In response to the growing corporate demand for generative AI, Japanese electronics giant Hitachi announced in 2024 that it has signed a three-year partnership contract with Microsoft. This partnership enables users of Hitachi's Lumada platform to leverage Microsoft's services, prominently featuring generative AI. Additionally, it establishes a talent development system poised to potentially create a multibillion-dollar global market.
According to Hitachi's announcement, this partnership will integrate Microsoft's cloud services such as Azure Open AI Service, Dynamics 365, Copilot for Microsoft 365, and GitHub Copilot into the Lumada platform. The aim is to enhance the productivity of Hitachi's 270,000 employees. Additionally, Hitachi plans to train over 50,000 generative AI engineers, incorporating educational materials provided by Microsoft into their GenAI Professional program.
This partnership will bring Hitachi four main benefits: advancing corporate digital transformation, fostering innovative IT services, accelerating business and environmental sustainability initiatives, and bolstering digital talent development.
Since launching Lumada in 2014, Hitachi has continuously incorporated the latest AI technologies into the platform to improve the efficiency of its operations and those of its manufacturing partners. Prior to signing with Microsoft, testing showed that the accuracy of generative AI in writing programs reached 70% to 90%. Additionally, using generative AI for IT system monitoring and troubleshooting took a third of the time compared to engineers reading manuals or existing AI analysis.
Hitachi president Keiji Kojima stated that the company will invest a total of JPY300 billion (approx. US$1.9 billion) in generative AI during the fiscal year 2024 (April 2024 to March 2025) to seize new growth opportunities.
In the fiscal year 2024, Hitachi has announced three investments in generative AI projects: in March 2024, the AI platform collaboration with NVIDIA was unveiled; in May 2024, the partnership with Google Cloud was announced; and in June 2024, the collaboration with Microsoft was also revealed.
The collaboration with Nvidia focuses on developing foundational generative AI technologies and enhancing Hitachi's generative AI department's skills and vision as part of a long-term strategic plan.
The collaboration with Google is a multi-year partnership, though the exact duration has not been disclosed. The focus is to integrate Google Cloud's generative AI, Gemini, and the AI platform Vertex AI with Hitachi's US subsidiary GlobalLogic, strengthening their services of building IT systems and writing programs for clients.
The partnership with Microsoft is to provide Microsoft's short- to medium-term collaborative services directly on the Lumada platform.
Article translated by Jack Wu
