Alliances & Technology Transfer

Hitachi Ltd. said Monday it has reached a deal to purchase the power grid business of Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd., initially investing $6.4 billion for an 80.1 percent stake before a complete takeover in the future.

Fujifilm Corp. said Thursday it will invest a total of some ¥10 billion over the next three years in its bases in the United States for the development, production and sale of semiconductor materials.

ABB Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. said they are in talks for a deal on power grids after the Swiss engineering giant was reported to be considering putting the division on the block earlier this year.

Japan's three main mobile phone carriers SoftBank Group, NTT Docomo and KDDI have decided not to use Chinese equipment in their 5G networks due to rising security concerns that spurred the Japanese government to block Huawei Technologies and other Chinese companies from public procurement.

Japanese trading house Marubeni will test out automated vehicles at airports serving the Tokyo and Nagoya areas next month, teaming with Tokyo-based autonomous driving startup ZMP.

Uber Technologies Inc. and Hitachi Ltd. are among the companies that will flood London with 3,000 electric vehicles as part of a study aimed at overcoming a shortage of charging points blamed for holding back sales.

Toshiba Infrastructure Systems & Solutions, Toshiba's infrastructure unit, is teaming up with Johnson Controls Power Solutions of the U.S. to make lithium-ion batteries, the Japanese company said on Wednesday.

Line Corp. said Tuesday it has teamed up with Tencent, China’s largest messaging app provider, to allow Chinese travelers in Japan to make cashless payments via smartphone.Line, Japan’s messaging app giant with 78 million users, is stepping up its bid to become a major cashless payment platform by targeting Chinese tourists, who represent the biggest group of foreign travelers to Japan.

Switzerland's ABB is reportedly in talks with multiple suitors to sell its power grid business, including Hitachi and a major Chinese company.

Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo and AGC, formerly known as Asahi Glass, have jointly developed a glass mobile antenna that can be affixed to windows without blocking or ruining the view.