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Hitachi, Ltd. (株式会社日立製作所, Kabushiki gaisha Hitachi Seisaku-sho, lit. “Share Company Hitachi Manufacturing Plant” or “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 Nagoya Stock Exchange and its Tokyo listing is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Core30 indices. It is ranked 38th in the 2012 Fortune Global 500 and 129th in the 2012 Forbes Global 2000.[7]
History
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]