Toshiba Corporation , earlier named Tokyo Shibaura Electric K.K. (after the Shibaura district in Tokyo), is a Japanese multinational electronics, electrical equipment and information technology corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and materials, power systems, industrial and social infrastructure systems, and household appliances.In 2010, Toshiba was the world's fifth-largest personal computer vendor measured by revenues (after Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer and Lenovo).In the same year it was also the world's fourth-largest manufacturer of semiconductors by revenues (after Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics and Texas Instruments).Toshiba was founded by the merging of two companies in 1939.The first, Tanaka Seisakusho (Tanaka Engineering Works), was Japan's first manufacturer of telegraph equipment and was established by Tanaka Hisashige in 1875. In 1904, its name was changed to Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works). Through the first part of the 20th century Shibaura Engineering Works became a major manufacturer of heavy electrical machinery as Japan modernized during the Meiji Era and became a world industrial power.The second company, Hakunetsusha, was established in 1890 and was Japan's first producer of incandescent electric lamps. It diversified into the manufacture of other consumer products and in 1899 was renamed Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric).The merger in 1939 of Shibaura Seisakusho and Tokyo Denki created a new company called TokyoShibaura Denki (Tokyo Shibaura Electric) . It was soon nicknamed Toshiba, but it was not until 1978 that the company was officially renamed Toshiba Corporation.The group expanded strongly, both by internal growth and by acquisitions, buying heavy engineering and primary industry firms in the 1940s and 1950s and then spinning off subsidiaries in the 1970s and beyond. Groups created include Toshiba EMI (1960), Toshiba International Corporation (1970's) Toshiba Electrical Equipment (1974), Toshiba Chemical (1974), Toshiba Lighting and Technology (1989), Toshiba America Information Systems(1989) and Toshiba Carrier Corporation (1999).Toshiba is responsible for a number of Japanese firsts, including radar (1942), the TAC digital computer (1954), transistor television and microwave oven (1959), color video phone (1971), Japanese word processor (1978), MRI system (1982), laptop personal computer (1986), NAND EEPROM (1991), DVD (1995), the Libretto sub-notebook personal computer (1996) and HD DVD (2005).In 1977, Toshiba merged with the Brazilian company Semp (Sociedade Eletromercantil Paulista), forming Semp Toshiba.In 1987, Tocibai Machine, a subsidiary of Toshiba, was accused of illegally selling CNC milling machines used to produce very quiet submarine propellers to the Soviet Union in violation of the CoCom agreement, an international embargo on certain countries to COMECON countries. The Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal involved a subsidiary of Toshiba and the Norwegian company Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk. The incident strained relations between the United States and Japan, and resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two senior executives, as well as the imposition of sanctions on the company by both countries. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania said "What Toshiba and Kongsberg did was ransom the security of the United States for $517 million."
Net income 137.8 billion (2011)
Total assets 5.379 billion (2011)