Defense & Aerospace Companies, Volume II - International: IHI Corporation

Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Company Ltd was originally founded in 1853 as Ishikawajima Shipyard. By 1877, the newly restarted Ishikawajima Hirano Shipyard had produced the Tsu-un Maru, the first steamship built by a Japanese shipbuilder. The company also built the country's first steel bridge, the Miyako Bridge, across the Ooka River in Yokohama. This was followed in 1887 by the building of the Azuma Bridge over the Sumida River, Tokyo. In 1907, Harima Dock Company Ltd was formed; in the postwar years, it merged with Ishikawajima Hirano Shipyard to form the basis of today's IHI.

By 1924, Ishikawajima Airplane Manufacturing Company Ltd had moved the company into the aerospace industry and produced aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy throughout the Sino-Japanese War and World War II. In 1945, the company manufactured its first jet engine, the NE-20.

After the war, Ishikawajima Heavy Industry Company was re-established, and in 1960, merged with Harima to form Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Company Ltd (IHI). In addition to providing Japan and the world with heavy construction equipment and components, the new company continued to develop aviation and marine gas turbine engines, including the F3-30 for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's new T-4 jet trainer.

In 2007, the company officially changed its name to IHI Corporation. The move was undertaken to reinforce the initials IHI as a corporate brand.IHI employs about 26,000 throughout its operations and subsidiaries.