Fujitsu Limited

Fujitsu Limited, Japanese electronics, computers, information technology, and telecommunications company, with over 500 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. Headquarters are in Tokyo.

Fujitsu was established in 1935 when it broke away from Fuji Electric Company, a joint venture started in 1923 by the Furukawa Mining Company and Germany’s Siemens to develop electrical equipment. Fujitsu is an acronym of three kanji (Chinese-derived Japanese) characters: fu for Fuji, ji for Siemans (pronounced “Jiimensu” in Japanese), and tsu for tsushinki (meaning “telecommunications equipment”).

The company turned to computer development in the 1950s under the direction of Toshio Ikeda. While other Japanese companies sought licensing agreements with American computer companies, Fujitsu remained loyal to Siemens and resumed their technical cooperation in 1952. The West German company, however, was behind in computer technology, which compelled Fujitsu to begin its own research and development. In 1954 Fujitsu unveiled FACOM (Fujitsu Automatic Computer) 100, the first Japanese commercial computer.

Encouraged by Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), which in 1957 promulgated that Japanese microelectronics catch up with American technology, Fujitsu joined with other Japanese companies to develop and manufacture semiconductor chips. In 1965 Fujitsu began to export computers and by the next year was producing integrated circuits in high volumes.

In 1967 Fujitsu established its first overseas office, in New York City, and became Fujitsu Limited. In its quest to acquire American technology and to enter the U.S. computer market, Fujitsu began to seek potential partnerships. Through Ikeda’s acquaintanceship with Gene Amdahl, a computer designer who had left IBM to start his own company, Fujitsu found its opportunity. When Amdahl Corporation began to experience financial difficulties, Fujitsu stepped in with needed capital in 1972. This investment not only paved the way for Fujitsu to begin selling its components in the United States under an American brand, but it also made Fujitsu privy to Amdahl’s technology, which it used to produce its own IBM-compatible mainframe computers. Fujitsu soon overtook IBM Japan as the leading manufacturer of computers in Japan. (In 1997 Amdahl became a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu.)

Similarly, through partnerships and buyouts, Fujitsu penetrated the European market by selling its machines under the names of Siemens and Britain’s International Computers Limited (ICL). In the late 1990s these deals led to the formation of Fujitsu-Siemens Computers and Fujitsu ICL Computers. Fujitsu’s efforts were not always so successful. Fujitsu tried to acquire Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, once a Silicon Valley pioneer but by 1987 a floundering French-owned company. Goaded by the remaining American semiconductor companies and the press, the U.S. government threatened intervention, and Fujitsu withdrew. Nevertheless, by 1990 Fujitsu was one of world’s top five companies in semiconductor production. Fujitsu finally established a direct presence in Silicon Valley in 1996 when it formed the Fujitsu PC Corporation in Santa Clara, California, in order to offer mobile computing and communications technologies to the American consumer.

Information technology is another major component of Fujitsu. In the 1980s Fujitsu participated in MITI’s highly touted “fifth generation” computer project to create knowledge-based computer technologies. As a result, Fujitsu introduced the first expert system for general-purpose computers in 1985 and has continued as a leader in applications of artificial intelligence.

In 1986 Fujitsu extended its telecommunications activities by launching the NIFTY Corporation in equal partnership with the Nissho Iwai Corporation. In 1999 Fujitsu acquired all of Nissho Iwai’s shares in NIFTY, which by then had expanded from corporate communications and information services to Internet-related services for the public. Today NIFTY SERVE is Japan’s largest comprehensive online service provider, with close to three million subscribers. The company has also been active in e-commerce.