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September 27, 1999

Hitachi Establishing the Life Science Group

-Development of Biotech Businesses Moving into High Gear -

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501) today announced to create a new corporate division named the 
Life Science Group. Scheduled for establishment on October 1, the Division's job will be to 
ensure timely launching of new biotechnology businesses in a market Hitachi believes to 
have strong growth potential. It will be headed by its own CEO and be delegated broad 
authority as a substantially independent operation within the Hitachi Group. The Division 
will be responsible for making sure Hitachi takes the lead in starting up new biotech 
businesses and secures a dominant position in the market.

Seen as one of the strategic technologies of the 21st century, biotechnology has become an 
intense focus of R&D worldwide. Medicine, food, agriculture, forestry, chemistry and the 
environmental issues are just a few of the areas expected to see expanded applications. In 
the United States, for instance, industry, academia and government have been moving 
jointly ahead with various types of genetic research, most notably a project to decode the 
human genome. These activities have had a perceptible invigorating effect on U.S. industry. 
In Japan, a basic national biotechnology policy has been formulated to coordinate the 
efforts of corporations, universities and government agencies as they put in place the 
foundation for a broad range of large-scale projects. This program and the projects it 
generates are in turn expected to stimulate countless new initiatives, especially in medicine, 
food, agriculture and other fields that will strongly affect the future health and prosperity of 
people everywhere. Predictions are that the market for biotechnology-related products and 
services in Japan will grow to Y25 trillion by 2010, and create a vast number of new jobs in 
the process.

Hitachi has been actively involved in the life sciences from and early stage. For example, 
Hitachi's laboratories have long been engaged in various aspects of biotechnological 
research, including DNA analysis and data processing, gene and protein functional analysis 
technologies, and medical and environmental instrumentation. The Instruments group 
markets DNA sequencers, liquid chromatographs and other sophisticated biotechnological 
devices, while the Information Systems group is a world-class developer of supercomputer, 
large-scale data processing technologies using parallel computers, and data mining software. 
Substantial advances in biotechnology can no longer be achieved through a fragmented 
approach. Integration of the different disciplines, from basic research to instrumentation and 
data processing, has become indispensable for the development of new, sophisticated 
technologies. Hitachi's strategy is to bring all of its diverse biotechnological resources in to 
tight focus so as to optimize technology development and speed up the launching of new 
businesses.

One key function of the Life Science Group will be to utilize the technologies that come 
out of these projects to develop products and services that will propel Hitachi into a leading 
position in the market.  Another will be to help companies in sectors like pharmaceuticals, 
foods, agriculture, forestry and chemicals to develop advanced biotechnologies and 
equipment. At the start, the Division will concentrate on offering customers tightly 
integrated information and support services encompassing DNA analysis, database, and 
gene function analysis. Hitachi is committed to expanding the scope of its operations in this 
sector and through this to offer an ever wider range of life science services that will help to 
build an increasingly healthy, prosperous, environment-friendly society.

The CEO of Life Science Group will have the authority to make substantially all decisions 
related to investment, intercompany tie-ups, personnel and other important matters. Hitachi 
sees this as the best way to bring the Group up to full potential in the shortest time possible. 
The Group is also to have a CSO (Chief Scientific Officer) to serve as a coordinator of 
technical affairs responsible.

As a vigorous new member of the Hitachi Group, the Life Science Group will be steadily 
strengthening ties with venture businesses and customer companies as it moves to become 
a major force in the growth of Japan's biotechnology industry.

Plans call for an investment of around Y6,000 million in the new group over a three-year 
period.  The Division is to start with a staff of about  60 persons recruited mainly from 
Research Laboratories, the Instruments group and the Information Systems group.

Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global 
electronics companies, with fiscal 1998 (ended March 31, 1999) consolidated sales of 
7,977 billion yen ($65.9 billion*).  The company manufactures and markets a wide 
range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and 
power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit 
Hitachi's Web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp.
* At an exchange rate of 121 yen to the dollar.


Life Science Group
Establishment:		October 1, 1999
CEO:               	Hiroya Taguchi Ph. D.
CSO:               	Takao Iwayanagi Ph. D. 
Personnel:		60 at start.  200 in 2002 
Sales target:		Y15 billion in 2002. Y200 billion in 2010.
Business lines:		Large-scale DNA analysis services
			Analysis services in specific genetic fields
			DNA Database service
                   	Gene function analyses 
                          and informatics support services
			Related solution services


WRITTEN BY Secretary's Office
All Rights Reserved, Copyright (C) 1999, Hitachi, Ltd.