mainframe computers outsourcing services servers software system inton telecommunications equipment power systems edit nuclear thermal and hydroelectric power plants wind power generation systems social infrastructure and industrial systems edit hitachi s g1tower currently the world s tallest elevator research tower 29 located at hitachinaka ibaraki elevators escalators industrial machinery and plants railway vehicles and systems other edit logistics property management subsidiaries and divisions edit current edit hitachi communication technologies america edit hitachi communication technologies america provides communications products and services for the telecommunications cable tv utility enterprise industrial and other markets . 30 hitachi consulting edit main article hitachi consulting hitachi consulting is an international management and technology consulting firm with headquarters in dallas texas . it was founded in 2000 and currently employs approximately 6 500 people across the united states japan the united kingdom the netherlands india spain portugal germany china brazil and vietnam . hitachi data systems edit main article hitachi data systems hitachi data systems hds 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 . hitachi electronics edit hitachi manufactures many types of electronic products including tvs camcorders projectors and recording media under its own brand name . hitachi defense systems company edit hitachi provides various defense related derived products & services see defense systems entry in the products and services section above . hitachi metals ltd. edit 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 koki edit hitachi manufactures many types of tools including chainsaws drills woodworking power tools . some are branded koki tanaka . march 1 2016 hitachi koki acquired german power tools manufacturer metabo from chequers capital . 31 hitachi plant technologies edit hitachi plant technologies ltd. along with its subsidiaries engages 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 rail edit a british rail class 395 train produced by hitachi hitachi rail is involved in designing and manufacturing many models of shinkansen vehicles including the n700 series shinkansen . 32 and the thsr 700t for taiwan high speed rail . hitachi markets a general purpose train known as the a train which utilises double skin friction stir welded aluminium body construction . the a train concept can be customised to form a commuter train like the automated 3000 series train for the nanakuma line a limited express train like the e257 series or a high speed train such as the class 395 operating in the uk . 32 in june 2008 hitachi also submitted a tender for the uk s intercity express programme which won . 33 hitachi also develops rolling stock for many metro systems including the fukuoka subway tokyo metro yokohama municipal subway and marta as well as operating vehicles via hitachi monorail . hitachi and mitsubishi heavy industries agreed to cooperate in the field of international intra city railway systems in 2010 . 34 in 2015 hitachi rail bought italian manufacturer ansaldo breda . hitachi solutions america edit hitachi solutions america is a consulting firm and systems integrator focusing primarily on microsoft dynamics . the firm utilizes ax and crm from the dynamics family to provide customers with a broad base of solutions . the company is international with subsidiaries residing in the united kingdom canada philippines thailand singapore japan and india . hitachi solutions america acquired ignify another leading microsoft dynamics solution providers in december 2015 . hitachi solutions has about 2000 microsoft dynamics consultants worldwide after the acquisition of ignify . hitachi works edit hitachi works is the oldest member of the hitachi group and 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 and is regarded as the ancestral home of hitachi ltd. many management trainees intern at hitachi works before being permanently assigned to other hitachi divisions . senior management personnel are often participants in rotations at hitachi works for a few years as their career develops towards eventual head office stature . as a result many of the senior managers of hitachi ltd have passed through hitachi works . spin off entities from hitachi works include hitachi cable 1956 and hitachi canadian industries 1988 . r & d group edit includes intellectual property group subgroup 35 technology strategy office central research laboratory hitachi research laboratory includes mechanical engineering research laboratory robotics yokohama research