The name ‘Mitsubishi’ means «three diamonds» in Japanese, hence the logo. The company was originally founded shortly after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 by Yataro Iwasaki, an enterprising Samurai. By the mid 1910’s Mitsubishi was one of the largest companies in Japan, with diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mining, real estate, banking, and trading. In order to attract investor capital, the Iwasaki family created several independent companies out of Mitsubishi’s subsidiaries. Mitsubishi Electric, created in 1921, was one of them.
In 1959 Mitsubishi Electric entered the semiconductor business manufacturing transistors. In the process they added to the already severe competition amongst manufacturers Sony, Hitachi, NEC, Toshiba, Kobe Kogyo and Fuji. Ref: ‘Competitive-cum-Cooperative Interfirm Relations and Dynamics in the Japanese Semiconductor Industry’ by Yoshitaka Okada
