Tokyo, February 21, 2005 --- NEC Corporation (President: Akinobu
Kanasugi, "NEC") and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (President and
CEO: Tamotsu Nomakuchi, "Mitsubishi Electric") today announced that
both companies have agreed to constructively dissolve their joint
venture company, NEC-Mitsubishi Electric Visual Systems Corporation
(President and CEO: Hirotoshi Matsuda, "NM Visual"), on March 31,
2005.
Since NM Visual's establishment in January 2000, it has leveraged
its combined strengths in development, manufacturing and sales
deriving from Mitsubishi Electric's highly-acclaimed aperture grill
CRT products and strong brand value in the Japanese market, and
NEC's brand value in PCs and monitors worldwide, to develop its
business globally as a company specializing in PC monitors. NM
Visual has also focused on further enhancing NEC and Mitsubishi
Electric's brand positioning in the monitor market, accumulating
related technological and purchasing capabilities, and cultivating
new business areas such as large-size public display monitors and
monitors for medical use. These efforts have resulted in NM
Visual's monitors being used by 175 of the Fortune 500
companies.
For both NEC and Mitsubishi Electric, an urgent need arose to
respond to the rapid growth of flat panels used in consumer and
commercial display equipment. At the same time, close cooperation
with the system solutions development group is becoming a necessity
for developing video display products due to the increasing
importance of video display equipment in the system solutions
business area.
Amid this business environment, NEC and Mitsubishi Electric agreed
that it was time to promote their monitor businesses separately
through the synergy born from each company's strategic integration
of its individual core businesses with NM Visual's sales, technical
and purchasing capabilities. As a result, NEC and Mitsubishi
Electric determined to dissolve their joint venture company, NM
Visual.
NM Visual will assume a new company name when it becomes a wholly
owned subsidiary of NEC on March 31, 2005. The new company will
continue to operate various imaging and display equipment
businesses under the NEC brand through cooperation with NEC's
computer and other image display businesses. (Current NM Visual
President & CEO, Hirotoshi Matsuda, will become president of
the new company.)
From April, as part of its digital media business, Mitsubishi
Electric will manage its Mitsubishi brand monitors, which were sold
by NM Visual to date. Utilizing the know-how of the Mitsubishi
brand monitor business that NM Visual developed mainly in Japan,
Mitsubishi Electric aims to create synergy between the monitor
business and general digital media business areas such as LCD TVs,
visual information systems and video printers.
NEC and Mitsubishi Electric have agreed to continue their
partnership in development and manufacturing areas after the
dissolution of the joint venture. The new company will maintain
business relations with Mitsubishi Electric, which includes its
supply of products to Mitsubishi Electric.
About Mitsubishi Electric
With over 80 years of experience in providing reliable,
high-quality products to both corporate clients and general
consumers all over the world, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
(TSE:6503) is a recognized world leader in the manufacture,
marketing and sales of electrical and electronic equipment used in
information processing and communications, space development and
satellite communications, consumer electronics, industrial
technology, energy, transportation and building equipment. The
company recorded consolidated group sales of 3,309 billion yen (US$
31.2billion*) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004. For more
information visit http://global.mitsubishielectric.com/
*At an exchange rate of 106 yen to the US dollar, the rate given by
the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market on March 31, 2004.
About NEC-Mitsubishi Electric Visual Systems
Corporation
The establishment of a joint venture by the NEC and Mitsubishi
Electric monitor divisions saw the start of a powerful team
embarking on a unique global offensive in 2000: As a specialist in
the field of LCD and CRT monitors, the new monitor supplier, named
NEC-Mitsubishi Electric Visual Systems Corporation, will make use
of both companies' know-how and experience to develop and produce
innovative monitor generations in the future. NEC-Mitsubishi
Electric Visual Systems Corporation's headquarters is located in
Tokyo, Japan. For more information visit http://www.nmv.co.jp/
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About NEC Corporation
NEC is one of the world's leading providers of Internet,
broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to
meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of
customers. Ranked as one of the world's top patent-producing
companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of
computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its
technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced
semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The
NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net
sales of approximately $40 billion in the fiscal year ended March
2003. For additional information, please visit the NEC home page
at: http://www.nec.com/
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Press Contacts
Diane Foley
NEC Corporation
+ 81-3-3798-6511
d-foley@ax.jp.nec.com
Travis Woodward
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
+81-3-3218-2346
Travis.Woodward@hq.melco.co.jp
Nobuo Terada
NEC-Mitsubishi Electric Visual Systems Corporation
+81-3-5446-5311
nobuo_terada@nmv.co.jp