Based in Minato, Tokyo Japan, NEC Corporation is a multi-international company that specializes in IT and network solutions geared towards the PC, business enterprise, communications, service provider and government markets. Their portfolio includes an extensive line of personal computers, servers, semiconductors, computer software and peripherals, storage devices and digital broadcasting products.
NEC services and solutions are delivered to clients in various industries ranging from aviation and automotive to banking and wholesale distribution. As a chip maker, the company is among the world’s top 20 semiconductor companies in terms of sales.
An early pioneer in telecommunications technology, NEC was originally founded in 1898 as Nippon Electric Limited Partnership. The company survived the tragic Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, despite losing 105 of its employees and engineers along with four factories and thirteen offices. It also persevered during World War II when their Mita and Tamagawa production plants were placed under military control. The company experienced considerable domestic growth in the 1950’s and expanded globally during the 1960s.
NEC computers were launched in 1970’s, around the same time it introduced the C&C concept, which saw the integration of computers and communications. In 1980, it created the world’s first digital signal processor and jumped into the semiconductor business full time the following year with the establishment of NEC Semiconductors. NEC processors and computers were a mainstay throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. In 2002, it created the Earth Simulator Computer, highly regarded as the world’s fastest supercomputer up until 2004.
The NEC brand has become one of the most recognizable in the world. Though best known for its technological efforts, the company has also been the sponsor of numerous sports teams and actively participates in a variety of energy-efficient initiatives. NEC is said to currently be in talks with Nissan to develop lithium ion batteries for hybrid automobiles.