Nippon Steel Corporation

Early years

Nippon Steel traces its roots to Japan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., established in 1934 through the merger of the Yahata Steel Works and several other steel producers with blast furnaces. In 1950, the company's steel production business was split into two companies: Yawata Iron & Steel (八幡製鉄, Yahata Seitetsu), and Fuji Iron & Steel (富士製鉄, Fuji Seitetsu).

These two companies merged again in 1970 to form Nippon Steel Corporation (新日本製鐵, Shin Nippon Seitetsu). Beginning in early 1981, however, the company cut production and saw a sharp decline in profit that fiscal year. Forced to close furnaces, the company exhibited a typical Japanese economic aversion to layoffs, opting instead to offer standard early retirement enticements but also less conventional schemes such as a mushroom cultivation venture that used the surplus heat created by steel furnaces to temperature control a fecund fungi complex.

Troubled times

Attributing the drop to higher material costs, the company entered into another troubled year. In 1983, the company reported the end of the fiscal year (March 31) would reveal Nippon Steel was in an even more beleaguered situation. A fall in demand brought about a 39 percent tumble in profits from an already weak previous year.

During this time, the entire Japanese steel industry struggled in a period of turmoil as other nations such as South Korea, with only a fraction of labor costs, won over business. The company announced a loss in 1986, prompting a determined effort to diversify away from the moribund "smokestack" industrial sector and to provide new work for thousands of employees that would be transferred from closing furnaces. During the 1980s and 1990s, Nippon Steel permanently closed blast furnaces at three of its eight primary domestic locations: Kamaishi (1989), Sakai (1990), and Hirohata (1993).

Diversification

Nippon Steel expanded or further established itself in semiconductors, electronics, a theme park called Space World, software, and even human resources products. Most notable was Librex Computer Systems, Nippon Steel's attempt to sell notebook computers abroad that lasted from 1990 to 1993. The company bucked seven struggling but profitable years when it returned to loss in 1993. Again, thousands of employees would be transferred to new operations. Due to cost-cutting, the company returned to health in 1995. However, Nippon Steel reported earnings in 1999 suffered from an overwhelming charge needed to cover pension costs, a problem not uncommon for shrinking industrial giants. 2002 and 2003 would be back-to-back loss years, but robust demand for steel in the People's Republic of China returned the company to profitability. (However, Nippon Steel had an operating profit for 2002 and 2003. The losses were made of extraordinary losses because of reevaluation of real estate and securities of the company among others.) Following a triple merger of Sumitomo Corporation, Kinzoku Steel Corporation (Sumikin Bussan), and the existing Nippon Steel, NSSC was formed as these companies' conglomerate Stainless Steel division.

Merger

In early 2011, Nippon Steel announced plans to merge with Sumitomo Metal Industries. With Nippon Steel producing ~26.5 million tonnes of steel per year and Sumitomo making ~11 million tonnes, the merged entity would produce close to 37 million tonnes of crude steel per year. This volume of steel output would make Nippon Steel the second largest steelmaker in the world, putting it well ahead of Baosteel – the current number two (making ~31 mt steel / year) – although still well behind ArcelorMittal (who produced 77.5 mt crude steel in 2010).

On October 1, 2012, Nippon Steel formally merged with Sumitomo Metal Industries at a ratio of 0.735 Nippon Steel shares per Sumitomo Metal share. The merged stock is listed (under number 5401, the old Nippon Steel number) as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. The logistics branches of both companies are announced to be merged on April 1, 2013, under the name "Nippon Steel & Sumikin Logistics Co., Ltd.", wholly owned by Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation. The merged company planned to publish a common fact book in the summer of 2013.

On April 1, 2019, the Japanese name of the company was changed from Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation to Nippon Steel Corporation.

Muroran, Hokkaido

Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture

Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture: Kimitsu Steel Works

Tokyo

Controversies

Espionage from a Korean steelmaker

In May 2012, Nippon Steel filed a lawsuit against POSCO, a Korean steelmaker established in the 1960s with technical assistance from Nippon Steel, for illegally acquiring the technology for grain-oriented electrical steel sheets developed by Nippon Steel. It was alleged that POSCO hired ex-employees of Nippon Steel to obtain the technology. An ex-POSCO official stated that the company's Tokyo research centre was effectively an espionage base, whose primary purpose was to collect information about Japanese steel companies on orders from the Korean head office.

The lawsuit was settled in 2015 through an agreement under which the Korean steelmaker paid 30 billion yen (US$300 million at the time) to Nippon Steel. After the settlement, the two companies renewed their strategic partnership agreement, but by 2024, Nippon Steel had sold all its shares in POSCO.

Korean forced labor compensations

On October 30, 2018, a lawsuit which was originally filed in 2005 concluded with Nippon being ordered by the South Korea Supreme Court to pay compensation totaling 100 million won ($87,680) each to four surviving Koreans who were victims of forced labor at a steel mill which was supervised by Nippon's predecessor company Japan Iron & Steel Co. during Japan's colonial rule of Korea The asset seizure ordered by the Korean supreme court involves Nippon's stake in PNR, the POSCO-Nippon joint venture. A Nippon spokesman called the decision "deeply regretful," while also promising a review of the ruling. The Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono maintained that the matter "has been resolved following the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea". On December 21, 2023, the South Korean Supreme Court would again rule against Nippon in another forced labor lawsuit, with Nippon being ordered to give 100 million won (about $76,700) to seven Korean plaintiffs and their families. On January 11, 2024, the South Korean Supreme Court would uphold a lower court ruling which required Nippon to pay forced labor compensation to family members of a South Korean man who was subjected to forced labor.

Acquisition of U.S. Steel

On December 18, 2023, Nippon Steel announced an agreement with U.S. Steel to purchase the company for US$14.1 billion, or US$55 per share, pending regulatory approval; when including U.S. Steel debts, the price of the acquisition rises to US$14.9 billion. The company agreed to maintain a headquarters for US Steel in its hometown of Pittsburgh and honor all steelworker union contracts. On March 14, 2024, however, U.S. President Joe Biden came out against Nippon Steel's bid to acquire U.S. Steel and declared he would use U.S. regulatory authorities to block the planned acquisition; The acquisition deal was also opposed by the United Steelworkers (USW) labor union. In March 2024, USW International President David McCall stated that Biden's decision to support keeping U.S. Steel domestically owned and operated "should end the debate."

In 2024, the company announced that it was proceeding with the acquisition of US Steel, despite President Biden's position. Nippon Steel Trading committed to the United Steelworkers (USW) union, which had also opposed the deal, to invest an additional $1.4 billion and also guaranteed that, subject to a number of conditions, there would be no layoffs or plant closures until September 2026. On January 3, 2025, Biden officially blocked Nippon's Steel bid to purchase U.S. Steel. Nippon Steel filed a lawsuit to challenge the decision to block the deal.

On June 18, 2025, the acquisition was finalized.