1853 – establishment of Ishikawajima Shipyard by the
Mito Domain under order from the
Edo Shogunate, who faced the
Perry Expedition and the subsequent pressure to compete with the
Great Powers, in Ishikawajima, Chuo district of Tokyo.
1889 – incorporation of Ishikawajima Shipyard as Ishikawajima Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Ltd.
1907 – establishment of Harima Dock Co., Ltd.
1929 – spinoff of Harima's automobile section as Ishikawajima Automotive Works (later
Isuzu through a series of mergers)
1960 – establishment of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. through a merger of Ishikawajima and Harima
1995 – IHI and
Sumitomo Heavy Industries merged a warship business and established Marine United Ltd. The
Uraga Dock Company was the origin in the shipbuilding of Sumitomo Heavy Industries. It was made by
Enomoto Takeaki. However, Sumitomo Heavy Industries moved Uraga Dock to Yokosuka in 2003. IHI moved a shipbuilding section to Marine United in 2002 and changed its name to IHI Marine United Ltd. IHI Marine United became the subsidiary of IHI in 2006.
2000 – purchased
Nissan Motor's Aerospace and Defense Divisions and established IHI Aerospace Co., Ltd.
2013 – established
Japan Marine United Corporation, merging its ship building unit, Marine United Inc., with Universal Shipbuilding Corp. of
JFE Holdings after discussion started in April 2008[3]
2016 – sold all shares of wholly owned IHI Construction Machinery Limited to Kato Works Company Limited.[4]
2018 – IHI halts manufacturing nuclear reactor parts to focus on aircraft parts,[5] leaving
Japan Steel Works as the sole Japanese supplier of reactor parts.
BT-4 liquid-fuelled apogee motor (used in the
Cygnus vehicle which are launched on
Atlas V and
Antares rockets)
Ships
Shipbuilding was the founding activity of Ishikawajima in 1853. It remains part of IHI's business activities, although it has been diluted through several mergers with other Japanese shipbuilding companies.[12]
In 1960, Ishikawajima Heavy Industries merged with Harima Shipbuilding & Engineering Company to establish the Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (IHI).
In 1995, Marine United was established jointly with
Sumitomo Heavy Industries.
In 2013, IHI Marine United was merged with Universal Shipbuilding Corporation owned by the steel company
JFE Holdings in order to newly establish a larger firm,
Japan Marine United Corporation (JMU), of which IHI remained a shareholder.
In March 2020,
Japan Marine United (with 49% of shares) agreed to merge with
Imabari Shipbuilding (with 51% of shares) into a joint venture named
Nihon Shipyard (NSY), covering all ship types except
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers.[13] This agreement became effective in January 2021.
In parallel with the creation of Nihon Shipyard,
Imabari Shipbuilding bought 30% of JMU's shares, while IHI and
JFE Holdings each kept 35% of JMU's capital.
The merger between these two Japanese companies resulted in Nihon Shipyard becoming one of the largest marine-engineering and shipbuilding companies in the world, of which IHI remains a shareholder.