Hitachi Energy has signed a Rs 1,000 crore memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu government to expand its global technology and innovation centre at Porur in Chennai and its factory in Chengalpattu. The agreement, signed at the state secretariat in July 2026 in the presence of the Chief Minister, is expected to create 1,000 high skilled technical jobs over three to five years.
Hitachi Energy, headquartered in Switzerland and part of Japan’s Hitachi group, builds the equipment and software that run electricity grids. It employs more than 50,000 people, has offices and research centres in 67 countries and generates about $16 billion in revenue. Its five business units cover grid automation, grid integration, high voltage products, transformers and service.
What the centre will do
At Porur, Hitachi Energy Technology Services will grow its largest global technology and innovation centre, which handles research and engineering in grid automation, transformers, high voltage systems and grid integration. The centre also supports project management, tendering, supply chain, cybersecurity, commissioning and remote services for more than 1,000 projects a year in about 40 countries. In Chengalpattu, Hitachi Energy India will add capacity at its manufacturing plant in Mahindra World City. The company has not said how the investment splits between the two sites.
Why Chennai
Chennai already hosts the company’s biggest technology centre anywhere, along with a factory just outside the city, so the expansion builds on teams and infrastructure that are already in place. Tamil Nadu also produces a large share of India’s doctorates and engineering postgraduates, which matters for a research heavy business.
Hitachi Energy’s India footprint
Hitachi Energy has worked in India since 1949, when it opened its first factory in Vadodara. Its listed Indian arm, Hitachi Energy India, runs plants in Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and employs more than 7,500 people. The Chennai technology centre opened in October 2023 with about 300,000 sq ft of space, including nearly 50,000 sq ft of labs, and more than 2,500 technologists. The company had earlier committed about Rs 2,000 crore to expand the same centre.
What it signals
The deal shows energy equipment makers pairing engineering centres with factories in India rather than treating them as separate bets. With grid spending rising worldwide, Chennai is becoming a key base for the design and build work behind the energy transition.
At a glance
- Home country: Switzerland
- Sector: Energy
- City: Chennai
- Date: July 2026
- Status: Expansion of an existing centre
- Scale: Rs 1,000 crore for Porur and Chengalpattu, 1,000 technical jobs over three to five years
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