News

Hitachi Announces Financial Results

September 18, 2000 by Jeff Shepard

Hitachi Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) raised its first-half net profit forecast last week and is now predicting an increase of more than 11 times their initial estimate. Instead of the originally expected 4.7 billion yen, Hitachi anticipates reaping 55.0 billion yen ($514.6 million dollars). The rise is largely due to the increased demand for semiconductor chips which are used in cellular phones, digital cameras, game machines and the like. However, UBS Warburg analyst Yoshiharu Izumi also credits stable prices and "the contributions from materials as well as for LCDs" for the predicted rise in net profits.Hitachi is the latest in the trend of Japanese makers who are revising their expected earnings upward due to the current boom of chips and other devices used for cellular phones and personal computers. Other companies include NEC Corp., Toshiba Corp., Kyocera Corp. and Nikon Corp.