HITACHI, LTD.

Japanese Kabushiki Kaisha Hitachi Seisakusho, major Japanese manufacturer of electric appliances and electronics equipment and one of the country's largest companies. Headquarters are in Tokyo. Hitachi was formed in 1910 as a repair shop for a mining company in the town of Hitachi and was incorporated under its current name 10 years later. The company experienced rapid growth both in profits and in expanding its product line. By 1942 Hitachi had set up its first research facility, and this was followed by expansion into computer and nuclear-energy research after World War II. The most recent area of corporate research concerns energy-saving electric appliances. Nearly half of the company's revenues are derived from the manufacture of home appliances and heavy electrical machinery. Hitachi also is a major Japanese manufacturer of railroad locomotive engines and other transportation machinery. The company moved rapidly into the communications boom of the 1970s, and communication and electronics equipment now bring in about one-quarter of total sales. The company supplies computers to the United States through the Itel Corporation and also provides large-scale computers to Europe and South America. It has branch offices throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. About one-fourth of total sales comes from exports.