Toshiba

Toshiba Corporation (株式会社東芝, Kabushikigaisha Tōshiba; English: /təˈʃiːbə, tɒ-, toʊ-/ ^ⓘ) is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors, hard disk drives, printers, batteries, lighting, as well as IT solutions such as quantum cryptography. It was formerly also one of the biggest manufacturers of personal computers, consumer electronics, home appliances, and medical equipment.

The Toshiba name is derived from its former name, Tokyo Shibaura Denki K.K. which in turn was a 1939 merger between Shibaura Seisaku-sho (founded in 1875) and Tokyo Denki (founded in 1890). The company name was officially changed to Toshiba Corporation in 1978. A technology company with a long history and sprawling businesses, Toshiba is a household name in Japan and has long been viewed as a symbol of the country's technological prowess post-World War II. As a semiconductor company and the inventor of flash memory, Toshiba had been one of the top 10 in the chip industry until its flash memory unit was spun off as Kioxia in the late 2010s. The company was also relevant in consumer personal computers, releasing the first mass-market laptop in 1985 and later ranking as a major vendor of laptops; it exited the PC business in 2020 having divested it into Dynabook Inc.

Toshiba faced trouble during the 2010s amid a much-publicised accounting scandal that affected its reputation, and the bankruptcy of its subsidiary nuclear energy company Westinghouse in 2017. This forced the conglomerate to shed a number of underperforming businesses, essentially eliminating the company's century-long presence in consumer markets. After a rejection to split the company, Toshiba was purchased by a consortium led by Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) and Tolba in 2023; Toshiba turned private as a result and was delisted after 74 years from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where it was formerly a constituent of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX 100 indices.

Tanaka Seisakusho (田中製作所; Tanaka Engineering Works) was the first company established by Tanaka Hisashige (1799–1881), one of the most original and productive inventor-engineers during the Tokugawa / Edo period. Established on 11 July 1875, it was the first Japanese company to manufacture telegraph equipment. It also manufactured switches, and miscellaneous electrical and communications equipment.

The company was inherited by Tanaka's adopted son, and later became half of the present Toshiba company. Several people who worked at Tanaka Seisakusho or who received Tanaka's guidance at a Kubusho (Ministry of Industries) factory later became pioneers themselves. These included Miyoshi Shōichi [jp] who helped Fujioka Ichisuke [jp] make the first power generator in Japan and to establish a company, Hakunetsusha to make bulbs; Oki Kibatarō, the founder of the present Oki Denki (Oki Electric Industry); and Ishiguro Keizaburō, a co-founder of the present Anritsu.

After the demise of the founder in 1881, Tanaka Seisakusho became partly owned by General Electric and expanded into the production of torpedoes and mines at the request of the Imperial Japanese Navy, to become one of the largest manufacturing companies of the time; however, as the Navy started to use competitive bids and then build its own works, the demand decreased substantially and the company started to lose money. The main creditor to the company, Mitsui Bank, took over the insolvent company in 1893 and renamed it Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works).

Shibaura Seisakusho (芝浦製作所; Shibaura Engineering Works) was the new name given to Tanaka Seisakusho after it was declared insolvent in 1893 and taken over by Mitsui Bank. In 1910, it formed a tie-up with General Electric (GE), which, in exchange for technology, acquired about a quarter of the shares of Shibaura. The relation with GE continued until the beginning of World War II and resumed in 1953 with GE's 24 percent shareholding in the successor company, Tokyo Shibaura Denki. This percentage decreased substantially since then.

Hakunetsusha (白熱舎) was a company established by Miyoshi Shōichi and Fujioka Ichisuke ^[ja], two of Japan's industrial pioneers during the Tokugawa / Edo period. It specialized in the manufacturing of lightbulbs. The company was established in 1890 and started out by selling bulbs using bamboo filaments; however, following the opening up of trade with the West through the Unequal treaty, Hakunetsusha met with fierce competition from imports. Its bulb cost about 60 percent more than the imports and the quality was poorer.