Do we like them?

Do we like Hitachi?

Japanese conglomerate making power grid gear, rail, IT systems and industrial equipment; based in Tokyo.

Our score: 6 out of 10. A big, mostly respectable industrial group with serious climate-linked grid business, but a history of price-fixing and bribery settlements. We'd lean cautiously yes.

Hitachi is a Tokyo-based conglomerate that has slimmed down into grid equipment, rail, and digital and IT services. Hitachi's official officer list names Toshiaki Tokunaga as President and CEO. He was promoted from Executive Vice President to the top job in April 2025.

The track record has some stains. In 2015 the SEC said Hitachi broke the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act over payments tied to South African power plant contracts, and Hitachi paid $19 million to settle. In 2016 it settled with the European Commission over alternators and starters, with a €26.86 million fine.

Hitachi was also fined $3.8 million in the US over capacitor price-fixing, after pleading guilty. That's a pattern of cartel-type trouble, though the cases we found are about a decade old.

On the plus side, Hitachi says its 2030 and 2050 climate targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. Hitachi Energy has also reported a 75% cut in Scope 1 and 2 emissions against a 2019 baseline, and is spending big on transformer capacity for the grid.