Classification: / Company Info,
Info: NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational provider of information technology services and products, with its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as just NEC. Its NEC Semiconductors business unit was one of the worldwide top 20 semiconductor sales leaders before merging it with RENESAS Electronics.NEC began transistor research and development in 1950. It started exporting radio-broadcast equipment to Korea under the first major postwar contract in 1951.
NEC received the Deming prize for excellence in quality control in 1952. Computer research and development began in 1954.
NEC produced the first crossbar switching system in Japan. It was installed at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (currently Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation; NTT) in 1956. NEC began joint research and development with NTT of electronic switching systems the same year. NEC established Taiwan Telecommunication Company as their first postwar overseas joint venture in 1958. They completed the NEAC-1101 and NEAC-1102 computers the same year. In 1959 NEC demonstrated their first transistorized computer, the NEAC-2201. They demonstrated it at the UNESCO AUTOMATH show in Paris. The company began integrated circuit research and development in 1960. In 1963 NEC started trading as American Depositary Receipts, ten million shares being sold in the United States.[20] Nippon Electric New York (now NEC America Inc.) was incorporated in the same year.
NEC supplied Comsat Corporation with the SPADE satellite communications system in 1971.
In 1972, Switzerland ordered a NEC satellite communications earth station. The same year, a small transportable satellite communications earth station was set up in China.
Shares of NEC common stock were listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in 1973. NEC also designed an automated broadcasting system for the Japan Broadcasting Corporation the same year.
NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH was also established. In 1974, the ACOS series computer was introduced.
The New Central Research Laboratories were completed in 1975. In 1977, Japan's National Space Development Agency launched the NEC geostationary meteorological satellite, named HIMAWARI.
During this period NEC introduced the concept of "C&C", the integration of computers and communications.
NEC America Inc. opened a plant in Dallas, Texas to manufacture PABX and telephone systems in 1978. They also acquired ELECTRONIC ARRAYS, Inc. of California the same year to start semiconductor chip production in the United States.In 1980, NEC created the first digital signal processor, the NEC: µPD7710.
NEC Semiconductors (UK) Ltd. was established in 1981, producing VLSIs and LSIs. NEC introduced the 8-bit PC-8800 series personal computer in 1981, followed by the 16-bit PC-9800 series in 1982.
In 1983 NEC stock was listed on the Basel, Geneva and Zurich, Switzerland exchanges. NEC changed its English company name to NEC Corporation the same year.
NEC Information Systems, Inc. started manufacturing computers and related products in the United States in 1984.
NEC also released the V-series processor the same year. In 1986, NEC delivered its SX-2 super computer to the Houston Advanced Research Center, The Woodlands, Tx.
In the same year, the NEAX61 digital switching system went in to service. In 1987, NEC Technologies (UK) Ltd. was established in the United Kingdom to manufacture VCRs,
printers and computer monitors and mobile telephones for Europe. Also that year, NEC licensed technology from Hudson Soft, a video game manufacturer, to create a video game console called the PC-Engine (later released in 1989 as the TurboGrafx-16 in the North American market). Its successor, the PC-FX, was released in Japan in 1994. NEC USA, Inc. was established in 1989 as a holding company for North American operations.
In 1990, the new head office building, known as the "Super Tower", was completed. Additionally, joint-venture agreements were established to manufacture and market digital electronic switching systems and LSIs in China. In 1993 NEC's asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switching system, the NEAX61 (Nippon Electronic Automatic Exchange) ATM Service Node, went into service in the United States. NEC Europe, Ltd. was established as a holding company for European operations the same year. The NEC C&C Research Laboratories, NEC Europe, Ltd. were opened in Germany in 1994. NEC (China) Co, Ltd. was established as a holding company for Chinese operations in 1996. In 1997 NEC developed 4Gbit DRAM, and their semiconductor group was honored with one of the first Japan Quality Awards.
In 1998, NEC opened the world's most advanced semiconductor R&D facility.