Toshiba celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2025 and looks back on an equally eventful and influential history. It all began in 1875 with a telegraph workshop in Tokyo, which within a few years developed into an innovative company specialising in the development and manufacture of modern electrical machinery and technology. In 1939, this company merged with another, more consumer-oriented electronics company to form Tokyo Shibaura Electric (Toshiba). Today, the company is a leading global technology group with around 95,000 employees. J-BIG spoke with Peter Lieberwirth, President and CEO of Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH (TEE), and his colleagues Armin Derpmanns, Vice President Marketing & Operations, and Volker Schumann, Vice President Battery Division, about Toshiba’s transformation from a consumer electronics manufacturer to a B2B technology specialist, the importance of the European market, and the future of power semiconductors, data storage, and high-performance batteries.
J-BIG: Toshiba celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. How did this long history begin?
Peter Lieberwirth: 150 years is a really long time. In 1875, there were no light bulbs, no telephones, and no automobiles. Our company history reflects the radical changes that have shaped our world during this time, and we are proud to have been involved in many innovations.
The company’s history has two strands. The first leads to Hisashige Tanaka, who founded a telegraph workshop in Tokyo in 1875, the first of its kind in Japan. Tanaka was an extraordinary inventor who later became known as the “Edison of Japan.” His credo, “We accept orders for inventions of all kinds,” reflects his extraordinary self-confidence and willingness to innovate. His company, later renamed Shibaura Seisaku-shō, became one of the largest manufacturers of heavy electrical equipment in Japan.
The second strand begins in 1890 with Ichisuke Fujioka, the founder of Hakunetsu-sha Co., Ltd. He was obsessed with the idea of making electric light accessible to everyone. Fujioka was the first to produce light bulbs in Japan, and his company became Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric Co.) in 1899. These two strands – heavy industrial technology on the one hand and consumer-oriented electronic innovation on the other – remain Toshiba’s DNA to this day.
J-BIG: When and why did these two companies merge, and how did this result in the establishment of a company called Toshiba?
Peter Lieberwirth: The merger took place in 1939. Both companies were closely linked as part of the Mitsui Zaibatsu, held mutual shares, and already collaborated in various areas. With technological progress, demand grew for household appliances that brought the achievements of heavy engineering into people’s living rooms. The merger of the two companies to form Tokyo Shibaura Electric Co., Ltd. was therefore a logical strategic move.
Our current name is derived from this previous name: ‘To’ from Tokyo and ‘shiba’ from Shibaura resulted in Toshiba. This term was already commonly used as a trademark in the 1940s, but it was not until 1978 that “Toshiba Corporation” officially became the company name.
J-BIG: Throughout its history, Toshiba has repeatedly been a technological pioneer. Which milestones do you consider to be particularly significant?
Peter Lieberwirth: There are a number of achievements of which we are truly proud. Domestically, Toshiba introduced the first radio receiver to Japan and produced the first washing machines and refrigerators in the early 1930s. In 1941, Toshiba built what was then the world’s largest hydroelectric power plant. This is a good example of how our company has played a key role in Japan’s modernisation, both in the consumer electronics sector and in industry.
We have also made major contributions to the digital revolution. In the semiconductor sector, the development of the first megabit DRAM in 1984 was a groundbreaking step. We are also the inventor of NAND flash memory, a data storage technology that enables incredibly small and powerful memory modules. The first commercially available laptop PC came from Toshiba, as well. And in addition. we hold the record for the world’s smallest hard drive, with a form factor of 0.85 inches. This was even recognised in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Today, we are working on technologies that will shape the world of tomorrow. These include flexible photovoltaic modules with maximum efficiency and quantum communication technology. Toshiba is a leader in quantum key distribution – secure quantum-encrypted transmission. Since today’s encryption mechanisms will not be able to withstand future quantum computers, this research is of immense practical relevance.
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J-BIG: For many people in Germany, Toshiba is still primarily known as a manufacturer of computers and televisions. Can you explain the path the company has taken over the past decades?
Peter Lieberwirth: The image we have here in Germany or Europe of Toshiba from the 1980s and 90s is incomplete, to say the least. At that time, the company’s major B2B activities in the energy and infrastructure sectors were primarily concentrated in Japan and Asia and were hardly visible here. In Europe at that time, Toshiba was primarily associated with the strong consumer goods line with our laptops, televisions, and VCRs.
The shift away from these consumer products came from two directions. First, the global market changed. In the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, electrical appliances were expected to have a long service life. Innovations were not as frequent then as they are today, and we developed high-quality products that were designed to give customers long-lasting enjoyment. The same quality standard would be very expensive today, and competitors from low-wage countries can produce standard products more cheaply because no one expects to use an electronic device for a decade or more. Secondly, the core issues in society have changed. In the 2000s, topics such as energy supply, sustainability, and digital infrastructure came to the fore. Toshiba’s quality is more in demand here today than in the consumer market. Quality comes at a price and must be used where it is really necessary.
Armin Derpmanns: What has distinguished Toshiba over a long period of time – and continues to do so today – is its ability to consistently develop the core technology. The question was never just: What are we selling today? But rather: How can we make the end devices more powerful, smaller, and more energy-efficient? This depth of innovation is evident, for example, in the fact that we significantly advanced semiconductor technology in the 1970s to 1990s, when consumer goods drove the market. Later, we did the same in the telecommunications and automotive industries. Now we are working on the energy transition. The fields are changing, but our standards remain the same.
J-BIG: How is Toshiba positioned as a company today?
Peter Lieberwirth: Today, Toshiba is divided into three core business segments: Energy Solutions, Digital Infrastructure Solutions, and Devices and Technology – we are part of the latter with Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH. In addition, there is Toshiba Tec, a company that develops POS systems and printing solutions and is majority-owned by Toshiba. In fiscal year 2024, which ended in March 2025, the group generated approximately 3.5 trillion yen, equivalent to around 23 billion US dollars, and employed around 95,000 people worldwide as of March 31, 2025.
J-BIG: Let’s go back in time once again. How did the company’s business in Germany start?
Peter Lieberwirth: In 1965, a Toshiba Information Office was established in Duesseldorf, initially serving solely as a market liaison office. In 2025, Toshiba therefore celebrated not only 150 years of company history, but also 60 years of presence in Germany. Four years later, in 1969, Toshiba Europe GmbH, or TEG for short, was founded with its headquarters in Neuss. The actual operational business then took off with the PC business in 1984. In 1987, two important decisions were made at the same time: Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH – that is, us – was spun off from TEG as an independent unit focusing on semiconductors, and a PC factory was established in Regensburg.
The workforce peaked during the heyday of the PC and television business; at that time, TEG in Neuss alone had several hundred employees. Today, TEE and TEG operate under one roof in Duesseldorf, the headquarters for their respective operations in Europe.
From here, Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH is responsible for the electronic components business in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). There are branch offices in Sweden, England, France, Italy, and Spain. There are around 150 employees at this location. I myself have been with the company since 1992, initially as a Product Marketing Engineer. Later, I was involved in setting up the Automotive Semiconductor Business in Europe and served as Vice President of Marketing & Operations. Since July 2023, I have acted as President and CEO. Our three product areas are hard disk drives (HDDs), power semiconductors, and SCiB high-performance batteries.
J-BIG: In the hard disk sector, HDDs are an important part of your business. How has this market developed after SSDs changed the PC market?
Peter Lieberwirth: Hard disk drives currently account for around 60 per cent of our business. This share has remained stable despite fundamental changes in the market. The consumer market is declining, not least because SSDs have become more affordable for private individuals, but it still accounts for around 40 per cent of our HDD business. However, the decline in demand here is offset by growing demand in data centres, in which the global hyperscalers Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are investing heavily.
We are particularly proud that, some time ago, we were able to increase the number of platters in an HDD to 12, which will give us a capacity of 40 terabytes per drive by 2027. Since energy consumption remains the same, this is also an important contribution to sustainability at a time when the energy demand of AI infrastructures is growing rapidly.
J-BIG: What role does the semiconductor sector play for Toshiba Electronics Europe?
Armin Derpmanns: Power semiconductors are the key component wherever electrical energy needs to be controlled and converted efficiently. They are used in wind turbines, solar inverters, electric vehicles and charging stations, industrial drives and data centre infrastructure. This is both our core business and our biggest growth area.
Technologically, we distinguish between three platforms: silicon as a proven basis; silicon carbide; and gallium nitride for applications involving higher voltages, temperatures and switching speeds. In recent years, Toshiba has invested heavily in a new factory in Kaga, Japan, where state-of-the-art, low-voltage silicon-based MOSFETs are manufactured. We have also set up a Regenerative Innovation Center in Duesseldorf, working closely with Japan to drive future technology developments for the European market. This sends a clear signal: Europe now has direct influence on the Group’s R&D agenda.
Added to this is our expertise in motor control electronics, which spans more than 40 years. Our components are used wherever motors need to be controlled electronically, including in industrial applications, household appliances and automobiles. Incidentally, Toshiba produced the first microcomputer for automobile engines already in the 1970s.
J-BIG: The third business segment, batteries, is perhaps the least well known. What are Toshiba’s activities in this area?
Volker Schumann: We develop and produce lithium-ion batteries under the brand name SCiB – but for a market that is not particularly prominent in the media. The large battery market, accounting for 80 to 90 per cent, is dominated by electric cars, where range is the most important factor. That is not our target market. We serve so-called heavy-duty applications: areas in which batteries are used very intensively, have to withstand an extremely high number of charging cycles, and often have to be fast-charged in a very short time.
Regional trains are a good example. In Germany, around 3,000 trains run on routes with only partial overhead lines – that corresponds to 250 million diesel kilometres per year. These trains have fixed routes, defined stopping times, and can be charged when they return to areas with catenary. Range is not a problem; the challenge is a battery that can withstand up to 50,000 charging cycles over a service life of 30 years. This is exactly what our lithium titanium oxide technology, or LTO for short, makes possible. In Germany, 100 to 150 regional trains are already running on these batteries. And as the entire diesel fleet will need to be replaced in the coming years, the market is growing rapidly.
A similar logic applies to shipping, especially in Scandinavia, where Norway has been a pioneer, as well as to autonomous mobile robots in warehouse logistics. All these applications have important requirements in common. They need batteries that take up little space, survive many charging cycles, and are highly reliable. In Japan, on the other hand, the largest market for these batteries is currently the mild hybrid sector in the automotive industry, where LTO technology also offers clear advantages.
J-BIG: In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about the reprivatisation of Toshiba. The company was delisted from the stock exchange in 2023. What has changed since then?
Peter Lieberwirth: This step was the result of a challenging period. From 2015 onwards, Toshiba experienced considerable financial difficulties due to its investments in the nuclear sector, particularly the acquisition of Westinghouse. This resulted in a shareholder structure that made it challenging to maintain a consistent strategy. In 2023, the decision was made to privatise the company and use this opportunity to effect a fundamental realignment.
The management team conducted a thorough analysis of all business areas: promising areas were strengthened, areas with potential were restructured, and some areas were divested. The goal of the current business plan through 2026 is clearly defined: to achieve a return on sales of 10 per cent. After the first one-and-a-half years, we are right on track. We now have clear leadership and goals, enabling us to make more intentional investments.
Volker Schumann: Having worked for the company in the 1990s, I can see a fundamental difference. Back then, we employed between 200,000 and 250,000 people and the company was enormous, which made it rather cumbersome. While the change was painful, its positive effects should not be underestimated: today, we are leaner, faster and more decisive. In the past, there was a tendency to hold on to things for too long, which is understandable, but this slowed down innovation. Today, things are different.
J-BIG: Is there a specific example of how the change in the company can be felt here in Germany?
Peter Lieberwirth: What impressed me and many of my colleagues was that our global CEO, Taro Shimada, came to Duesseldorf to hold town hall meetings during which he spoke to us partly in German. Having previously worked for Siemens, he is fluent in German. He encouraged us to ask questions and share our thoughts. This is indicative of something bigger: Toshiba now considers itself an integrated company rather than a collection of isolated units. In the past, hardly anyone in the semiconductor division knew what was happening in the energy division. That has changed fundamentally. The company has become much more transparent.
J-BIG: What does the daily collaboration between your unit in Europe and the headquarters in Tokyo look like?
Peter Lieberwirth: The exchange takes place on many levels. Top managers from Japan regularly visit Europe to meet customers face-to-face and experience the local market. At the same time, customers visit our Japanese plants. In addition, we have several Japanese expatriates in our Duesseldorf team who help to navigate the Japanese organisation and act as a bridge between the cultures.
Overall, the quality of our collaboration has improved. Thanks to digital communication tools, we have grown closer. We communicate across all levels via chat,, whether someone is sitting next door or working in Tokyo. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated Japan’s digital transformation, where working from home was previously very uncommon.
Volker Schumann: The perceived gap has really narrowed significantly in recent years. What was a major divide in working methods and communication style ten years ago has grown closer together. Communication is open at all levels, and language skills on the Japanese side have improved greatly. More and more colleagues speak excellent English.
J-BIG: What are the biggest challenges in Japanese-European exchange today?
Peter Lieberwirth: Despite all the rapprochement, the time difference remains a daily challenge. In addition, there are cultural nuances that should not be overlooked. Germans and Japanese have many similarities – precision, quality awareness, long-term thinking – but their communication styles, approaches to hierarchy, and decision-making processes are different.
One specific challenge is that it is not enough to simply present a market opportunity in Europe once. Customer needs, market dynamics, and risk assessments must be communicated repeatedly and from different perspectives before an investment decision is made in Japan. This requires patience and a deep understanding of Japanese decision-making processes.
Armin Derpmanns: Being there in person helps immensely. There are things you can only understand when you live in a country. For this reason, the expat experience remains extremely valuable because it takes mutual understanding to a whole new level.
J-BIG: What does the future hold for Toshiba?
Armin Derpmanns: Our CEO Taro Shimada has formulated two strategic transformations that will shape Toshiba’s future. These are digital transformation and green transformation, or DX and GX for short. These are not marketing terms, but direct guidelines for our product strategy. Whether it’s power semiconductors for renewable energies, hard drives for AI infrastructure, or high-performance batteries for emission-free rail transport: we are developing technologies without which the energy transition and digitalisation simply would not work.
One example of this is a truly exciting new technological innovation Toshiba is working on: power-to-chemical, or P2C for short. This involves extracting CO₂ from the atmosphere and synthesizing it into carbon material that can be reused for other industrial purposes. For us, sustainability is truly the business model of the future and not just a communications exercise.
Peter Lieberwirth: If you look at our products today – energy supply, data storage, power semiconductors – there is a direct line between the telegraph technology of 1875 and today’s power semiconductors for wind turbines. It’s all about energy, its generation, transmission, and efficient use. From light bulbs to quantum computers, Toshiba has always been at the forefront of technology that changes society. What changes over time are the technologies and dimensions, but not our mission as a company.
J-BIG: Finally, where do you see Toshiba in three to five years?
Peter Lieberwirth: I want Toshiba to become better known in Europe for its technology, but also for how it works with customers and partners. We have a broad portfolio of technologies that can meet many European needs in the fields of energy transition, digitalisation, data sovereignty. We need to make this more visible—as a reliable, strategically important partner in the European market.
To get there, we are investing in capabilities, focusing our organisation on the markets with the greatest potential, and developing talent that understands technology and customer value. If we succeed, Toshiba will be seen as a company that is easy to work with, has technical excellence at its core, and is committed to the long term.
Armin Derpmanns: I would add the aspect of quality to that: in a market characterised by cost competition and a constant stream of new providers, we want to expand our position as a supplier that customers trust when it comes to the really crucial systems.
Volker Schumann: For us in the battery sector, it’s about using our technology to drive the energy transition forward in concrete terms. Emission-free regional trains, hybrid ferries, and stable energy grids are not abstract corporate goals, but products and services that will improve our lives in the future. We have already laid the foundation in the Black Forest and Schleswig-Holstein, where trains powered by our batteries run emission-free. We want to implement this throughout Germany as part of a larger Toshiba mission.
