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80-749: NEC Corporation ( 日本電気株式会社 , Nippon Denki Kabushiki gaisha , an acronym for the Nippon Electric Company ) is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo , Japan . It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing , artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) platform, and telecommunications equipment and software to business enterprises, communications services providers and to government agencies. NEC has also been

160-531: A ⟨k⟩ , is often used, but the original Japanese pronunciation is kabushiki gaisha , with a ⟨g⟩ , owing to rendaku . A kabushiki gaisha must include " 株式会社 " in its name (Article 6, paragraph 2 of the Companies Act). In a company name, " 株式会社 " can be used as a prefix (e.g. 株式会社 電通 , kabushiki gaisha Dentsū , a style called 前株 , mae-kabu ) or as a suffix (e.g. トヨタ自動車 株式会社 , Toyota Jidōsha kabushiki gaisha ,

240-423: A (so-called) "close company" ( 非公開会社 , hi-kōkai gaisha ) , in which case the company (e.g. its board of directors or a shareholders' meeting, as defined in the articles of incorporation) must approve any transfer of shares between shareholders; this designation must be made in the articles of incorporation. The articles must be sealed by the incorporator(s) and notarized by a civil law notary , then filed with

320-468: A 100 kW radio broadcasting system in 1934. Photo-telegraphic equipment developed by NEC transmitted photos of the accession ceremony of Emperor Hirohito . The ceremony was held in Kyoto in 1928. The Newspapers Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun were competing to cover the ceremony. The Asahi Shimbun was using a Siemens device. The Mainichi was planning to use French photo-telegraphic equipment. In

400-599: A 19.8% market share in the PC market in Japan. On January 27, 2011, NEC formed a joint venture with Chinese PC maker Lenovo , the fourth largest PC maker in the world. As part of the deal, the companies said in a statement they will establish a new company called Lenovo NEC Holdings B.V., which will be registered in the Netherlands. NEC will receive US$ 175 million from Lenovo through the issuance of Lenovo's shares. Lenovo, through

480-511: A K.K. is carried out by one or more incorporators ( 発起人 , hokkinin , sometimes referred to as "promoters") . Although seven incorporators were required as recently as the 1980s, a K.K. now only needs one incorporator, which may be an individual or a corporation. If there are multiple incorporators, they must sign a partnership agreement before incorporating the company. The purpose statement requires some specialized knowledge, as Japan follows an ultra vires doctrine and does not allow

560-468: A K.K. must have a board of directors ( 取締役会 , torishimariyaku kai ) consisting of at least three individuals. Directors have a statutory term of office of two years, and auditors have a term of four years. Small companies can exist with only one or two directors, with no statutory term of office, and without a board of directors ( 取締役会非設置会社 , torishimariyaku-kai hi-setchi-gaisha ) . In such companies, decisions are made via shareholder meeting and

640-477: A K.K. to act beyond its purposes. Judicial or administrative scriveners are often hired to draft the purposes of a new company. Additionally, the articles of incorporation must contain the following if applicable: Other matters may also be included, such as limits on the number of directors and auditors. The Corporation Code allows a K.K. to be formed as a "stock company that is not a public company" ( 公開会社でない株式会社 , kōkai gaisha denai kabushiki gaisha ) , or

720-469: A bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Masatomo Sumitomo , a former Buddhist monk . Even today, management of the group is guided by his "Founder's Precepts", written in the 17th century. Copper refining made the company famous. Riemon Soga, Masatomo Sumitomo's brother-in-law, learned Western methods of copper refining. In 1590, he established a smelting business, Izumiya , literally meaning " spring shop". Riemon perfected techniques that allowed

800-602: A corporate accelerator program that works with entrepreneurs , start-ups and existing companies to help them develop new products that leverage NEC's emerging technologies. In August 2018, Envision Energy struck an agreement with Nissan and NEC to acquire their automotive battery joint venture. In December 2018, NEC announced that it would acquire KMD , the largest Danish IT company, for $ 1.2 billion to strengthen its digital government business. NEC sold its sixty-year-old lighting business in April 2019. As of September 2019, NEC

880-897: A diminished supplier, NEC was galvanized to ramp up its relatively small 5G network business to fill the void in the telecommunications equipment markets of the United States and the United Kingdom. NTT , the largest carrier in Japan, invested $ 596 million for a 4.8 percent stake in NEC to assist this move. In December 2020, NEC acquired Swiss digital banking solution developer Avaloq for US$ 2.2 billion. As of July 2018, NEC has 6 larger business segments—Public, Enterprise, Network Services, System Platform, Global, and Others. It has renamed its Telecom Carrier business to Network Service. Principal subsidiaries of NEC include: Defense products include: Food Achievements of NEC include: NEC

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960-504: A holding company for European operations the same year. The NEC C&C Research Laboratories, NEC Europe, Ltd. were opened in Germany in 1994. NEC (China) Co, Ltd. was established as a holding company for Chinese operations in 1996. In 1997 NEC developed 4Gbit DRAM, and their semiconductor group was honored with one of the first Japan Quality Awards. In 1998, NEC opened the world's most advanced semiconductor R&D facility. NEC had been

1040-502: A joint venture to produce lithium ion batteries for hybrid and electric cars . The two companies established Automotive Energy Supply Corporation as a result. On April 23, 2009, Renesas Technology Corp and NEC Electronics Corp struck a basic agreement to merge by around April 2010. On April 1, 2010, NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology merged forming Renesas Electronics which is set to be fourth largest semiconductor company according to iSuppli published data. By Q3 2010, NEC held

1120-552: A joint-venture with Samsung SDI to manufacture OLED displays. NEC Electronics Corporation was separated from NEC in 2002 as a new semiconductor company. NEC Laboratories America, Inc. (NEC Labs) started in November 2002 as a merger of NEC Research Institute (NECI) and NEC USA's Computer and Communications Research Laboratory (CCRL). NEC built the Earth Simulator Computer (ESC), the fastest supercomputer in

1200-649: A leading semiconductor manufacturer than through any of its direct video game products. NEC USA, Inc. was established in 1989 as a holding company for North American operations. In 1983, NEC Brasil ( pt ), the Brazilian subsidiary of NEC, was forced to nationalize its corporate stock under orders of the Brazilian military government , whereby shareholder control of NEC Brasil was ceded to the private equity group Brasilinvest of Brazilian investment banker Mário Garnero . Since NEC Brasil's foundation in 1968, it had become

1280-399: A minor issue when deciding how to structure a business in Japan. As all publicly traded companies follow the K.K. structure, smaller businesses often choose to incorporate as a K.K. simply to appear more prestigious. In addition to income taxes, K.K.s must also pay registration taxes to the national government and may be subject to local taxes. Generally, the power to bring actions against

1360-399: A new system where managers and employees were all direct employees of the company. Inefficiency was also removed from the production process. The company paid higher salaries with incentives for efficiency. New accounting and cost controls were put in place, and time clocks was installed. Between 1899 and 1907 the number of telephone subscribers in Japan rose from 35,000 to 95,000. NEC entered

1440-513: A price of less than ¥50,000 per share (effective 1982-2003 ), or operate with paid-in capital of less than ¥10 million (effective 1991–2005). On June 29, 2005, the Diet of Japan passed a new Companies Act ( 会社法 , kaisha-hō ) , which took effect on May 1, 2006. A kabushiki gaisha may be started with capital as low as ¥1, making the total cost of a K.K. incorporation approximately ¥240,000 (about US$ 2,500) in taxes and notarization fees. Under

1520-649: A small but steady stream of games until 1998, when NEC finally abandoned the video games industry. NEC also supplied rival Nintendo with the RISC -based CPU, V810 (same one used in the PC-FX) for the Virtual Boy and VR4300 CPU for the Nintendo 64 , released in 1995–1996, and both SNK updated VR4300 CPU (64-bit MIPS III) on Hyper Neo Geo 64 , as well as to former rival Sega with a version of its PowerVR 2 GPU for

1600-454: A style called 後株 , ato-kabu ). Many Japanese companies translate the phrase " 株式会社 " in their name as " Company, Limited "—this is very often abbreviated as " Co., Ltd. "—but others use the more Americanized translations "Corporation" or "Incorporated". Texts in England often refer to kabushiki kaisha as " joint stock companies ". While that is close to a literal translation of the term,

1680-407: A super-fast undersea data transmission cable linking the United States and Japan for a consortium of international companies consisting of China Mobile International , China Telecom Global , Global Transit, Google , KDDI and SingTel . The pipeline went online June 30, 2016. It exited from the smartphone market in 2015 by dissolving NEC Mobile Communications , bailing out the other participants in

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1760-504: A third expansion plan of the phone service in March 1913, despite having 120,000 potential telephone subscribers waiting for phone installations. NEC sales fell sixty percent between 1912 and 1915. During the interim, Iwadare started importing appliances, including electric fans, kitchen appliances, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners. Electric fans had never been seen in Japan before. The imports were intended to prop up company sales. In 1916,

1840-480: A unit, will own a 51% stake in the joint venture, while NEC will hold a 49% stake. In February 2011, Bloomberg News said the joint venture would allow Lenovo to expand in the field of servers , and NEC's Masato Yamamoto said NEC would be able to grow in China . On January 26, 2012, NEC Corporation announced that it would cut 10,000 jobs globally due to a big loss on NEC's consolidated financial statement in line with

1920-510: Is a type of company ( 会社 , kaisha ) defined under the Companies Act of Japan . The term is often translated as "stock company", " joint-stock company " or "stock corporation". The term kabushiki gaisha in Japan refers to any joint-stock company regardless of country of origin or incorporation; however, outside Japan the term refers specifically to joint-stock companies incorporated in Japan. In Latin script, kabushiki kaisha , with

2000-593: Is also combined into one Unicode character at code point U+337F ㍿ SQUARE CORPORATION , while the parenthesized form can also be represented with a single character, U+3231 ㈱ PARENTHESIZED IDEOGRAPH STOCK as well as parentheses around U+682A 株 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-682A and its romanization U+33CD ㏍ SQUARE KK . These forms, however, only exist for backward compatibility with older Japanese character encodings and Unicode and should be avoided when possible in new text. The first kabushiki gaisha

2080-629: Is referred to as a company with a board of statutory auditors ( 監査役会設置会社 , kansayaku-kai setchi-gaisha ) . Close K.K.s may also have a single person serving as director and statutory auditor, regardless of capital or liabilities. A statutory auditor may be any person who is not an employee or director of the company. In practice, the position is often filled by a very senior employee close to retirement, or by an outside attorney or accountant. Japanese law does not designate any corporate officer positions. Most Japanese-owned kabushiki gaisha do not have "officers" per se , but are directly managed by

2160-479: Is the largest supplier of AI surveillance technology in the world. In the first half of 2020, NEC sold a majority stake in NEC Display Solutions , the professional display subsidiary, to Sharp Corporation and decided to gradually curtail the money-losing energy storage business throughout the decade. Upon the suggested banning of Huawei 's 5G equipment led by the United States in 2020, being

2240-601: The Dreamcast , released in 1997–1998. After working the previous chipset on the system. NEC supplied Bandai's WonderSwan handheld console, which was originally developed by Gunpei Yokoi, with the V30 MZ CPU. In the 2000s, NEC manufactured dynamic RAM process chips and produced for the GameCube GPU, Flipper, a graphics card development by ArtX . NEC celebrated their 100th anniversary in 1999. In 2000, NEC formed

2320-571: The GHQ and the Japanese government. The group reformed as a keiretsu , a group of independent companies organized around The Sumitomo Bank (now Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ) and bound together by cross shareholding . Many companies continue to use the word Sumitomo in their corporate names. Most of them are managed independently and listed at Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) and other stock exchanges with highly dispersed shareholders. For some,

2400-556: The " Super Tower ", was completed in Shiba, Tokyo . Additionally, joint-venture agreements were established to manufacture and market digital electronic switching systems and LSIs in China. In 1993 NEC's asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching system, the NEAX61 (Nippon Electronic Automatic Exchange) ATM Service Node, went into service in the United States. NEC Europe, Ltd. was established as

2480-642: The California-based Packard Bell company to produce desktop PCs in a common manufacturing plant for the North American market. As a result, NEC Technologies (USA) was merged with Packard Bell to create Packard Bell NEC Inc. By 1997, NEC's share was reduced to about 35%. In decades, NEC released a new console for its predecessor SuperGrafx , the Japan-only PC-FX , a 32-bit system with a tower-like design; it enjoyed

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2560-569: The China market in 1908 with the implementation of the telegraph treaty between Japan and China. They also entered the Korean market, setting up an office in Seoul in January 1908. During the period from 1907 to 1912 sales rose from 1.6 million yen to 2 million yen. The expansion of the Japanese phone service had been a key part of NEC's success during this period. The Ministry of Communications delayed

2640-585: The Illinois Business Corporation Act of 1933, giving kabushiki gaisha many traits of American corporations , and to be more exact, Illinois corporations. Over time, Japanese and U.S. corporate law diverged, and K.K. assumed many characteristics not found in U.S. corporations. For instance, a K.K. could not repurchase its own stock (a restriction lifted by the amendment of the Commercial Code in 2001), issue stock for

2720-478: The Legal Affairs Bureau in the jurisdiction where the company will have its head office. In a direct incorporation, each incorporator receives a specified amount of stock as designated in the articles of incorporation. Each incorporator must then promptly pay its share of the starting capital of the company, and if no directors have been designated in the articles of incorporation, meet to determine

2800-467: The Ministry of Finance. Under the new Company Law, public and other non-close K.K.s may either have a statutory auditor, or a nominating committee ( 指名委員会 , shimei-iin-kai ) , auditing committee ( 監査委員会 , kansa-iin-kai ) and compensation committee ( 報酬委員会 , hōshū-iin kai ) structure similar to that of American public corporations. If the company has an auditing committee, it

2880-654: The SPADE satellite communications system in 1971. In 1972, Switzerland ordered a NEC satellite communications earth station. The same year, a small transportable satellite communications earth station was set up in China. Shares of NEC common stock were listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in 1973. NEC also designed an automated broadcasting system for the Japan Broadcasting Corporation in the same year. NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH

2960-642: The Tamagawa Plant, reducing its capacity by forty percent. The Okayama Plant was totally destroyed by a bombing attack in June of the same year. At the end of the war, NEC's production had been substantially reduced by damage to its facilities, and by material and personnel shortages. After the war, production was slowly returned to civilian use. NEC re-opened its major plants by the end of January 1946. NEC began transistor research and development in 1950. It started exporting radio-broadcast equipment to Korea under

3040-579: The TurboGrafx-16 in the North American market). Its prototype 3D spec successor, the Tetsujin was originally set to be released in 1992, but the lack of completed games pushed the launch date about early 1993, which was planned debut in Japan. While the PC-Engine achieved a considerable following, it has been said that NEC held a much stronger influence on the video game industry through its role as

3120-423: The United States went into effect. Nippon Electric Company, Limited was organized the same day as Western Electric Company to become the first Japanese joint-venture with foreign capital. Iwadare was named managing director. Ernest Clement and Carleton were named as directors. Maeda and Mototeru Fujii were assigned to be auditors. Iwadare, Maeda, and Carleton handled the overall management. The company started with

3200-494: The United States. Nippon Electric New York (now NEC America Inc.) was incorporated in the same year. NEC supplied KDD with submarine cable systems for laying in the Pacific Ocean in 1964. They supplied short-haul 24 channel PCM carrier transmission equipment to NTT in 1965. NEC de Mexico, S. A. de C. V., NEC do Brasil, S. A., NEC Australia Pty. Ltd. were established between 1968 and 1969. NEC supplied Comsat Corporation with

3280-542: The amount of damages being claimed, shareholders rarely had the motivation to sue on the company's behalf. In 1993, the Commercial Code was amended to reduce the filing fee for all shareholder derivative suits to ¥8,200 per claim. This led to a rise in the number of derivative suits heard by Japanese courts, from 31 pending cases in 1992 to 286 in 1999, and to a number of very high-profile shareholder actions, such as those against Daiwa Bank and Nomura Securities Sumitomo Group The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to

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3360-425: The decision-making power of the directors is relatively limited. As soon as a third director is designated such companies must form a board. At least one director is designated as a Representative Director ( 代表取締役 , daihyō-torishimariyaku ) , holds the corporate seal and is empowered to represent the company in transactions. The Representative Director must "report" to the board of directors every three months;

3440-415: The directors on the corporation's behalf is granted to the statutory auditor. Historically, derivative suits by shareholders were rare in Japan. Shareholders have been permitted to sue on the corporation's behalf since the postwar Americanization of the Commercial Code; however, this power was severely limited by the nature of court costs in Japan. Because the cost to file a civil action is proportional to

3520-618: The directors, one of whom generally has the title of president ( 社長 , sha-chō ) . The Japanese equivalent of a corporate vice president is a department chief ( 部長 , bu-chō ) . Traditionally, under the lifetime employment system, directors and department chiefs begin their careers as line employees of the company and work their way up the management hierarchy over time. This is not the case in most foreign-owned companies in Japan, and some native companies have also abandoned this system in recent years in favor of encouraging more lateral movement in management. Corporate officers often have

3600-634: The dominant leader of the Japanese PC industry, holding 80% market share. NEC changed its English company name to NEC Corporation the same year. NEC Information Systems, Inc. started manufacturing computers and related products in the United States in 1984. NEC also released the V-series processor the same year. In 1986, NEC delivered its SX-2 supercomputer to the Houston Advanced Research Center , The Woodlands, Texas . In

3680-461: The economic crisis in Europe and lagged in the development of smartphones in the domestic market compared to Apple and Samsung. Previously, in January 2009 NEC has cut about 20,000 jobs, mainly in sluggish semiconductor and liquid crystal display related businesses. In 2013 NEC was the biggest PC server manufacturer in Japan, with a 23.6% share. In August 2014, NEC Corporation was commissioned to build

3760-480: The end, both papers acquired and used the NEC product, due to its faster transmission rate and higher picture quality. In 1929 Nippon Electric provided Japan's Ministry of Communications with the A-type switching system, the first of these systems to be developed in Japan. Nippon supplied Japan's Ministry of Communications with nonloaded line carrier equipment for long-distance telephone channels in 1937. World War II

3840-417: The exact meaning of this statutory provision is unclear, but some legal scholars interpret it to mean that the board must meet every three months. In 2015, the requirement that at least one director and one Representative Director must be a resident of Japan was changed. It is not required to have a resident Representative Director although it can be convenient to do so. Directors are mandatories ( agents ) of

3920-520: The extraction of silver from copper ore , something Japanese technology had not previously accomplished. The smelting and smithing business was moved from Kyoto to Osaka by the late 17th century. Soga passed control of the company to his son Tomomochi who managed its transformation into a major trading house during the Edo period . Sumitomo began to export copper, import silk , and provide financial services. By 1691, copper mining had been added to

4000-468: The first corruption charges against the impeached Brazilian president Fernando Collor de Mello . Organizações Globo subsequently sold their shares in NEC Brazil, which hit their all-time high during the state monopoly years, back to NEC Corporation in 1999 following the break-up and privatization of the Brazilian state-owned telephone monopoly Telebrás . In 1990, the new head office building, known as

4080-509: The first major postwar contract in 1951. NEC received the Deming Prize for excellence in quality control in 1952. Computer research and development began in 1954. NEC produced the first crossbar switching system in Japan. It was installed at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (currently Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation ; NTT) in 1956. NEC began joint research and development with NTT of electronic switching systems

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4160-691: The general sales agent for ATM. NEC developed its own Strowger-type automatic switching system in 1924, the first in Japan. One of the plants almost leveled during the Kanto earthquake, the Mita Plant, was chosen to support expanding production. A new three-story steel-reinforced concrete building was built, starting in 1925. It was modeled after the Western Electric Hawthorne Works . NEC started its radio communications business in 1924. Japan's first radio broadcaster, Radio Tokyo

4240-478: The government contracts and corresponding payments, and NEC Brazil became valued at over 350   million US dollars (US$ 350,000,000). Suspicions regarding the NEC-Globo deal, which included among other things the unilateral breach of contract by Globo founder Roberto Marinho regarding the management of a regional television station in the Brazilian state of Bahia , took to the national stage only in 1992 during

4320-839: The government resumed the delayed telephone-expansion plan, adding 75,000 subscribers and 326,000 kilometers of new toll lines. Thanks to this third expansion plan, NEC expanded at a time when much of the rest of the Japanese industry contracted. In 1919, NEC started its first association with Sumitomo , engaging Sumitomo Densen Seizosho to manufacture cables. As part of the venture, NEC provided cable manufacturing equipment to Sumitomo Densen. Rights to Western Electric's duplex cable patents were also transferred to Sumitomo Densen. The Great Kantō earthquake struck Japan in 1923. 140,000 people were killed and 3.4 million were left homeless. Four of NEC's factories were destroyed, killing 105 of NEC's engineers and workers. Thirteen of Tokyo's telephone offices were destroyed by fire. Telephone and telegraph service

4400-404: The incorporator, and then make payment for his or her shares by a date specified by the incorporator(s). Capital must be received in a commercial bank account designated by the incorporator(s), and the bank must provide certification that payment has been made. Once the capital has been received and certified, the incorporation may be registered at the Legal Affairs Bureau. Under present law,

4480-470: The initial directors and other officers. The other method is an "incorporation by offering," in which each incorporator becomes the stock underwriter of a specified number of shares (at least one each), and the other shares are offered to other investors. As in a direct incorporation, the incorporators must then hold an organizational meeting to appoint the initial directors and other officers. Any person wishing to receive shares must submit an application to

4560-473: The largest PC vendor in Japan since the 1980s when it launched the PC-8000 series ; it currently operates its domestic PC business in a joint venture with Lenovo . NEC was the world's fourth-largest PC manufacturer by 1990. Its semiconductors business unit was the world's largest semiconductor company by annual revenue from 1985 to 1992, the second largest in 1995, one of the top three in 2000, and one of

4640-437: The legal title of shihainin , which makes them authorized representatives of the corporation at a particular place of business, in addition to a common-use title. Kabushiki gaisha are subject to double taxation of profits and dividends, as are corporations in most countries. In contrast to many other countries, however, Japan also levies double taxes on close corporations ( yugen gaisha and gōdō gaisha ). This makes taxation

4720-561: The major supplier of telecommunications equipment to the Brazilian government. In 1986, the then Minister of Communications Antônio Carlos Magalhães put NEC Brasil in financial difficulties by suspending all government contract payments to the company, whose main client was the federal government. With the subsidiary in crisis, the NEC Corporation in Japan sold NEC Brasil to Organizações Globo for only one   million US dollars (US$ 1,000,000). Shortly thereafter, Magalhães resumed

4800-414: The need for a permanent magnet generator in each subscriber's phone. The switchboards were initially imported, but were manufactured locally by 1909. NEC started exporting telephone sets to China in 1904. In 1905, Iwadare visited Western Electric in the U.S. to see their management and production control. On his return to Japan, he discontinued the "oyakata" system of sub-contracting and replaced it with

4880-457: The no. 1 personal computer vendor in Japan during the 1980s, but it faced increasing competition from Fujitsu , Seiko Epson and IBM Japan . Nevertheless, by the early 1990s, NEC was still the largest, having well over 50% market share in the Japanese market. Competition heated up later as rival Fujitsu started to aggressively market its computers, which were industry standard ( x86 ) instead of NEC's indigenous models. In June 1994, NEC purchased

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4960-422: The old Commercial Code, a K.K. required starting capital of ¥10 million (about US$ 105,000); a lower capital requirement was later instituted, but corporations with under ¥3 million in assets were barred from issuing dividends , and companies were required to increase their capital to ¥10 million within five years of formation. The main steps in incorporation are the following: The incorporation of

5040-440: The portfolio. The Meiji Restoration allowed Sumitomo to import and utilize Western machines and techniques in its mines. Sumitomo soon branched out into even more business areas entering the machine and coal industries, as well as the forestry, banking and warehousing businesses becoming a zaibatsu , or business conglomerate. After World War II, the Japanese zaibatsu conglomerates, including Sumitomo, were dissolved by

5120-472: The production, sales, and maintenance of telephones and switches . NEC modernized the production facilities with the construction of the Mita Plant in 1901 at Mita Shikokumachi. It was completed in December 1902. The Japanese Ministry of Communications adopted a new technology in 1903: the common battery switchboard supplied by NEC. The common battery switchboards powered the subscriber phone, eliminating

5200-472: The representative partner; Maeda handled company sales. Western Electric , which had an interest in the Japanese phone market, was represented by Walter Tenney Carleton . Carleton was also responsible for the renovation of the Miyoshi facilities. It was agreed that the partnership would be reorganized as a joint-stock company when the treaty would allow it. On July 17, 1899, the revised treaty between Japan and

5280-559: The same year to start semiconductor chip production in the United States. In 1980, NEC created the first digital signal processor , the NEC μPD7720 . NEC Semiconductors (UK) Ltd. was established in 1981, producing VLSIs and LSIs. NEC introduced the 8-bit PC-8800 series personal computer in 1981, followed by the 16-bit PC-9800 series in 1982. In 1983 NEC stock was listed on the Basel, Geneva, and Zurich, Switzerland exchanges. NEC quickly became

5360-462: The same year, the NEAX61 digital switching system went into service. In 1987, NEC Technologies (UK) Ltd. was established in the United Kingdom to manufacture VCRs , printers, and computer monitors and mobile telephones for Europe. Also that year, NEC licensed technology from Hudson Soft , a video game manufacturer, to create a video game console called the PC-Engine (later released in 1989 as

5440-785: The same year. NEC established Taiwan Telecommunication Company as their first postwar overseas joint venture in 1958. They completed the NEAC-1101 and NEAC-1102 computers in the same year. In September 1958, NEC built their first fully transistorized computer, the NEAC-2201, with parts made solely in Japan. One year later, they demonstrated it at the UNESCO AUTOMATH show in Paris. The company began integrated circuit research and development in 1960. In 1963 NEC started trading as American Depositary Receipts, with ten million shares being sold in

5520-732: The shareholders, and the Representative Director is a mandatory of the board. Any action outside of these mandates is considered a breach of mandatory duty. Every K.K. with multiple directors must have at least one statutory auditor ( 監査役 , kansayaku ) . Statutory auditors report to the shareholders, and are empowered to demand financial and operational reports from the directors. K.K.s with capital of over ¥500m, liabilities of over ¥2bn and/or publicly traded securities are required to have three statutory auditors, and must also have an annual audit performed by an outside CPA . Public K.K.s must also file securities law reports with

5600-633: The smartphone joint-venture. In April 2017, KEMET Corporation announced it would purchase a 61% controlling interest in NEC Tokin from NEC, making NEC Tokin its wholly owned subsidiary. Once the purchase is complete, the company will change its name to "Tokin Corporation". In July 2018, NEC established its subsidiary, NEC X, in Silicon Valley , to fast-track technologies and business ideas selected from inside and outside NEC. NEC X created

5680-594: The top 10 in 2006. NEC spun off its semiconductor business to Renesas Electronics and Elpida Memory . Once Japan's major electronics company, NEC has largely withdrawn from manufacturing since the beginning of the 21st century. NEC was #463 on the 2017 Fortune 500 list. NEC is a member of the Sumitomo Group . Kunihiko Iwadare and Takeshiro Maeda established Nippon Electric Limited Partnership on August 31, 1898, by using facilities that they had bought from Miyoshi Electrical Manufacturing Company. Iwadare acted as

5760-401: The two are not precisely the same. The Japanese government once endorsed "business corporation" as an official translation but now uses the more literal translation "stock company." Japanese often abbreviate " 株式会社 " in a company name on signage (including the sides of their vehicles) to 株 in parentheses , as, for example, " ABC㈱ ." The full, formal name would then be " ABC株式会社 ". 株式会社

5840-577: The world from 2002 to 2004. In 2003 NEC had a 20.8% market share in the personal computer market in Japan, slightly ahead of Fujitsu. In 2004, NEC abandoned not only the OLED business, but the display business as a whole, by selling off their plasma display business and exiting from the joint-venture with Samsung SDI. Samsung bought all of the shares and related patents owned by NEC, incorporating Samsung OLED, which subsequently merged with Samsung Display. In 2007, NEC and Nissan Co. Corp. started evaluating

5920-637: Was also established. In 1974, the ACOS series computer was introduced. The New Central Research Laboratories were completed in 1975. In 1977, Japan's National Space Development Agency launched the NEC geostationary meteorological satellite , named Himawari . During this period NEC introduced the concept of "C&C", the integration of computers and communications. NEC America Inc. opened a plant in Dallas, Texas to manufacture PABX and telephone systems in 1978. They also acquired Electronic Arrays, Inc. of California

6000-526: Was described by the company as being the blackest days of its history. In 1938 the Mita and Tamagawa plants were placed under military control, with direct supervision by military officers. In 1939, Nippon Electric established a research laboratory in the Tamagawa plant. It became the first Japanese company to successfully test microwave multiplex communications. On December 22, 1941, the enemy property control law

6080-496: Was founded in 1924 and started broadcasting in 1925. NEC imported the broadcasting equipment from Western Electric. The expansion of radio broadcasting into Osaka and Nagoya marked the emergence of radio as an Industry. NEC established a radio research unit in 1924. NEC started developing electron tubes in 1925. By 1930, they were manufacturing their first 500 W radio transmitter. They provided the Chinese Xinjing station with

6160-493: Was interrupted by damage to telephone cables. In response, the Ministry of Communications accelerated major programs to install automatic telephone switching systems and enter radio broadcasting. [1] The first automatic switching systems were the Strowger -type model made by Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Co. (ATM) in the United Kingdom. NEC participated in the installation of the automatic switching systems, ultimately becoming

6240-492: Was passed. NEC shares owned by International Standard Electric Corporation (ISE), an ITT subsidiary, and Western Electric affiliate were seized. Capital and technical relations were abruptly severed. The "Munitions Company Law" was passed in October 1943, placing overall control of NEC plants under military jurisdiction. The Ueno plant was leveled by the military attack in March 1945. Fire bombings in April and May heavily damaged

6320-632: Was the Dai-Ichi Bank , incorporated in 1873. Rules regarding kabushiki gaisha were set out in the Commercial Code of Japan , and was originally based on laws regulating German Aktiengesellschaft (which also means share company). However, during the United States-led Allied Occupation of Japan following World War II, the occupation authorities introduced revisions to the Commercial Code based on

6400-695: Was the main (title) sponsor of the Davis Cup competition until 2002, when BNP Paribas took over the sponsorship. NEC between 1982 and 2012 sponsored the NEC Cup , a Go tournament in Japan. NEC between 1986 and 2003 sponsored the NEC Shun-Ei , a Go tournament for young players in Japan. Kabushiki gaisha A kabushiki gaisha ( Japanese : 株式会社 , pronounced [kabɯɕi̥ki ɡaꜜiɕa] ; lit.   ' share company ' ) or kabushiki kaisha , commonly abbreviated K.K. or KK ,

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