Hitachi's US$400m Fund for Sustainable Tech of the Future
A corporate venture capital (CVC) is being launched by Hitachi, bringing its total investment in such funds to US$1bn.
The fund will invest in startups working in data centres, distributed energy systems, the future of work and industrial AI.
It also seeks to explore new frontiers like bio, quantum, nuclear fusion, life science and space technologies.
Through continuous investment and research, Hitachi aims to bolster business creation and ensure sustainable growth into the future.
“To create the future, you must first invest in it,” shares Nathan Knight, VP & Managing Director ANZ at Hitachi Vantara. “By leveraging its CVC investment and R&D, Hitachi aims to anticipate the next technological and social turning points.
“These moments in time mark major shifts in the development and adoption of particular technologies.”
Creating opportunities for innovation
Hitachi has cast a spotlight on smaller businesses by presenting them with CVC opportunities, thereby hastening the pace of open innovation and offering global support for startups to innovate.
Under the leadership of Toshiaki Tokunaga, who will be appointed as Representative Executive Officer, President and CEO in April 2025, Hitachi aims to realise its ‘True One Hitachi’ ethos. This prioritises digital innovation at the company’s core, whilst also accelerating the sustainable growth of its Social Innovation Business.
Moving forward, Hitachi will also be enhancing existing businesses, but also efforts to explore new technologies and capture future opportunities for growth.
Keiji Kojima, President and CEO of Hitachi, Ltd. says: “Hitachi's efforts in CVC, which began in 2019 with US$150m, have expanded to US$1bn in five years, driven in part by the disruptive innovation brought about by generative AI (Gen AI).
“With technology trends shifting at an unprecedented speed, it is important to identify the next global change point while leveraging the external ecosystem in addition to developing cutting-edge technologies through R&D, for further growth of the Social Innovation Business.
“We hope that the establishment of the fourth fund will accelerate our quest for new growth opportunities.”
Powering a sustainable future
With a burgeoning demand for connectivity and AI-powered solutions, the data centre industry is on a constant quest for scalable and sustainable power solutions.
These are crucial not just for staying competitive but also for significantly reducing emissions.
Hitachi is tackling the multifaceted challenges of sustainability head-on with its innovative range of data centre solutions.
By promoting a 'co-creation' strategy, it hopes to unite clients, partners and internal teams to spark greater innovation.
“A standout example of this approach is a recent project where Hitachi Vantara helped a client realise their vision of the “data centre of the future.” By integrating expertise in smart grids, advanced data systems and green coding, Hitachi Vantara developed a sustainable infrastructure blueprint,” shares Simon Ninan, Senior Vice President, Business Strategy at Hitachi Vantara via a blog post.
“This design incorporated renewable energy, AI-driven resource optimisation, and dynamic carbon reduction algorithms, demonstrating how co-creation can produce scalable, transformative results.”
Additionally, South Africa ICT provider Gijima partnered with Hitachi to modernise its infrastructure and meet ambitious sustainability targets. By replacing traditional spinning disk storage with energy-efficiency all-flash arrays, Gijima was able to reduce its data centre footprint by 66%, whilst also lowering their power consumption and cooling needs.
Simon adds: “As the world grapples with no shortage of environmental challenges, the blueprint for success is clear: integrate, innovate and collaborate. Responsible, sustainable strategies are good for the planet and good for business.
“Through these efforts, data centers can fulfill their critical role in the digital economy while safeguarding the planet for future generations.”
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