The Beginning (and the End) of Fujitsu-Siemens (PCGH Retro, June 17)

…1999: Siemens-Nixdorf is the largest European manufacturer of computer solutions, while the European division of the Japanese company Fujitsu is only moderately successful with its “Towns” computers. But on June 17 of this year, the two companies announced that they would be merging: to form Fujitsu-Siemens Computers (FSC). The merger is completed on October 1 of the same year and proves to be a good step. First, Fujitsu-Siemens is highly successful throughout Europe and becomes the market leader in the PC market in Germany.

But it doesn’t stay that way for long. The joint venture has low earnings, the market share soon begins to dwindle and after a few years other manufacturers such as Acer overtake FSC. In addition, Siemens plans to withdraw from the PC business; At the end of 2008 there was a rupture: Siemens pulled out, Fujitsu took over all the shares in April 2009 and renamed the company Fujitsu Technology Solutions. But even if the German-Japanese cooperation is over, Fujitsu will probably never get rid of the Siemens name entirely: Fujitsu originally emerged from the communications division of the Fuji Electric company, as a joint venture with a young German company, which is also reflected in the name Fujitsu : The “ji” stands for “Jimenzu”, which is the Japanese name for – Siemens.