Hitachi, Ltd. first started out in 1910 as a humble electrical repair shop for a copper mining company in Japan. The name Hitachi literally means "sunrise", reflecting the founding philosophy of contributing to people and society through technology. This philosophy has helped Hitachi become one of the world's largest corporations today with over 340,000 employees worldwide.

In Singapore, Hitachi started with a liaison office in 1963 and expanded its operations in 1972 to manufacture a wide range of products. In 1989, Hitachi Asia Ltd. (previously Hitachi Asia Pte. Ltd.) was established as one of Hitachi's four regional headquarters with the other three in America, Europe and China. In 1990, the company was awarded the Operational Headquarters (OHQ) status by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).