...Today, I would like to start with a general overview, and then introduce you to the new CSO and CRMO, Brice Koch, because it's his first time to participate. Then, each leader managing the business will explain the growth strategies for each of the areas of Digital Gr een and Connective. And CFO Kato will discuss the financial strategies to support growth in his session, followed by a Q&A with all the speakers in the room. We hope you will stay with us until the very end. The next slide, please. Hitachi has been on a journey of transformation to become a global leader in the social innovation business for more than 10 years. After structural reforms up to MMP 2021, the current 2024 medium-term plan has made a major shift toward organic growth.
Lumada will be our main focus, and we are accelerating our growth, moving away from being a conglomerate, to becoming a digital-centric company. Last year, as you know, a technology with an extremely large impact was introduced, and it is the generative AI. In the MMP 2024 and the plans to follow, it is important to maximize the business opportunities that this generative AI brings. Furthermore, there will be more innovations in the future that will have as much impact as generative AI. So we do not want to settle for the status quo. We should not be complacent, but rather to be a company that continues to create value aggressively, always envisioning the next inflection point. Let me provide a brief review of the structural reform phase of MMP 2015 to MMP 2021. We began by establishing a business vision of social innovation.
We launched Lumada based on the belief that digital technology was essential to realizing this business vision. We have decisively reformed our business portfolio in line with that vision. This structural reform was supported by a strong, top, global class governance structure that we've had. Based on the results of these structural reforms, MMP 2024 was designed to achieve organic growth. We made a major shift toward that in our mode of management. Using the tailwind of DX and GX, we are growing the top line and are driving profit margin improvement with Lumada's business expansion. Our top priority is to strengthen our ability to generate cash. Core free cash flow has grown steadily, allowing us to balance our allocation between investment for growth and returns to shareholders.
We have also changed our compensation incentives in order to become a company that always pursues, the key word, growth, even in, in a difficult environment. It was in this context that the generative AI emerged. The impact that generative AI will have on the market in the short, medium, and long term will be extremely significant. As you can see on this, slide, a generative AI is expected to become a key technology that solves a variety of social issues. In particular, the ability, to reap the productivity gains that generative AI brings is of vital, existential importance to all companies. On the other hand, generative AI has revealed new issues, such as semiconductor supply shortages, rapidly growing demand for data centers, and worsening power shortages that are becoming serious.
Solving the new challenges that the generative AI brings, also for us, is a great business opportunity. In the short term, as you can see on this slide, resolving the shortage of engineers in the software development and increasing demand for data center-related systems, growing demand for semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipment, these are all major business opportunities for Hitachi. Moreover, these are significant opportunities for One Hitachi, because they span across all of Hitachi's business sectors. After this, the Executive Vice President who oversees each of the various sectors will discuss the situation. On the other hand, in the medium to long term, there are going to be challenges such as...
Provision of stable supply of power that will be needed as the number of data centers increases, or increasing productivity among workers in field operations, which account for 80% of the world's workforce, because they're faced with a serious labor shortage, and addressing risks associated with promoting the use of AI, such as safety and reliability. How are you going to address these challenges? These challenges and their solutions provide further business opportunities for us. We believe that Hitachi's IT, OT, and products listed here, we believe are key to capturing these business opportunities. As such, the emergence of generative AI brings great opportunities to our business. Major inflection points, such as generative AI, will continue to emerge, along with becoming a means of solving various social issues, and they will bring new social challenges as well.
So we will actively invest in corporate venturing and other activities to identify the technologies that will create the next tipping point or inflection point, and prepare a portfolio of technologies and businesses through R&D, M&A, et cetera, with a certain degree of anticipation of the next inflection point. When an inflection point emerges, we will use the impact of the turning point as a business opportunity to accelerate the growth through rapid investment. And by repeating such a cycle, we aim to become a company that leverages such inflection points for growth and enhance corporate value. One thing to note here is that generative AI has the potential to greatly improve research productivity as well. This will maybe allow the next inflection points in quantum computation, anti-aging, nuclear fusion, and so forth, which were thought to be far away from commercialization, to come sooner than expected.
To judge this, study activities listed here are going to be important. In other words, we will work on open innovation by building a global ecosystem with the academia. We will also invest in and collaborate with startup companies through corporate venturing, and create breakthrough technologies through backcast-type R&D. We will continue to invest in these activities over the medium to long term. What is important, along with the discussion for the future when considering corporate value enhancement, is the so-called housekeeping perspective. First, growth investments must be disciplined and focused on investment returns. Continuous improvement in our PMI capabilities and management of investment risk is essential to our growth model. Capital investment is also critical, and the key there is to balance aggressiveness with avoidance of overcapacity. Complexity is also a major risk to our management.
The portfolio also needs to be constantly thought through and implemented with simplification. For asset sales and JVs, business alliances, we will continue to make business decisions with an emphasis on capital efficiency. At today's Investor Day, we would like to share with you the new growth opportunities Hitachi is seizing, and how it is accelerating its evolution. We have prepared this forum from the viewpoint of providing you with the content that reaffirms Hitachi's growth potential, and I hope you will stay with us until the very end. Now, following my presentation, Executive Vice President Brice Koch, who also serves as CSO and CRMO, will share his enthusiasm for his mission to manage the opportunities and risks of global growth at One Hitachi, which is a major challenge for us. How will he provide resolution to that? He will be sharing his passion on that topic.
Brice, the floor is yours.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, wherever you are sitting. Kojima-san, thank you very much for the introduction. Thank you very much for your interest in Hitachi, taking the time today. As you know, from this April, I have been appointed CSO and CRMO, and Head of the Region Strategy. In that respect, thankful to have been given the opportunity to present to you, I would like to explain today our approach to risk and opportunities to achieve our targeted global profitable growth, and I am looking forward to your question later today. To start with, as a matter of courtesy, I would like to introduce shortly myself to you.
In that respect, having had the chance to be the CEO and executive of some global companies, thanks to the experience I could gain, I would like to explain a little bit more about my background and what I will execute to realize the future and further profitable growth of Hitachi. As executive of ABB, and then CEO of OC Oerlikon, and CEO of Hitachi Astemo, I had the opportunity to, thanks to my team, to achieve profitable growth of our businesses. Also, as regional head, I could drive regional and cross-business growth while managing risk. All in all, thanks to the various industry I was exposed to, I had a great opportunity to learn about various businesses related to Hitachi IT, OT, and products. Looking towards the future, as a CSO, CRMO, and head of region strategy, I will utilize these experiences to deliver along three points.
Point number one, design and drive corporate strategy, combining global and regional perspective, leveraging our strengths. Point number two, balance between capturing growth opportunities and managing risk. And point number three, and ultimately, accelerate our profitable growth, leveraging our Hitachi diversified assets, meaning talents, technology, regional presence. Talking about profitable growth, one very, very critical aspect reside in capturing regional opportunities with One Hitachi approach. In fact, each region has numerous opportunities, though with unique characteristics. In North America and Europe, energy transition and sustainable transportation have become significant opportunities. Additionally, we believe that data centers, driven by the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, will also represent significant opportunities, with North America being one key region beside Asia in a broader sense. On the other hand, Hitachi globally is expanding businesses in three areas: Digital Gr een and Connective, each with its own growth strategy.
But the more details of the growth strategy in each area will be explained by my colleagues a little bit later. From a more general perspective, seamlessly integrating our go-to-market strategy for key accounts, but also key industry segments, we will capture regional opportunities and transform them, enabling Hitachi to profitably grow globally. On the other hand, it is important to mitigate different, even faster materializing risk, regionally and globally, as we pursue One Hitachi. Right now, we see the following typical risk for different region. In North America, we see political transition and inflation as short- and mid-term risks. In Europe, tightening regulation and cybersecurity risk. In Asia, unstable political situation and semiconductor supply chain potential risk. And in China, US-China relations and economical stagnation risk. And last but not least, in Japan, we consider higher interest rates, exchange rate fluctuation, and natural disaster as key risks.
On the other side, One Hitachi ERM, Enterprise Risk Management, tools we have put in place are designed to identify and manage these region-specific and globally involving risk, ensuring that they do not hinder Hitachi growth strategy, but also to consider the opportunities behind these risks. So again, all in all, thanks to seamless integration among corporate sectors, BUs, and region, we will timely anticipate, mitigate, and potentially leverage risk to drive Hitachi profitable growth. As a conclusion, as a CSO, CRMO, and head of region strategy, I hope I could share my purpose to identify opportunities, utilize our strengths, mitigate our risk, and leverage our opportunities to realize and even accelerate our Hitachi global profitable growth along Digital Green and Connective Industries.
Concluding here my presentation, I thank you for your listening, and I am now pleased to hand over the stage to Tokunaga-san, who will explain more digital strategy. Tokunaga-san, please. Thank you very much. Good luck.
Thank you, Brice. Hello, everyone. My name is Tokunaga. Thank you very much for your time today. Let me explain Hitachi's digital strategy. This is the content of today's presentation. First, I will explain the progress of the midterm management plan 2024. Under the MMP 2024, we are working to improve profitability of the Hitachi Group through the growth and high profitability of Lumada business. As is shown on the slide, Lumada revenue for Hitachi Group continues to grow strongly. DSS sector, which is the driving force behind the growth of Lumada business, is also expected to exceed its midterm management plan targets, with revenues forecast of JPY 2.7 trillion in FY 2024. The order backlog at the end of FY 2023 is also steadily increasing....
by 15% year-on-year, and the change to a growth mode, a key management agenda of MMP 2024, is progressing well. We will maintain this momentum and increase our corporate value through sustained growth. We will expand Lumada business in markets where we can demonstrate the superiority of Hitachi's IT, OT, and products, and pursue sustainable growth through digitalization in MMP 2024 and beyond. Next, I will explain our strategy for growth with digital. The first growth strategy is the expansion of front business and IT services business. We will become Japan's number one vendor with high profitability, capable of completing large-scale, high-complexity projects by further enhancing our ability to execute SI and DX projects. The performance of front and IT services business has grown steadily during MMP 2024 period, with the expansion of large-scale, mission-critical SI and DX projects.
The key to future growth is the strengthening of human resources and the use of generative AI. We will further strengthen project management, which is one of the strengths of DSS sector, and optimize utilization of the existing resource of approximately 60,000 persons. We will also expand the use of GlobalLogic engineers, and continue to strengthen the talent pool, and also accelerate the use of generative AI to further improve SI productivity. The use of generative AI will be explained in the second half of the presentation. The second growth strategy is the sustained growth of GlobalLogic, which is driving the expansion of the global business. GlobalLogic is expanding synergy within the Hitachi Group and maintaining a strong growth in addition to standalone growth. In FY 2023, synergy within the Hitachi Group more than doubled year-on-year.
In particular, the number of projects in the OT domain, in which GlobalLogic participates, has more than doubled year-on-year, fully demonstrating its function as a growth engine for the Lumada business. In addition, the two companies reorganized last year, Hitachi Vantara and Hitachi Digital Services, and GlobalLogic, are working together to provide end-to-end DX services. The third growth strategy is the expansion of cloud-managed services. Revenue growth of cloud-managed services is accelerating during the MMP 2024 period. And the core service is Hitachi Application Reliability Centers, or HARC, which supports and improves customers' cloud operations. HARC has been adopted by more than 40 customers in the past 2 years, including a major HVAC and disaster prevention equipment company in North America, a major pharmaceutical company in Europe, and ORIX Bank in Japan, and is making cloud operations more sophisticated and efficient.
To support HARC's rapid growth, we plan to increase the number of global service delivery centers to five locations to serve more customers. Next, let me share some examples of the integration of digital into the globally expanding installed base of Hitachi Group products, which is expanding globally, starting from a case study in the energy sector, where Hitachi Energy, together with GlobalLogic and Hitachi Digital Services, developed a solution to optimize the operation and maintenance of power infrastructure facilities. With the GX tailwind, we are integrating digital into the rapidly expanding installed base of energy infrastructure equipment to enable energy companies to improve the sophistication and efficiency of their asset management. Now, this is the second case study in the energy sector. The next generation nationwide load dispatching system is a mission-critical system for power interchange throughout Japan.
Hitachi Energy's global standard package and DSS sector's core mission-critical system development know-how are combined to contribute to the upgrading of Japan's electricity infrastructure. Hitachi Energy's solutions with track record are also being used in the grid energy storage system for Matsuyama storage plant. With more than 250 operating systems in over 90 countries and regions worldwide, Hitachi Energy Solutions is contributing to the stable supply and decarbonization of regional power. Next is a case study in the mobility domain. The first is an example of smart maintenance in the railway sector. Hitachi Rail's rolling stock and maintenance knowledge is combined with Hitachi Digital Services data analytic solutions to deliver smart maintenance of rail infrastructure. Condition-based maintenance is achieved by collecting and analyzing real-time data from over 325 rail vehicles running in the UK.
This has successfully reduced overall requirements by 50% and increased train availability. We are in the process of deploying this digital solution in approximately 2,000 Hitachi's fleet across the entire U.K. The second case is EV, electric vehicles. Regional decarbonization through the conversion of commercial vehicles to EV is progressing, particularly in Europe. The Hitachi Group provides a battery charging management system service that monitors the charging status of commercial vehicles in real time to optimize the operational efficiency of EV batteries and power demand and supply. The service leverages the foundation of Optimize Prime, the world's largest demonstration project in the U.K., with over 8,000 commercial EVs. Horizontal application is underway, including strategic partnership with First Group in the U.K., and the installation at Norwegian postal operator, Posten Bring. Next is industry sector. The first is an example of transforming after-sales service for industrial equipment.
Hitachi Global Air Power's air compressors are combined with GlobalLogic's design and Hitachi Digital Services system integration to achieve product lifecycle management. The operational status of connected compressors is monitored in real time, and detailed services, such as parts replacement and new product proposals, are provided according to users' usage status. The second case is the development of a marketplace to promote the use of recycled materials, including recycled plastics. Recycled materials are subject to fluctuations in quality and quantity, making it difficult to match buyers and sellers. We are developing a platform to connect buyers and sellers by combining Hitachi High-Tech's knowledge of materials with DSS sector's digital technologies, such as AI and material informatics. We are conducting field verification and system development with Sekisui Chemical, and accelerating our efforts with the aim of commercializing the platform in FY 2025. Next is our initiatives on generative AI.
The Hitachi Group will use rapidly evolving generative AI to capture new growth opportunities. We are currently promoting the use of generative AI at a rapid pace in two areas: improve the productivity of customer operations, and provide reliable data management and platform, as shown on the slide. Let me introduce these initiatives in the following slides. GlobalLogic is the pioneer in the use of generative AI in Hitachi Group. GlobalLogic has been an industry leader in AI-related offerings for more than a decade, and has more than 500 projects using AI and approximately 10,000 AI engineers. We also developed Platform of Platforms, architecture to enable safe, reliable, and highly efficient implementation of generative AI by combining the accumulated technological expertise and know-how in GlobalLogic.
GlobalLogic's technology and know-how in the use of generative AI is being deployed within the Hitachi Group to create new value through the fusion of generative AI, OT, and products. Now, please watch a video message from Nitesh Banga, CEO of Digital Engineering BU and President and CEO of GlobalLogic.
Hello, I'm Nitesh Banga, President and CEO of GlobalLogic, and recently appointed Head of the Digital Engineering Business Unit, or DEBU, at Hitachi, Ltd. At GlobalLogic, we are proud to be part of the Hitachi Group and a key driver for Hitachi's growth through the design-led digital engineering solutions we build for our customers. We pride ourselves on being at the forefront of innovation and emerging technologies, including the new and exciting opportunities presented by generative AI, which has the potential to solve various social issues that Hitachi has been pursuing since its founding. GlobalLogic has more than 10 years of experience in AI and almost 10,000 engineers with advanced AI skills and expertise. We have also been developing GenAI solutions for over 3 years, even before ChatGPT hit the market.
With GenAI technology, we can increase efficiency, creativity, productivity, and business acceleration internally at GlobalLogic, across Hitachi, and for our clients. Currently, we are focusing on four major areas of GenAI utilization, including content creation, software development, virtual reality use cases, supporting digital twins, and utilization in knowledge management, with the aim to enhance productivity for both in-office and field service employees, as well as for business transformation. GlobalLogic has been actively utilizing GenAI internally and verifying its effectiveness continuously. One example is the knowledge management system, internally called Dr. Koogel, which collects publicly available information both internally and externally, and can provide answers to questions in a natural language. We have also developed an internal system called Tech Transform, which can convert and optimize source code, analyze legacy programming languages, and convert them into modern languages to accelerate system and application upgrades and movement to the cloud.
We have already provided this service to several customers across the globe. Based on our industry leadership in AI and our own internal practices, GlobalLogic designed the first-of-its-kind platform of platforms architecture. Our platform of platforms combines various hyperscaler technologies and services, as well as components developed by Hitachi, to address challenges in strategy and design, product engineering, data and content engineering, and AI governance. This GenAI technology offers our clients opportunity to scale with reliability, reusability, and responsibility, and address the critical challenges every enterprise must overcome when operationalizing AI and GenAI at scale. Interest in GenAI is growing rapidly among our clients, with almost 75 ongoing projects at scale. At GlobalLogic, we value and seek opportunities for synergy across the Hitachi Group, including initiatives utilizing GenAI.
By combining the vast knowledge and data held by the Hitachi Group with GlobalLogic's expertise, business development utilizing the power of GenAI is progressing. For example, we are partnering to improve the quality of our support services at the customer center of Hitachi Energy. Despite the difficulty of securing highly skilled digital talent globally, GlobalLogic has been able to continuously develop top-class engineering teams in various regions, such as Eastern Europe, India, Latin America, and other regions, and can assign them accordingly to customer demands. We are committed to internal talent development, investment in providing learning and upskilling opportunities to our people, and offer exciting projects where our designers, engineers, and data professionals can be challenged and can grow and excel. As I mentioned, I am honored to have assumed the additional role as the head of the Digital Engineering Business Unit, or DEBU, at Hitachi Limited.
The DEBU aims to transform the engineering supply chain of the entire digital systems and services sector. By leading the GenAI initiative, we will improve productivity, generate business throughout Hitachi, and work globally to solve challenges for customers and society and further grow the Lumada business. Thank you.
I hope that you understood some of our efforts to utilize generative AI in GlobalLogic through the message from Nitesh. On the other hand, the use of GenAI is also being promoted in Japan. We are also expanding co-creation with our customers by combining the knowledge of mission-critical system development accumulated by DSS sector with generative AI. We are promoting the use of generative AI in the area of system development and customers' business transformation, mainly in the financial sector, and are identifying significant benefits in terms of increased productivity and operational efficiency. We are also expanding the application of generative AI to the OT domain. We are working to improve the productivity of frontline workers through generative AI, leveraging Hitachi's domain knowledge and on-site expertise.
In energy, generative process simulations of large-scale construction work are carried out in the plant, replicated in a metaverse space using generative AI to facilitate communication about work processes between the multiple people involved, and saves workers from backtracking. In industry, in the event of breakdowns, the machine with built-in generative AI talks with workers about the causes of failures and malfunctions, and the actions to address them. It helps shorten the time to restoration by correctly extracting operational knowledge. The development of GenAI is also a major growth opportunity for the data management business, one of the core businesses of the DSS sector. When customers use generative AI, it is essential to have an infrastructure that enables integrated and transparent management and operation of company-specific data and open data, on-premise and cloud environments.
In response to such customers' data management needs, Hitachi Vantara provides hybrid cloud storage, which is one of its strengths. Hitachi iQ, an AI solution jointly developed with NVIDIA, as a generative AI platform to support customers' use of generative AI. Demand for data centers is growing rapidly due to progress in the use of generative AI. The Hitachi Group is one of the few players that can provide total data center integration by combining IT, OT, and products. The integration of GEM sector's green power sources, CI sector's facility, and DSS sector's data management and operations will lead to the growth of Lumada business to meet the rapidly expanding demand for data centers. To accelerate innovation through Gen AI, we are also boldly building an ecosystem with global partners.
Through strategic alliances with NVIDIA, Microsoft, Google Cloud, and AWS, we are strongly promoting the collaborative development of AI solutions and development of generative AI engineers. For example, through the partnership with Microsoft, announced last week, we are developing innovative digital solutions, including software productivity improvement, predictive maintenance of rail infrastructure, and optimization of power networks. We are planning major growth investments during FY 2024 to advance Lumada through the use of generative AI, including the initiatives described today, and to advance the Hitachi Group to a new growth stage. Specifically, we plan to invest in three key areas, namely, infrastructure development, including the development of common platform for generative AI and Gen AI data center, services and engineering enhancement to strengthen Gen AI-related services and expand insourcing to GlobalLogic, and expansion of generative AI talents, including training of Gen AI specialists, M&A, and startup investment.
We plan to invest a total of JPY 300 billion to capture the next stage of growth. In conclusion, by executing the digital strategy explained today, we will achieve MMP 2024 by maintaining high growth in SI and DX business in GlobalLogic. We will also innovate Lumada with Gen AI and advance Hitachi Group to a new phase of growth. That concludes my presentation. Thank you very much for your attention. Next, green strategy will be explained by Mr. Dormer.
Thank you. Thank you. Good day, everyone. Let me introduce myself. My name is Alistair Dormer, and I have the best job in Hitachi, managing the green energy and mobility sector. Today, I'd like to explain why I believe Hitachi is so well-placed in both energy and mobility, and our ambitious plans for growth. First, let's look at the market and why we believe this is a great market to be in. Over the last few years, we all know the commitments made by governments around the world to move to net zero. This is driving society to build renewable sources of energy and move to sustainable mobility.
Decarbonization on its own is driving huge demand, but in the last two years, particularly in Europe, the need for energy security has become a priority due to geopolitical conflict, once again, driving up demand. On top of these two market drivers, we now see the acceleration of generative AI, which was highlighted in Tokunaga-san's presentation. This digital revolution will require massive green energy to power the data centers of the future. So once again, we see a further driver of demand, not just for our power grids business, but for more and more green energy, where we see the potential for more small modular reactors. So in summary, more AI requires more data centers, needing more power, which must be green, on top of the demand to build more renewables to decarbonize society and to deliver energy security.
This is not just a super cycle, but a transformation of society. Looking specifically at the energy market from a numerical perspective, the figures on this chart show that electricity will be the backbone of our energy system. Electricity demand is growing at an unprecedented pace to high double-digit petawatt hours by 2050, and this electricity must come from sustainable sources. For reference, one petawatt hour is 1 trillion kilowatts. Currently, the world consumes around 25 petawatt hours per year and is estimated to require in the region of 50-70 trillion kilowatts by 2050. Personally, I think this is a very conservative estimate, but probably reflects the existing constraints in the supply chain, which we are working hard to overcome.
This will require massive expansion and investment for the grid, as well as huge investments in connectivity to not only connect new renewables to the grid, but also to connect between grids to ensure the optimum usage of power. A massive, exciting challenge for Hitachi. Now, turning to mobility, we see steady, if not spectacular, growth when compared to the energy market in the global railway market. That said, I am massively excited about the potential of our recent acquisition of Thales Ground Transportation Systems. You can see from the chart on the right-hand side that this acquisition is extremely complementary to Hitachi's existing market presence and opens up new opportunities for GTS technology with our existing footprint and a whole new customer base for Hitachi's technology, not just in rail, but for other Hitachi technologies such as digital.
Moving now to our plan for FY 2024, we have driven hard in FY 2023 and had a very successful year. For FY 2024, we have set more aggressive targets: nearly JPY 400 billion growth in revenue, nearly JPY 100 billion growth in earnings, and a margin at 8.6%, which is 2.1 percentage growth from last year. We have invested heavily in operational excellence and efficiency, which will start to pay back later in FY 2024. We have focused very hard to improve the quality and profitability of our backlog, and through rigorous governance and working very closely with customers to change business models and reduce risk.
For example, in energy, we have been able to secure long-term framework contracts to standardize designs, minimizing construction or EPC risk, and even secure manufacturing capacity reservation agreements and down payments to enable us to invest in capacity. So let me start first by talking about Hitachi Energy. This slide shows the huge growth of the backlog in Hitachi Energy. The backlog of Hitachi Energy has tripled in the last two years to JPY 4.7 trillion. But more importantly, we have been able to steadily improve the gross margin of new contracts while declining to take risks that we cannot fully manage, such as civil construction, et cetera. Behind this is the improvement in our governance. As Chairman of Hitachi Energy, I have a very experienced board of directors, challenging the executive with strong insight and ambition.
In addition, we are working hard to strengthen our portfolio to increase our service and digital business. Looking now at service, we have an ambition to triple Hitachi Energy's service business by 2030. Our top-level strategy for this is threefold: mobilize our huge installed base, which is over $200 billion across the globe, to provide our service and maintenance offerings. Work closely with Tokunaga-san's organization to capture growth in emerging segments, such as data centers, as mentioned at the beginning of my presentation. And finally, through the digitization of our products and services, to create new value for our customers and Hitachi. A great example of the collaboration between energy and digital is the contract we signed in Japan earlier in FY23.
We will deploy proven Hitachi Energy technology, working in partnership with digital systems and services sector, to deliver software and control systems to transform the electric power system in Japan. This will deliver a fully integrated energy system for Japan, which is currently served by 10 separate utilities, and opens up future potential for market management and energy trading systems that will provide a huge boost to the full decarbonization of the country. So we have a fantastic opportunity, and from July the 1st, we will have new leadership of Hitachi Energy. So let me introduce Andreas Schierenbeck. Andreas has a tough act to follow, as Claudio Facchin has done a great job to integrate Hitachi Energy into Hitachi, and to build momentum. We wish Claudio every success in the future, but are also excited about the fresh perspective that Andreas will bring to the business.
Andreas has an impressive record in building and digitizing the service business of thyssenkrupp Elevator, which was then successfully sold. He moved on to energy to become CEO of Uniper, a German utility, so he has unique insight into the needs of our customers, and more recently, he has been working on the energy transition with a startup company developing hydrogen solutions. I'm sure he'll be very keen to have the opportunity to communicate with you all when he starts his role in Hitachi at the beginning of next month. The opportunity in the market is enormous, and our ambition is big. You may ask, "Are we ready to deliver?" We are making huge investments in our capacity and human resources.
Last week, we announced that we will invest $4.5 billion until 2027 to further strengthen Hitachi Energy, including organic capacity expansion, bolt-on M&As, research and development, and a huge expansion of our organization. This is in addition to the recently announced $1.5 billion investment in transformer production, which makes a total of $6 billion investment in energy transition by 2027. In terms of headcount, we will be adding another 15,000-20,000 people over the next few years on top of our existing 40,000+ resources. Two examples of bolt-on M&A are EKS and COET. EKS is a high-tech power, electronics, and software company based in Europe, but with business in North America, focused on the battery energy storage market.
With the growth in renewables and the corresponding unpredictability of supply and demand, we see a huge opportunity in energy storage, so we will build on this acquisition with our installed base. COET have advanced technology in the vehicle charging market. Once again, this grid edge application has huge potential. Watch this space for more in FY24, and now let's move on to mobility. As many of you are aware, we have pursued a strategy to grow our railway business in North America. We opened the first driverless metro in North America in Honolulu last year, and are busy delivering systems in Baltimore, San Francisco, Boston, Ontario, and will soon be opening our new rail factory in Maryland. This factory will showcase a number of Hitachi's state-of-the-art digital technologies and will manufacture trains to meet the huge demand across North America and beyond.
You can also see a significant growth in the headcount this year, which is reflecting more than 9,000 colleagues joining from Thales GTS. So let's talk about Thales. At the end of May, we finally closed the deal to acquire Thales GTS. This is a fantastic business that I wanted to add to Hitachi Rail for many years, so I'm really pleased that we've finally got there.... This brings us a huge expansion in our customer base, market-leading rail control technology, and as I just mentioned, 9,000+ rail control experts. This acquisition changes the dynamic in our rail business from being roughly 50/50 rolling stock and rail control, to move towards 70/30 rail control, rolling stock in the coming years, with the potential for higher margins and more collaboration with Hitachi Digital. And this is how our new railway systems business looks like in numbers.
Our revenues will reach the targeted JPY 1 trillion milestone, with more than 20,000 employees, 12 manufacturing plants across the globe, and we will have significant coverage of the global key markets. We have a strong focus on post-merger integration, where we are mobilizing lots of lessons learned from our past M&A, including the highly successful integration of Ansaldo and ABB Power Grids. We talked about power grids, we talked about mobility, but we've got more businesses that are vital to making the world more sustainable. With the ever-growing electricity demand, we believe that nuclear plays an important role in the energy mix. The market in Japan is finally restarting, as evident in the recent completion of fuel loading of Kashiwazaki Kariwa Unit Seven.
Looking at the global market, we are the top runner in small modular reactors, which we partner with GE Vernova through our joint venture, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. Following the technical collaboration agreement signed last year, we are supporting GE Hitachi, working very closely with partners in the US, Canada, and Poland, to develop a standard design SMR, targeting the start of operation of the first unit in Darlington, Ontario, Canada, around the end of this decade. Hitachi Power Solutions has been building on its strong energy asset service, network and capabilities in Japan. We are deploying and managing energy assets and digital technology as a service to our own factories, and now also to our customers. Today, I talked about different investments we are actively making in our capacity, human resources, M&A.
But of course, we need to reimagine the future in 2050 and beyond to stay ahead. This is why Hitachi is committing our best minds to develop new technologies that will drive the transition for future opportunities. This investment is more than JPY 0.8 trillion in research and development during our current midterm management plan, and a large proportion of this investment is focused around our green business. In other words, green energy, green mobility, and the digital enablers. So finally, I'd like to leave you with our future ambition. Continued top-line growth. We are investing heavily for expansion. Continued market-margin expansion as we transform the portfolio through the Thales acquisition, drive ever greater volumes, target tripling service and digital revenues, and delivery on ever-improving backlog. This is a great time to be involved in energy and mobility. Thank you.
I'd now like to hand over to Abe-san, who will explain more about the connective strategy. Abe-san, please.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Jun Abe. I will explain Hitachi's connectivity strategy. First, let me introduce myself. After joining Hitachi Limited, I worked in IT, including database, software development, and data storage business, during which time I also jointly researched with the University of Tokyo, big data acceleration. After that, I was involved in operational technology in the control platform business and the industry and distribution business at the Omika Works, the so-called OT business, the data touchpoint. Globally, I also led the management of Hitachi Vantara on-site PMI as the business unit CEO in the acquisitions of JR Automation and GlobalLogic. Thus, since joining Hitachi, I've been consistently involved in data handling and delivering value to customers. As the new leader of Connective Industries sector, I will use my experience to address the following two points.
First, achieve new growth by transforming business groups with industrial products at their core with digital technology. Second, strive for increasing the productivity of frontline workers by utilizing digital technologies, such as generative AI and the industrial metaverse. I will cover these contents in order. First, progress and results of the midterm management plan 2024. First, a review of MMP 2024. As a result of the CI-wide efforts to improve profitability, led by Mr. Aoki, former Executive Vice President, we expect to exceed adjusted EBITA ratio of 10% for all CIBUs in FY 2024. By strengthening integrated operations through CI's strength in product, OT, and IT, Lumada revenues are expected to grow significantly with CAGR of 28% from FY 2021 to FY 2024. In terms of risk management, we are responding to the real estate recession in China.
Despite the decline in new orders, we have secured earnings by expanding renewal and maintenance business. Furthermore, in terms of upfront investment for future growth, we have taken preemptive action for semiconductor manufacturing, which is expected to recover and expand from the second half of FY 2024 by developing Hitachi High-Tech's customer co-creation sites and investing capital in the semiconductor manufacturing field. Next is obtaining new opportunities for growth. What do we build on the foundations that have been laid? CI sector will capture the high growth markets in the industry field, driven by DX and GX, to increase revenue growth. Specifically, the target markets are factories, laboratories, and buildings, where market size is large and high growth. New growth opportunities will be captured by combining Hitachi's key technologies, such as line building and measurement.
In the manufacturing field, we will focus on semiconductor manufacturing, driven by generative AI, and battery manufacturing, driven by electrification. In the healthcare field, molecular diagnostics, biopharmaceutical manufacturing, precision medicine, and minimally invasive therapy, driven by biotechnology. In the service field, we will focus on green buildings and the circular economy. This diagram shows Lumada's approach to capturing these growth opportunities. Number 1, on the left-hand side, shows strengthening the industrial product business. While continuing to strengthen product R&D for connected products, we will expand the product-related service business as a managed service by adding digital services that leverage our extensive installed base of products. In addition to this, as shown in number 2 on the right, we will strengthen the integration business focused on new growing fields going forward.
First, in digital engineering, we will strengthen our collaboration with GlobalLogic in growth areas such as generative AI and industrial metaverse. In system integration, we will strengthen JR Automation's Robotics SI, for example, through bolt-on M&A. Through these measures, we will further strengthen our integration business in the OT domain, focusing on new growth areas. With number one, product business, and number two, integration business, as two wheels of a car, we will accelerate the creation of synergies with DSS and GEM sectors to further expand Hitachi Lumada business. Next is growth investments. The M&As that have been carried out so far during MMP 2024 have been robotics, SI bolt-on, and product enhancement. In R&D, we have invested in FA and logistics fields, regenerative medicine, pharmaceutical product manufacturing, biotechnology, and environmentally compatible products. We have also conducted upfront investments to develop semiconductor co-creation sites and new semiconductor production facility.
In the future, we will focus our investment in the three high-growth areas I explained earlier, manufacturing, healthcare, and services, in order to enter into a new growth trajectory. As shown in the pie chart at the bottom right, we plan to invest JPY 800 billion in growth over the three-year period from FY 2021 to 2024. From here, I will explain specific initiatives in each area. First, semiconductor manufacturing, which is expanding significantly with generative AI as a driver of change. We will provide solutions to improve productivity by using data from metrology, one of the best-class inspection and analysis equipment in the industry. The semiconductor market is expected to expand to $1 trillion by 2030, and we will target North America and Asia.
The combination of Hitachi's strong products, such as process, metrology, inspection, and analysis equipment, including CD-SEM, optical inspection systems, and analysis systems, where we have the top share of the global market. Customer data from the three global collaboration sites located near customers in the U.S., Korea, and Taiwan, and integrated digital data platform that seamlessly integrates and links customer data in a digital manner, will enable time reduction in visualization of conditions and predictive maintenance, integrated data driver, data viewer, and automatic cross-sectional measurement. Next is expansion of battery manufacturing, driven by electrification. We will improve efficiency of mass production through robotic SI and digital technologies based on strong inspection and analysis equipment. The battery market is expected to grow to $400 billion by 2030, and we will target North America and Japan.
By combining Hitachi's strong suit, namely manufacturing and inspection equipment, that consists of contaminant inspection system, which is Hitachi's advanced solution, as well as electronic microscopes, roll presses with robotic SI, such as line building and MES, and digital, such as battery life cycle management using GlobalLogic's digital engineering. We will achieve early launch of mass production process, production cost reduction, and the establishment of a recycling-oriented value chain. JR Automation built battery module mass production lines through co-creation with Moxion Power in the U.S. Please take a look at the video.
At Moxion Power, we supply energy solutions, portable energy solutions.
Well, it's a project of assembling modules for later use in a finished product, and it's a new product in a new industry, and the customer wanted a new assembly line to complement what they've got already that's more reliable. So they came to us for a more robust solution.
The relationship with and working with JR has been great. Obviously, we're, we're building a brand-new product in a brand-new building with now a brand-new line. We've had to simultaneously design the equipment that we're gonna be building our new product with, while we're designing the product as well. And I think, the, the ability of JR to pivot quite quickly and make the changes that we needed as we discovered, again, building a new product on a new line, they've, they've done a great job of, of that adaptability. We know the importance of improving the way things are done today with the CO2 emissions. We, we know that we've got to be better, and I think that's what makes it so special to work at Moxion and work with a company like JR to produce our products.
Did you enjoy the video? Next is expansion of biopharmaceutical manufacturing, driven by biotechnology. We are targeting early startup of manufacturing process by utilizing proven cultivation products, industry domain knowledge, and digital technologies. The biopharmaceutical market is expected to expand to $570 billion by 2027, and we will target North America and Japan. By combining cultivation products, such as cultivation tank, where we have one of the best track records in Japan, automated cell culture equipment, and fermentation simulators through co-creation with GlobalLogic, with domain knowledge to address regulation, which is know-how and expertise in the biopharmaceutical industry, and digital, which includes MES and LIMS, where we have one of the best track records in Japan, and platform of value chain traceability service for regenerative medicine.
We can shorten the time needed for drug development and clinical trials and reduce product production costs. Examples of users are the following pharmaceutical companies. Next is expansion of molecular diagnostics, precision medicine, and minimally invasive therapy driven by biotechnology. We will advance cancer treatment using digital technologies based on strong diagnostics and therapy equipment. The cutting-edge medical market is expected to expand significantly to $90 billion by 2030, and we will target Europe, North America, Japan, and Asia. By combining diagnosis, such as clinical chemistry and immunochemistry analyzer and DNA sequencers where we have a leading share of the global market with treatment, such as particle therapy systems, with a proven track record of delivering to the world's 33 leading medical institutions, and digital, such as advancing examination, diagnostic procedures through co-creation with partners in genetic testing for cancer genes and AI.
The project supports the promotion of customized medicine and control of healthcare costs. Last is the expansion of services driven by energy shortages and resource depletion. We will digitally transform service, leveraging the extensive installed base of products and domain knowledge. By combining our extensive installed base of air compressors, marking, power electronics, drives, elevators and escalators, and commercial air conditioners with domain knowledge, such as product-related technological capabilities, business know-how, and expertise, and digital green technologies, such as predictive maintenance, energy-saving checkups, parts replacement recommendations, and 5 R, we can contribute to lower maintenance and energy cost, and the development of circular economy. As an example of green products, our environmentally friendly transformer, which has the top share in Japan, use amorphous alloy as core to reduce energy loss, and soybean oil as insulating oil to contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
These green products will also be increased. Next is an example of a smart and green building. I will play a video on a case where building IoT solution, Buil Mirai, was applied as the building OS for S-Tower of Nomura Real Estate's Blue Front Shibaura. Next is on reinforcement of management base. In reinforcement of management base, we will work on these four areas. First is strengthen the product by expanding R&D investments. Specifically, we will target products aiming for top three in global market share, such as compressors, power electronics, drives, and commercial air conditioners, as well as products aiming to be top in the niche market, such as measurement, analysis, particle therapy, and cell culturing. Next, in improve asset efficiency, we are working to improve efficiency and decarbonize manufacturing plants through DX and GX.
CI's CO2 emissions reduction is expected to be over 70% in FY 2024, compared to FY 2010. We will also utilize assets of equity method affiliates and consolidated subsidiaries. We will expand digital services by leveraging JV's customer footprint in air conditioning, elevators, and escalators in China, overseas home appliances, et cetera. We will also simplify our balance sheets. In expand product operation and maintenance services, we will apply proven digital operation and maintenance services for elevators and air conditioners to industrial products. We will also consider M&A in the overseas OT integration and after-service areas. In improve profitability by increasing business efficiency, we will improve pricing, strengthen the supply chain for resilience and greening, and utilize generative AI to improve software development and customer support productivity. Lastly, conclusion. Based on the results we have built up to FY 2023, we will finish the MMP 2024 well.
In parallel, we will embark on a new growth trajectory by capturing the high-growth markets in industrial fields brought about by DX and GX.... In this way, CI will aim to achieve revenues CAGR of 7%-9%, Adjusted EBITA ratio of 13%-15%, and Lumada revenue ratio of 45% as the target level. Thank you very much for your attention. Next, we will move on to the CFO session, which will be explained by Mr. Kato. Mr. Kato, please.
Abe-san, thank you very much. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Kato. I have been serving as CFO since April this year. Thank you for your attendance today. Before I begin, I would like to briefly introduce myself. Since joining Hitachi Limited, I have worked in finance in relation to a variety of industries, regions, and locations. From 2022, as Deputy CFO, I had been promoting activities that achieve financial KPIs of MMP 2024, such as improving cash flow. In order to support each business sector now that we have entered the organic growth mode, I would like to utilize opportunities for interactive dialogue that we're having with investors and focus on the following four points to enhance corporate value.
First is to strengthen our ability to generate cash, which is one of the most important tasks or priorities of MMP 2024. The second point is to support disciplined investment for growth, and the third point is a balanced capital allocation between growth and shareholder return. Fourth is continued improvement of capital efficiency. So today I would like to discuss these four themes. The first point regarding strengthening of cash generation capabilities, we expect to achieve revenue growth and improve profitability through the growth strategy of MMP 2024. Furthermore, the company's cash flow-oriented management policy is expected to improve the efficiency of profit to cash conversion, resulting in a significant increase in core free cash flow. The cash flow generation to date is shown in the graph on the left.
The initial forecast of JPY 2.3 trillion for MMP 2024 has increased to JPY 2.8 trillion at this time, after having increased in MMP 2018 and 2021. Of these, KPIs related to the increase in core free cash flow are shown on the right. The first is revenue growth, which in the three sectors has been growing at an annual rate of 10% during MMP 2024. The operating margin has also risen above 10% to 11.5%, for the FY 2024 forecast. These two factors increase the absolute amount of profit, and furthermore, increase the efficiency of converting this profit into cash. Specifically, the rate will rise from 50% in FY 2021 to 80% in FY 2024.
As a result, CFPS, core free cash flow per share, is expected to grow at an annualized rate of 22%. The second theme I would like to discuss is support for disciplined investment for growth. First of all, as the executive vice president in charge of each sector stated, today, the three sectors will continue to promote strategies for growth, aiming to achieve further revenue growth and improve profit margins. As shown in the chart on the left, all three sectors are aiming to improve their operating margin by several percentage points in the future from the current level, following the growth during MMP 2024. In order to achieve this growth, we plan to invest about JPY 1 trillion for growth in FY 2024.
As explained today, the areas covered for this investment include generative AI, manufacturing sectors with a growth potential, and service commercialization acceleration. Needless to say, implementing these growth strategies requires cash. As shown in the graph on the left, we have been strengthening our ability to generate cash. As for core free cash flow, as described on the right-hand side, we believe further growth is possible through additional measures. First, in terms of revenue, in addition to revenue growth by capturing DX and GX demand, we are aiming for further growth in priority businesses introduced today, namely data centers and semiconductor-related businesses. Next, regarding profit margins or profitability, we'll expand highly profitable businesses centered on the Lumada business, improve our operations through business portfolio reviews, and we're also looking to further improve productivity through the digital service business and use of generative AI.
Finally, cash efficiency has improved significantly in the MMP 24, mainly due to the improvement of cash receipts from long-term projects and planned capital expenditures through framework agreements, in which the basic framework for multiple contracts is agreed upon with customers in advance.
... Going forward, we will further improve cash efficiency by accelerating the timing of receiving payments through expansion of digital service business. As mentioned above, these additional measures will further strengthen our capability to generate Core Free Cash Flow in the future. When making the investments necessary for our growth strategy, we consider it important to implement a disciplined investment process in order to ensure that returns are realized. We will continue executing this going forward. We will also use leverage in accordance with our financial discipline when raising funds through debt. As shown on the left side, our investment policy is based on bolt-on M&A, acquiring businesses that reinforce organic growth. In this case, the investment return standards are, as we have said in the past, adjusted EBITA margin and ROIC.
In addition, in order to further increase the success rate of M&A, we will strengthen risk management in the M&A process, including due diligence and investment decisions, by expanding the use of talents in each business unit and region. Next, with regards to the utilization of leverage, as shown on the right side, our balance sheet at the end of FY 2023 showed a lower DE ratio due to better-than-expected cash generation, and we intend to make use of this funding capacity in the future. For example, even if the majority of the JPY 1 trillion growth investment in FY 2024 that I mentioned earlier is carried out through debt, we expect it to be within our financial discipline at the end of the current fiscal year. Furthermore, we will continue to expand our core free cash flow, so we think we have sufficient funding capacity next year and beyond.
Next, let me talk about the balanced capital allocation between growth and shareholder return. First, the basic idea. We intend to allocate Core Free Cash Flow in a balanced manner between growth investments and shareholder returns. Secondly, at the time of asset sales, we will first assess the two options of growth investment and share buybacks from the perspective of optimizing investment returns. Finally, dividends will be paid in a stable manner in line with business growth. The bar graphs on the left show the outlook for cash generation and cash allocation in MMP 2024 and beyond, respectively. With regard to cash generation, we will also utilize leverage mentioned earlier from FY 2024 onwards. The cash allocation policy is summarized on the right side. First of all, growth investment is compared with share buybacks when selling assets.
The assumption used for growth investment is return beyond our M&A standards and share buyback. Next, in shareholder return, share buybacks are assessed with growth investments at the time of asset sales. The assumption used for share buyback is returns beyond growth investments. The financial status and total shareholder returns are also taken into account in this decision. We will maintain stable dividend in line with the business growth and also take financial status and payout ratio into account. Finally, debt repayment will be carried out when we have surplus funds after making these assessments and taking into account the financial status and other factors. The fourth point is continuous improvement of capital efficiency. ROIC improved steadily during MMP 2024. Excluding FX effects, ROIC is expected to exceed the MMP target of 10%. We plan to improve efficiency further through ROIC-up initiatives.
The left side shows the development of ROIC. We have increased return, which is business profits, and improved ROIC. Next, let me explain our future ROIC-up initiatives on the right side. First of all, we think we can further improve return, which is the numerator of ROIC, through the measures I mentioned to improve core free cash flow. Specifically, these include activating new growth opportunities, expanding profitable businesses, and improving profitability. There are two main initiatives to optimize invested capital, which is the denominator. First is streamlining assets or asset light. We will continue to sell assets from the perspective of asset efficiency and promote cash generation and ROIC improvement through portfolio restructuring. Second is equity ratio optimization. We will optimize the balance among capital efficiency, asset risks, and debt. Lastly, summary. This past May, I had the opportunity to visit investors in North America with Mr. Kojima.
I once again experienced the importance of dialogue with investors. While supporting each business sector, I will continue to take advantage of opportunities for two-way dialogue with investors and contribute to the enhancement of corporate value through the realization of MMP 2024, and the formulation and implementation of next MMP. Thank you for your kind attention.
Following a 10-minute break, we will be starting the Q&A session. Please bear with us for a while. Thank you.
Ordinary, everyday life. Hitachi is right by your side. Utilizing data and technology, Hitachi promotes social innovation business, committed to solving diverse and complex issues faced by society. For more than a century since its founding, Hitachi has continued to embrace its mission: to contribute to society through the development of superior, original technology and products, while responding to social issues that constantly evolve. The Hitachi Group has extended its fields of activity globally, structuring its business in a variety of areas. Digital systems and services digitalize and improve the efficiency of systems which underpin society. Green energy and mobility support the energy shift for decarbonization and provide safe, comfortable, and clean mobility. Connective industries connect products across different fields with digital technologies, innovating industries and cities.
Leveraging its core strengths in IT, OT, and products, Hitachi will continue to grow its social innovation business with digital, green, and innovation as the growth drivers. At the heart of these efforts is Lumada. With Lumada, we utilize a range of data while promoting collaborative creation with customers and partners to solve issues. Aspiring to a society in which everyone lives in happiness while protecting the Earth. Hitachi will focus on fulfilling what people around the world dream about. In other words, realizing good things. Hitachi's social innovation is powering good. Ordinary, everyday life. Hitachi is right by your side. Utilizing data and technology, Hitachi promotes social innovation business, committed to solving diverse and complex issues faced by society.
For more than a century since its founding, Hitachi has continued to embrace its mission: to contribute to society through the development of superior, original technology and products, while responding to social issues that constantly evolve. The Hitachi Group has extended its fields of activity globally, structuring its business in a variety of areas. Digital systems and services digitalize and improve the efficiency of systems which underpin society. Green energy and mobility support the energy shift for decarbonization and provide safe, comfortable, and clean mobility. Connective industries connect products across different fields with digital technologies, innovating industries and cities. Leveraging its core strengths in IT, OT, and products, Hitachi will continue to grow its social innovation business with digital, green, and innovation as the growth drivers. At the heart of these efforts is Lumada.
With Lumada, we utilize a range of data while promoting collaborative creation with customers and partners to solve issues. Aspiring to a society in which everyone lives in happiness while protecting the Earth. Hitachi will focus on fulfilling what people around the world dream about. In other words, realizing good things. Hitachi's social innovation is powering good. Ordinary, everyday life. Hitachi is right by your side. Utilizing data and technology, Hitachi promotes social innovation business, committed to solving diverse and complex issues faced by society. ... For more than a century since its founding, Hitachi has continued to embrace its mission: to contribute to society through the development of superior, original technology and products, while responding to social issues that constantly evolve. The Hitachi Group has extended its fields of activity globally, structuring its business in a variety of areas.
Digital systems and services digitalize and improve the efficiency of systems which underpin society. Green energy and mobility support the energy shift for decarbonization, and provide safe, comfortable, and clean mobility. Connective industries connect products across different fields with digital technologies, innovating industries and cities. Leveraging its core strengths in IT, OT, and products, Hitachi will continue to grow its social innovation business with digital, green, and innovation as the growth drivers. At the heart of these efforts is Lumada. With Lumada, we utilize a range of data, while promoting collaborative creation with customers and partners to solve issues. Aspiring to a society in which everyone lives in happiness while protecting the Earth. Hitachi will focus on fulfilling what people around the world dream about. In other words, realizing good things. Hitachi's social innovation is powering good.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for waiting. At this moment, we would like to start the Q&A session. Questions will be taken from investors and analysts who are participating in person, as well as those of you online. Those of you in person, please raise your hand, and those of you participating online, please use the hand raise button on the Zoom screen. Those of you in person, our staff will bring you a microphone. For questions, we would like to limit the number of questions to two persons per person. Please ask your question one at a time, and please state your name and affiliation before asking your questions. Any questions? Harada-san?
My name is Harada from Goldman Sachs Securities. Thank you very much for this precious opportunity. Here's my first question, and I think this is directed to Kojima-san and Koch-san. Hitachi's business is very much globalized, and through M&As, so you are acquiring businesses from the outside, and I believe the management of all those businesses is going to be challenging. Koch-san is now overseeing the risks in each region. But going forward, what do you think will be the difficulties and challenges for your group? How are you going to resolve them? Well, I think having such a global operation as a Japanese company is a rare case, so how are you going to tackle these challenges, I wonder?
Harada-san, thank you very much for your question. I would like to answer first, and then turn to Mr. Brice Koch for a further answer. Well, as you rightly pointed out, we have very much globalized operations today. What is important is on the corporate side and global business units and entities within each region, the question is, how can we share the same will, same intention, between the two and move quickly? If we are to capture growth opportunities, the speed of management becomes quite critical. So, when there is disruption in communication between the two sides, we will lose and miss such opportunities. So that's one of our greatest challenges. It's the same with Alistair and Brice, but and Lorena in HR.
At the core of the corporate sector, we're seeing increasing diversity in our talents. We have increasing number of non-Japanese directors and executives, and we can communicate quickly, and that communication reaches the region more quickly. That is what we're paying attention to.
What kind of measures you can take to mitigate the risk?
Thank you very much for the question. I think there are, there are three aspects which I believe are very important, is to create a seamless organization across corporate BUs and region. As Kojima-san was just saying, information transparency is very key, especially in this world where everything is so fast and everything is so volatile. So seamless integration, transparency will be very, very important. Also, I believe that that will require from us to be agile, so very quick in, in decision. In that respect, what I think we should build on more, even more, is on one of our values, wa or harmony, just to have this open discussion, to put things on the table, and then to decide quickly, because then everyone is aligned. So I think that is where, where we are going, forward.
In addition, we are now also developing tools, leveraging AI, in order to make that more visible quicker, because we can maybe sometime miss some points. Thank you very much.
Just to add to that, transparency is most critical in our communication. At the same time, in various regions, in various countries, and people there, when they have to be combined, there are two things we have to focus on. One is to have metrics. We have to be able to discuss based on numbers and metrics, because feelings alone will not get us very far. And so second is clear accountability. Under whose responsibility, accountability, what is it that we're going to do? So clarifying all of that thoroughly is what we're paying most attention to right now.
That is well understood. Thank you. And my second question is about digital. I think this is directed to Tokunaga-san. In your presentation, you said in Japan, digital transformation is now strengthening, and you are facing talent shortage, I think. You have GlobalLogic, which is your strength. On the other hand, GlobalLogic has agile development, and the traditional waterfall types of style in Japan may not suit them well. So how can you develop going forward? If you could share with us your strategy.
Thank you very much, Harada-san, for your question. You're right. So there's a shortage, shortage of talent. As we plan to expand our business, talent is the key, as I mentioned today. So to counter that, it will be crucial to utilize GlobalLogic, as you just rightly mentioned. GlobalLogic's strength is agile. We have a strong awareness of that. And next to that, in the case of waterfall development, where... What is the bottleneck? What goes well? What doesn't? We have already completed the analysis of that, and so we know where to be careful of. And we have confidence that we can work with the waterfall type of development in Japan. And Nitesh, in his previous job, he was in Japan for 10 years.
So document-based interaction or as the spread with the spread of generative AI, it is easier to go across the language barrier. But that said, it's better to be able to communicate in Japanese. We know that. So in India, we have a Japanese language bridge center, a center to cultivate talents that can
use Japanese language. So agile and waterfall gap can be filled with that. And the other is to enhance the bridge SE. So with that, we want to utilize GlobalLogic, and we are confident we can. Thank you very much.
That's understood very well. Thank you for the answers.
Next, Yasui-san from the venue.
My name is Yasui from UBS Securities. My first question is this: regarding the power grid, data centers must use renewables. In that context, I think high-growth market is in the U.S. So in the U.S. market, doing energy business and utilizing data, expanding your business substantially, is there that possibility? Is that possible? There are geopolitical risks, and localization is required, considering presidential elections ongoing. You are a Japanese company. You have European operations as well. And given that, in the next 10 years, 20 years, do you think you can capture the market in the U.S.? There are sensitivities involved. So if there are risks and opportunities, if you could elaborate on them, please.
... Thank you very much for your question. Actually, we have a large installed base in North America. So actually, Hitachi Energy has got the largest capacity for transformers and for switchgear in North America. And part of the additional $4.5 billion and the $1.5 billion that we've announced recently is to expand our capacity. And our strategy will be to really expand on those existing bases that we have, because we do understand that under the Inflation Reduction Act and the incentives in the U.S., actually manufacturing in the U.S. is very, very important. So we've localized our manufacturing, we've localized our supply chain, and we are building for more and more capacity.
I think we are both the market leader and are investing to stay ahead as the market leader, to continue to expand in the U.S.
So, I think question is regarding the kind of political risk, for example-
Mm
... protectionism, the type of concern-
Yeah
-could be raised by, administration of United States-
Yeah
For example. So how we can address those risks? I think that's the question.
Yeah. In terms of that, those sort of geopolitical tensions that we all know about between China and the US, and Europe to some extent, the way that we manage our business is we have a footprint which is installed in the US, in Europe, and in China. So our Chinese business is very important, but our business in China is for China. Our business in the US is for the US, and our business in Europe is for EU-
Yeah
-for Europe.
My question is really specifically to the US market-
Yeah
... where I think, past 10 or 20 years, they don't care about, like, infrastructure for the data centers.
Yeah.
It's revolutionary demand is happening, and it's critical. Then, I think the things change, that if you sense the change is happening geopolitically. I do know that you have a strong footprint in the U.S. market.
Yeah.
But going forward, you can protect, you have secure or you have a promise from the government, or how you-
Yeah. Well, under the Inflation Reduction Act, which is in law, so it's very difficult to change that. That is the incentives that are in place, and projects are ongoing now. We have a lot of projects in the U.S., and projects are, I would say, you know, being advanced in the U.S. If there is a change in policy in the U.S. later on in the year because of the election, I don't think it's gonna have a dramatic effect on our business. I think maybe there's going to be potentially more shale gas, more fossil fuel than there is today, but the drive for electricity is not gonna change. We're still gonna see huge demand for electricity over the next 25-30 years, and I don't think that's gonna change just because of one election.
I'll just add to that. Already in North America, we have sizable grid automation business, so installed base power grids are being used in a data-free manner. And the possibility of having constraints on that business is not zero, but we're not too concerned about that. We're looking at the moves, developments made by the government. Of course, there could be political change, so on a forward-looking basis, we will be taking steps for risk mitigation constantly, but we're now able to leverage our data sufficiently, and we're not seeing a lot of risk there, at least at this moment. My second question is about the connective industries. So green...
So green, and compared to green and digital, the growth potential is, or the portfolio seems to be distributed. On the other hand, you are targeting 7%-9%, which is a rather high goal, high target. So in healthcare or semiconductor, I understand that you are working on them, but could you explain? So there's the home appliances and elevators, probably will not grow that strongly, so it seems like you have to grow it by 20%. So what are the measures, initiatives, the drivers that you have in mind, please?
Thank you, Yasui-s un, for your question. Connective industries' core is product. That said, we have strong, compelling products. The products where we can aim to become global top three or niche top, target for niche top. We have those products. So those will be the focus of our R&D efforts. So the product, we have products, but there are peripheral services around products where we still have room for growth, and also regions, and so we will focus on growing them. So that's my point number one. The other is we are not just working on products. As I mentioned earlier, battery, and semiconductor, and data centers. We, there are markets where we have forecasts of strong growth, so we will address them and capture growth there. And the key there is the capability to integrate.
So the products that we can utilize and integration will be combined to achieve strong growth. So it's not just products, it's not just integration. So we will differentiate ourselves from players that only have one, and grow in this market. Pharmaceutical drugs companies, and auto, and semiconductor, it's the same story. They're all connective industries customers. There are Japanese domestic players and global players. So global players, business, and customers, and their business, their concerns on the front line. We are CI sector, so... and metaverse or they can use when they want to improve their business efficiency using GenAI and metaverse, we can connect them with our digital arm, the GlobalLogic or GREEN. The key is GX and DX, and so in GREEN, we are the user side.
So supplier side, Abe-san's GEM sector, and we will connect. So that, I think, is our mission, to leverage, create cross-sector synergy. And the other point we have to consider is the industry. The industry is connected between supply and demand. The industry is data center and semiconductor are connected, or data center and energy. So we need to work on these, not just in single points, and work with the related sectors. And that is where we want to capture growth.
Thank you. Okay, from the regional point of view, so the growth potential of areas of focus, I would like Brice to mention that. So what is the growth potential of focus areas?
One of the key growth supporting Abe-san can also come from the region, and the fact that we have strengths in CI, in one region, one product. But the other region, that product is very little presence. So we can, thanks to the regional development and to the regional strengthening, we can suddenly grow extremely fast in that new region. So basically, we have a horizontal deployment, if you want, from the different products we have in CI, leveraging the region front end, and also, as Abe-san was saying, our colleagues. I give you an example. Hitachi Energy is very strong in some countries in Europe, like Germany. We are almost not there from a CI point of view, but we have the products.
Connecting that together will boost the growth at a very cheap cost, actually, because we don't need to redevelop a completely new infrastructure organization. So this, that should be very efficient.
Something that Abe-san perhaps could not say very well. So that we can focus on those growth areas, we're going to change our portfolio. That's our basic stance. Otherwise, we won't be able to achieve the growth that we're looking for. So we have to take a bold step in growing growth areas. That's Abe-san's intention, and I would like to provide solid support to his efforts. Thank you very much.
Next question, please. So, from Venue, Yamazaki-san, please.
Thank you very much. I'm Yamazaki from Nomura Securities. I have two questions. First is, Kojima-san, your first page, transformation journey. On that page, I think you showed very plainly and clearly what future direction you're heading. And so seeing from the outside, how can we check your progress, that you are in fact progressing according to that direction? Well, you would often talk about Lumada's contribution rate. But as you become increasingly digitized, is there a measure that we can look at to measure your progress, that you are moving along the direction? Well, horizontally, it shows profitability, cash generating capability as well. And vertically, it could be market cap or corporate value. So that's the kind of image that I had as we put together the slide that you were referring to.
So FY 2021 and onward, are we on the curve? Well, try to draw it using our numbers. You will see that we're on the curve. So what's happening to our share, our price? Is our profitability growing? Whether we're on the trajectory or not, by plotting the numbers, you will be able to see that. And for example, in other companies, by raising multiples, there are some global peers who are doing so. Schneider, I think, is one such example. There are lots of other companies. I think Schneider's PER is 30 or so. It used to be a capital goods manufacturer acquiring AVEVA, being increasingly digitized, and with that effort, their PER is 30.
So given those circumstances, because we wanted you to see this point easily, I, we gave, Lumada numbers, the ratio of revenue by Lumada. In terms of, multiples, because it is still contribution, how close are we, becoming, in terms of PER? And that is why we're disclosing Lumada numbers. So, the basic aspects, profitability and the corporate value and, progress made by Lumada. So have a look at those numbers, to see how much PER improvement is, seen. I think that is the best way to measure our progress.
Well, just to supplement, so Lumada's contribution... So can we see how you're changing by focusing on the Lumada's service ratio, you used to disclose before, and now products are included, and so if I may ask about that as well. So the best ratio to look at is Lumada's ratio. So Lumada's profitability will be raised, and overall profitability, overall revenue will also be increased, and that will elevate us to a higher level. We are breaking away from being a conglomerate. We are becoming an increasingly digitized business driving our PER, and I think that can enlist the understanding of investors better. Thank you. My second question about generative AI. On page 15 of Tokunaga-san's presentation, you talk about new business opportunities, growth opportunities.
Last year, you said this will have direct impact on the productivity improvement, so that remains unchanged. But the other one, revenue increase. In the past, you said in the OT domain-specific database was the value that you can offer, but this time you said storage, data management. So maybe the policy has changed? That's the impression I got. Am I right? And if that, if I'm right, what was the background that led to the change in this business opportunity?
Thank you, Yamazaki-san, for your question. So the short answer is, the policy has not changed. We will leverage OT in the new solution. It's the left side, the second row, office, office worker, front workers, efficiency improvement. This will contribute to this side. Now, overall, GenAI is having so much impact, and so business use is increasing. And with NVIDIA, I met the CEO directly and talked about Hitachi's portfolio. He said, "We can work in the infrastructure domain too, and their generative AI's capability can be utilized and use our OT capability to create new solutions." So those were the type of discussion. We were expanding our business opportunity. So we can inject our OT knowledge and work with our partner to create this business opportunity with generative AI. That is where we are.
Just to add to that, timeline is somewhat different. Software productivity enhancement is something that we have to address right away and reap the benefit of that right away. As Ali explained, transformers and demand for data centers, that's what we need to do right now. But what was mentioned, so raising productivity of frontline workers, raising productivity of customers, that will take longer time. So proof of concept will have to be implemented over time. That was the same with the IoT. So over time, possibilities will increase. So in terms of the timeline, I think, we're looking at two to three years. So for POC, it will take three years or so, personally. So getting right into production, I don't think we can do that right away at this moment, because it takes longer.
So we have to follow the timeline, but we have to make steady efforts at preparation. So leveraging GlobalLogic, we need to work with customers and prepare for POC, but it will take a few years for the revenue to be recognized and profit to be recognized.
Understood. Thank you. So we will take the next question. Hirakawa-san, please. BofA Securities, Hirakawa is my name. Thank you. I have a question on GenAI. So generative AI opportunity, I felt it is huge. Hitachi's generative AI, what is compelling? What is advantageous? What is your strength? And you have top line, and, you said, it will also contribute to cost reduction and grow top line. In the next three to four years-
... how are the opportunities forecasted as the size of business opportunity, if you could give us some image, quantify? Thank you.
Thank you, Hirakawa-san, for the question. So to your first question, the strength of Hitachi's generative AI. Hitachi has IT and OT, and products. We have all three in one company group, so that is the key. And furthermore, Hitachi is not only in the IT world, we also have railway, rail maintenance, and energy, the optimal T&D in energy. So we have OT technology. We are also in... We can apply gen AI in the OT domain as well, and also, accumulate this in LLM. This is our strong strength. I'm not saying this to PR our company. When we talk with NVIDIA, or Microsoft, or Google Cloud, or AWS, they say that is the reason they want to collaborate with Hitachi. They clearly say that.
So once again, we want to, utilizing LLM and generative AI technology, we want to utilize this strength, to grow our top line. And to your second question, the size. It is difficult to quantify and give you some numbers on our forecast, but as we've mentioned in the past, in cost reduction, mainly in software engineering, we can improve the efficiency by around 30%. And the target level, which we showed you this time, the profit margin, will rise. Generative AI will contribute much to that. Thank you. I hope this answers your question.
Generative AI, between GEM and CI, what will be Hitachi's strength in terms of generative AI? Ali, first, please.
Well, I mean, there's numerous applications where we can use generative AI. So, for example, if we think about rolling stock and all of the sensors that we've got on rolling stock now to measure not just the performance of the train itself, but also the infrastructure. So using AI, AI on top of that software stack will be able help us to be able to predict maintenance situations or safety incidents, in the future. And then in energy, increasingly, the energy market is becoming, with so many renewables coming in, it's less predictable in terms of the energy coming in, and equally, the energy usage is becoming less predictable.
So we need more and more software in order to match supply with demand, and then the application of AI on top of that helps us build those models, which will be able to generate not just safe, secure, stable supply, but also potential revenue and market opportunities in terms of energy trading, predictiveness of the energy market. So the opportunities are just absolutely enormous.
I see. I need to go ...
So Abe-san also? Yes, I was a former IT-er. When I talk with my clients, I feel that digital talent is hard to get. That's one point. But in plants, in maintenance, and lab workers' productivity, how to enhance that is a big challenge. And furthermore, reducing errors, mistakes, because errors lead to trouble, and it cuts the continuity, continuous flow. And so how to improve productivity using gen AI is the key, as Tokunaga-san just said. So the way you use products or we talked about the talking compressor, we can utilize their those areas to improve productivity.
To estimate the potential size of such business, it's difficult, but in terms of raising internal productivity, a $1 billion saving every year, that's the kind of image that we have by utilizing this new technology. Thank you very much. My second question is related to the first one, but regarding digital top-line growth through cloud and digital. Double-digit growth is possible, you said, and I think such a growth has already begun this year. This year's DSS growth in revenue is 5%, and I think the momentum will further rise, and I think growth will be bigger and bigger. But in the next 3-4 years, DSS overall, what is the momentum of revenue growth that you are expecting, if you can elaborate on that?
Profitability, 13.5%, if you're saying that the target is 15%-17%, that's ambitious. And, as a hint, you talked about utilizing GenAI. Inclusive of that, how are you going to drive our profitability up?
... So Tokunaga-san and Kato-san, I think, can answer the question. Okay, thank you. Let me start off. So top line growth. This fiscal year, excluding FX impact, 5%, around 5%. There are a few reasons. First, DSS, each project is becoming larger. More than JPY 10 billion orders are coming in, so the conversion to revenue is becoming longer. So the vendors who can follow through with larger projects are decreasing. I think that's the reason. So we think this is a positive trend. In addition, GlobalLogic is growing strongly, but North America and Europe are not strong, I would say, and so we are taking a rather conservative view, so that's why.
But as I showed you today, this to achieve this profit margin, we need high single-digit growth in a stable fashion. So I think that's the minimum level. That is our current forecast. In terms of profit margin, generative AI is one key factor, and the other is, as mentioned in the first page of Kojima-san. The valuation, we will aim for a valuation that is close to digital players' valuation, but it's not the current tech company. We have IT/OT product. We integrate these three, so by having all three, tech company may be hitting a ceiling at 15%, but by combining the three, we can exceed that level. Because we have OT and product, we can grow, I think. Thank you. Kato-san?
From CFO's perspective, how conservative is DSS forecast? Well, Mr. Tokunaga just said about generative AI, that's a possibility. And for new focus markets, we will be working with other sectors where IT/OT products can be leveraged, data centers and semiconductors. On top of that, I think there are two more points that I can mention. Number one, Well, there are three things disclosed in terms of DSS sector. The top two, front and IT service, that's the top two. And so generative AI and one Hitachi approach, these two areas can benefit from those two. And number three, service platform.
In terms of service platform, GlobalLogic is successfully growing, and it will benefit further from GenAI. Plus, there's storage business. Last year, we were not able to leverage all the capabilities that we had, but since last year, we changed the structure, the organization, the leadership, and our management team is now strengthened. So I think we're seeing benefits, and we're having new product launches. In service areas, we are expanding our field of operations, and that will drive our profitability one stage higher. This is common throughout, but we have pursued structural reforms, so we're not envisioning anything all that big. But in small areas, there are still businesses that are of low profitability that are non-core.
So we need to go deeper to look into those areas. Four points I mentioned. Inclusive of that, I think we will be able to achieve the target that we have set for ourselves. You will see that.
Next question from this room. Fukuhara-san, please.
Jefferies Securities, I am Fukuhara. Thank you very much. My first question is in about the green strategy. So $4.5 billion of investment in transformer. So if we look at pure CapEx, how much are we talking about? I would like to know. And investment that's already announced, compared to that, it's double what you have announced in the past. And so my question is: So if the investment amount is translated into revenue, in a rough calculation, Hitachi Energy's revenue was JPY 1.4 trillion in 2022. So by doubling investment, in March 2028, would it be JPY 2.8 trillion? Is that something that you're expecting? And in line with that, with additional investment, GE and Siemens, how will your competitive position change vis-à-vis those peers?
That's my question.
Okay, thank you very much for your question. I mean, let me answer the first, the last part first. In terms of our competitive position, you know, we are number one in the market in terms of the core components and software that we produce, and these investments are to ensure that we stay ahead. So, I think we're first to market in terms of making these kind of investments for expansion, and this is really because our customers are telling us that demand is chasing supply very strongly. So there is a lack of capacity in the supply chain, which we've seen. We've been able to secure long-term framework contracts with our customers, what we call capacity reservation contracts. So our visibility of the future workload is very, very strong, which has enabled us to make these levels of investments.
Now, in terms of the amount of CapEx within that, I would assume roughly one third is CapEx in that. But it really depends on the M&A situation. We're not looking at making massive investments in M&A in the green sector, but there's a lot of attractive bolt-on capabilities, particularly around software. I mentioned in my presentation around the grid edge around energy storage. These are all very fast-growing markets that we're very interested in expanding our capability in. Will we be 2.8 trillion JPY in 2018? You'll have to wait for next year when we talk about our midterm management plan as to what that will be. But I'm-- You may know me as a man of the railway. I'm now a man of the energy.
I love energy. Our capability in energy is fantastic. The growth we're seeing, I've never seen anywhere in my long career in business. So, we've got a fantastic team. We're very well positioned, and I think, you'll see some very, very strong growth over the next... not just next midterm, but next, next, next midterm. So as I said in my presentation, this is. I truly believe this is transformational.
Mm-hmm
... in terms of the way that, the energy market, is looking to electricity. So, we bought a very, very good business, and we're, we're building on a very good business.
Thank you.
Second question. So this is Kato-san's slide. Slide 9 shows... So it's about your way of thinking on cash flow. Beyond FY 25, you will continue generating cash, cash flow. And in your next MMP, I know you cannot share numbers with us, but this growth investment and debt repayment and, share buyback, in these three, what is the priority? And this priority, if possible, if you could, give us the, the size, in numbers, please. Now, it's explained here: "The optimization of investment return," you said. What does this mean more specifically? Thank you. Yes, Fukuhara-san, thank you very much for your question. So first... It's not on the slide, right. On page 9, it explains capital allocation. The three cash allocation items. So you're asking the priority.
As I mentioned at the outset, the main cash generation is Core Free Cash Flow and asset sales if there is opportunity. And leverage this is if we have opportunity for growth investment. So Core Free Cash Flow, growth and shareholder return, we will divide into these two in a balanced manner. In the past, I mentioned roughly half and half, and that has basically remained unchanged. But on a single year basis, we're not thinking of single year. In the medium to long term, that will be the rough balance breakdown. So that's my first point. Next, at the time of asset sales, as I said earlier, growth investment and the buyback will be assessed and compared, I said.
So of the three, cash allocation, the priority is shareholder return, and growth investment will be considered in a well balance. And the last, debt repayment. As you see at the bottom of the slide, if there's asset sales and growth investment and shareholder return, if neither can be selected, then we will use it for debt repayment. So that is the order. So in terms of priority, the two: growth investment and shareholder return. Thank you, if you could understand that way. And as I just alluded to, to your second question-
... at the time of asset sales, growth, investment, and buyback, how we compare? What kind of investment, optimization of investment return? Traditionally, and even now, in case of growth investment, the return standard is the net present value, NPV. And share buyback, this is how much corporate value we can raise in the future. It's the confidence. And so how much EPS growth, how much core free cash flow growth? That is what we look at. And there are many MMP targets: a profit target, cash flow, and ROIC targets. So we look at the impact and consider. And going forward, we will use ROIC. This will make it easier to compare. So when we think of ROIC, which is more advantageous? That's how we will think.
Of course, there are different factors for each option, so we will consider all that to make the final decision, but that is the line of thinking. Because as a background, as I said today, in March this year, DE Ratio is quite down, it's quite low already. Leverage is no longer effective, really. And so going forward, we want to increase the leverage, considering the capital cost, that will be more wholesome, a healthy management policy. And so at the time of asset sales, we will first assess and compare, and think. Thank you very much. The size?
Hi.
Asset sales. Especially, what would be the potential size of asset sales? Well, this is not a graph with units clearly posted. But, on the left-hand side, if you could look at cash generation, under MMP 2024, core free cash flow and investment asset sale. Well, core free cash flow is somewhat larger, but listed subsidiaries shares are being sold increasingly. So I don't think the size will be exactly the same between the two. But as is talked today, a review of portfolio will continue, and capital efficiency improvement will continue, as I mentioned. So those will be the perspectives. So there will be a certain size, but not as large as the current MMP.
So the size we're looking at is on this page, and as I said, the scale is a rough one. In terms of free cash flow, there's lots of growth potential, so this is something that we would like to continue to raise. Just to clarify, on page nine, on the right-hand side, the block on the right-hand side. So share buyback and dividend, a payment, does this represent the size of each? No, not at all. I'm sorry. On the right-hand side, there's text and the number of lines, there's just so many lines that we can put in there. So you're talking about the right-hand side? No. So it's not determined. This does not necessarily represent the size. Okay? So considering investment return, you will decide how much.
So that's how you will look at it. Understood. Thank you. So next, Ezawa-san, please.
Thank you very much. Citigroup, Ezawa is my name. Kato-san and Kojima-san, I have two questions, one each. So the finance matters. First, to Kato-san, DE ratio, 0.5 is your target. So 0.5. What is the reason you set your target at 0.5? And 0.5, is this your final goal or is it a passing point? And with the DE ratio, in the final year of the next MMP, I think we have a better image. So this means debt now stands at JPY 1.2 trillion, maybe up to JPY 3-4 trillion. So that is what you are insinuating from the number? And the shareholder equity is about flat. Is that what you're trying to say?
Thank you, Ezawa-san, for your question. So DE ratio. Originally, there are companies' benchmark and ratings. From various perspectives, we set this 0.5. This is just a criteria that we will aim for. It's not that we will absolutely not go beyond this. Of course, depending on the growth investment opportunity, we may exceed. We came close to 1 time a year ago. So that is one allowable range. And as I said earlier, from capital efficiency perspective, we, it's better if we have certain level of leverage. So this is just a criteria or just a reference level. Right now, 0.2 is very low, and so that is the positioning.
The size of the interest-bearing debt, the size of growth investment in the future, and asset sales or core free cash flow, it depends on all these factors. So JPY 3 trillion-JPY 4 trillion, we don't know for sure yet. We don't have a clear image.
... But like I mentioned here, right side is FY, this is this year, end of March 2025. So if we have JPY 1 trillion additional investment, and we will still be within the financial discipline, so JPY 1 trillion-JPY 2 trillion this year. It's not decided, but that's the level. It will increase, but we don't know the accurate size. It depends on the plan going forward. Thank you. And here's another question for the CEO. You talked about capital costs, cost of capital, capital, which is a progress in my mind. So reducing the cost of capital in terms of the DE ratio, if that is possible, then for each business, EBITA margin 12%, ROIC 10%, that was mentioned in the business presentation.
If the cost of capital is going to be lower, then there will be more options and degree of freedom in each of the businesses. ROIC could be lower than 10%, in other words, and yet you will be able to generate enough corporate value. So the cost of capital reference, you said that you're going to address the cost of capital, and how will that impact what to choose in terms of businesses, what to focus on in terms of businesses? Would that impact your business strategy in that regard? Yes, awesome. Thank you for the question. Well, there could be impact. The answer is yes. We are paying close attention to WACC, the spread, and raising that is our basic principle. Otherwise, we won't be able to improve our portfolio. For each region, what business?
Well, WACC differs from one region to another. So in terms of WACC, what business to be done in which specific region, that needs to be worked out, and that's going to be important for the vision in the next MMP, so we're discussing it. In the U.S., rates are up, and they may start to come down, but inclusive of that, the cost of debt, the cost of equity, for each region, we have to look at that very closely and consider that. That's going to be critical. And I'm going to turn to Brice for further answer in a moment, but... So regional opportunities and risks, Brice needs to look at that closely. And so what's going to be the ROIC? What's going to be WACC? What's best for that particular region?
That needs to be thought out, and that is why we have appointed Brice. If you could please elaborate on that.
I mean, on the strategy, additionally to what Kojima-san says, we will look at three other dimension, which is the market attractiveness. How is that market growing? What is the profit pool? Where are venture capital investment going the last few years? Because that give a good hint on where the market is going. We will also look at the social innovation part of that market, how much, how close it is. So that's one additional dimension. The second additional dimension is our own strengths. How strong are we differentiating? How strong are we in the region? What is our relative market share to our competitors? So are we starting in a strengths position? The third dimension, additionally, will be: How do we synergize along the three pillars, green, digital, and connective energy, connective industry?
I mean, the aim is actually to create 1 + 1 + 1 = 4. Let me give you a few example. Data centers, very central for DSS, but we have a huge leverage we can have from energy side. On the other side, we are from a CI industry, knowledge how to improve our factories, how to improve productivity, which is very important for Hitachi Energy. So we can, using that triangle as a virtual triangle, which will be key to define our strategy going forward. So all in all, the result will be investing in our strengths, and that is related to our positioning, to the return on capital, to how strong that business is. And it will also be to decide what we don't do, because I think it's important for us to focus.
The second result will be, we will outpace the market in profitable growth, because the focus allow us to be faster. Last but not least, to be fast and agile, because the world will change. We had so many example, so it will be also very critical to change fast.
Just to summarize, so in that regard, so ROIC 10%. In the next MMP, we would like to focus more on the spread. Perhaps that is the direction that we should contemplate. For the next MMP, we're right now having an internal debate on that. April next year and onward, I think we can discuss some more with you. Thank you. In the interest of time, we will take two questions, this in this room and one from online. One question per person each, please. So Okawa-san, please.
Thank you very much. This is Okawa from Daiwa Securities. I have a question on DSS. Page 7 and page 20, the cloud service-
... and hardware, you mentioned, I did not have an image of you being so strong here, so HARC, and, what is being appreciated by the customers? And what is the growth potential and the profit margin? Could you dig deeper on that? Thank you.
Thank you, Okawa-san, for your question. HARC. Customers' cloud operation will be improved through HARC. So since cloud started spreading, we've had this business up and running, but with GenAI, it is accelerating. Now, why do customers choose Hitachi? This may sound paradoxical, but Hitachi has mission-critical SI and mission-critical systems. Hitachi can integrate mission-critical SIs and system, and this resonates with the customers. Customers who use cloud are basically, they have their own on-premise system, and they're trying to lift and shift to cloud. So their current on-premise mission-critical system need to be developed and operated, so that knowledge is crucial. And cloud knowledge is also necessary. There are not too many vendors in the market who have both, so that is why, one reason customers choose Hitachi. The other is, we developed with NVIDIA, Hitachi iQ.
This is the other boost. Generative AI, customers have their own data center, rather than putting their machine in their own premise, it's a GPU as a service. Customers are starting to use it as a service, and Hitachi can reach that. So that is another reason we are attracting customers. Thank you. I hope this answers your question. Thank you.
Hi. So then let's, let's continue. Questions from the floor. Miyata-san, please.
Thank you. I'm from J.P. Morgan, Ayada. I think this is directed to Kojima-san, but if necessary, please turn to other speakers as well. So in Kojima-san's presentation, you talked about transformation journey. That slide was very easy to follow. But the point that you're making has not changed all that much. With these ties, the business profitability goes up, and that pushes up our corporate value. I think that is the story you are depicting. So given that, and this time, for each sector, Lumada's ratio is up, and that's pushing up profitability. You're talking about that this time as well. And if we look at the business performance in the quarter for each sector, because Lumada's ratio is up, profitability is up.
You're not talking about that very much in your earnings results briefing, although you talked about it today. So in the next three years, is that going to change? Beyond a critical point, with Lumada's contribution increasing, will you really be able to see major improvement in profitability? Right now, Lumada's revenue ratio is going to go up to 40% over the medium term. So to what extent will it be able to rise? And at some point, perhaps, there would be no point in counting the contribution. So if you have any thoughts on that, please.
Understood. So I will provide an overall comment. If necessary, I would like to turn to other speakers, if any other speakers wish to speak. So Lumada's ratio. At each sector, how is Lumada contributing to its profitability? We have not really disclosed from that perspective. Perhaps we should consider that. I think that may be an angle or perspective that we can share with you. And another point, basically, the objective of Lumada, given the slide that I showed you there, are twofold. One is to drive profitability, simple enough, and another is to raise BER valuation. So those are the two major objectives of further digitizing and having greater contribution of Lumada, and that is why we are disclosing from an overall point of view.
But I'm starting to think that we should give a sector-by-sector breakdown. And so, in today's Investor Day, Lumada's target ratio for each sector should be shared, and that is why each presenter talked about that. So, how much is enough in terms of Lumada's ratio or Lumada's contribution? For each sector, going beyond 50%, once that is achieved, then it becomes business as usual. Lumada becomes BAU. And I think we will...
... be on a totally different stage. In terms of GEM, I think, Lumada's ratio is 13%-14%. The next target will be 30%. And once it goes beyond 50%, then we can say the GEM sector is digital-centric. That will be our understanding, and then we can graduate from talking about Lumada. And Abe-san's responsibility, he's targeting 45%, he said. Well, once it goes beyond 50%, he can graduate from talking about Lumada. And Tokunaga-san's sector, it's digital itself, so perhaps it's not very meaningful. But GEM and CI, he may be able to provide oversight of Lumada business, combining all three sectors, perhaps. So now that you, you've given us a good hint, we will think of how we can disclose that. Anything you would like to say, Ali-san?
I mean, the Lumada ratio in the GEM sector is quite low still at the moment, so there is a lot of potential both in the digitization of how we produce hardware in our factories. We have the new railway factory in the United States, where we've been working with colleagues from DSS to really design a whole new digital way of producing rail cars. But the market is changing as well. I talked about the uncertainty in the energy market and the need for more and more software. Software is becoming as important as hardware in terms of how we develop and build our services for our customers. So I think Lumada ratio is going to significantly increase, and it's a key area for investment within the GEM sector.
Yeah, also contribution of Thales GTS.
Exactly, yeah. Sorry, I should have mentioned that. It's, it's really important to us, but Thales GTS coming in. So GTS is a rail control business with a significant software element to it. Not just in rail signaling, but in a number of other applications, such as e-ticketing, parking systems for, toll systems for roads. So they have a, a, a very, very comprehensive software capability that we're looking to leverage.
Abe-san's greatest mission is to raise Lumada's ratio in the CI, so mission statement.
After service.
So in after service, it's already connected, and so the profit margin there is very high in recurring business. The timely service provision to customers, this is high value, and so product and digital engineering and logistics SI will be combined and address the growing markets. So that will be... Here again, DSS will utilize Lumada as a key. We want to address this thoroughly.
Just to add, actually, I should say for the GEM sector as well, all of our products now are connected. So we're now collecting data back from all of our products, and the real challenge is, how do we monetize some of that data capture that we've got, which is an enormous data lake of data in terms of our operation and our customers' operation? So we're working very closely with Tokunaga-san's organization to really look at new value we can add to our customers.
Thank you. So Tokunaga-san, Lumada profit margin 20%, you said this time, and so, could you also give us the roadmap to get there?
Yes, thank you. There are two main points. One, in our development, we need to utilize GlobalLogic more broadly, and with that, our human resource can be enhanced and profit margin can be enhanced. So that's my first point. Second point, as two EVPs just mentioned, collaboration with OT sector is crucial. So by adding digital to install base, we can have a very sticky business. In other words, recurring service. We can shift, change the business to a recurring business, and this is important. This was shown in page one of Kojima-san's presentation, this is what we need to do for higher valuation. Thank you very much.
The next question will be the last. Thon-san, from the floor, we will bring a microphone to you. This will be the last question. Damian Thong. So allow me to ask in English.
On the rail business, I just want to square up. You have a threefold increase in services by the end of the decade, which is great. So, and then you have a 30% Lumada ratio at some point in the future. How do these two link then? I mean, I think this kind of ties in with previous questions, too. How much of the services increase is Lumada, in the sense of how much of that is digital? And how much would you tap on, for instance, you know, the DSS segment for that?
And I think the other part that's linked to this is because given the labor shortages that we're seeing, you know, you look at the U.S., I mean, you know, getting people to install a power grid system is gonna get harder and harder in the next decade. You know, I imagine that part of this services growth will be driven through M&A, and it require a lot of, like, new investment in that field. So I just wanna get a sense of like, you know, how the margins will look like, you know? Because I can see two ways, right? Basically, digitalization increases margin, but then maybe the rising labor costs will decrease margins. So I'd like to get a sense of what the margin I would look for that-
Mm.
for the services businesses. Thank you.
Okay. Right, I can't give you a number today in terms of what that margin is, but our service business in railways is our most profitable sector by far. We are using digital data in terms of how do we optimize the maintenance for our customers. So historically, we would maintain based on a time schedule of inspection using people to do that. Increasingly, we're using robots to do that. So as a train comes into the maintenance depot, we're measuring the brake pads using lasers, for example, which is connected back to our system. So we only need to visit the train when we need to, rather than on a periodic basis. Exactly the same with, for example, the doors. We measure the door closing speed on the train.
When the door speed gets a little bit slower, then we go and intervene into that door to make sure we don't get a failure, but also we don't have to use human beings to connect to look at every single door on the train. So those are all kind of savings and benefits for our maintenance business, which is increasing, but also there are new services that we are looking to offer our customers. So we've been able to with all the sensors that we've got on our signaling systems and on our rolling stock, we're able to measure the infrastructure. And currently, our customers spend a lot of time trying to assess the quality of the track or the quality of the overhead wires.
We can do all of that with camera technology and with emerging AI to provide new services to our customers, which saves them money, but creates a revenue stream for us. And then the final thing to say, I think Tokunaga-san used it in his presentation, where we've moved into new areas, such as electric bus, where we're providing the operating system for customers that are moving over to electric buses. Because there are many constraints in terms of the range, in terms of the loading, in terms of the telematics of electric buses. So we're able to provide a digital system, which helps them not only manage their service, but also manage the asset life.
Thank you. So for Hitachi Energy, so I think the question was actually for Hitachi Energy rather than Rail. It'll be the same philosophy, I'm sure.
Same philosophy, yeah.
Yeah. And, but how much of the increase do you think will be organic, then maybe a different way? It's like, how much of it is organic or inorganic?
That's a good question. We have actually, we have a substantial capability within Hitachi Energy that I don't think we've maybe explained well enough in the past. We had a capital markets day back in November, where we were. I think many analysts and investors were able to get a deeper look at Hitachi Energy. But I think maybe we need to explain better the massive software capability we currently have to build all of this kind of grid optimization and the grid edge. So we need to utilize the data that we are capturing now. As I mentioned, in Energy, all of our products are connected.
You know, Brice's experience in the past of running the transformer business, telling me every single day a transformer is down in a nuclear power plant, costs him $1 million. So if we're monitoring that performance, we're able to predict when we have issues with our installed base, which is enormous. That is a great opportunity for both us and our customers.
Thank you.
So with that, we will close the Q&A session. Kojima-san, could you say a few words to close this session? So once again, thank you so very much for attending Hitachi Investor Day 2024. As I mentioned in page 1 of my presentation, we've been continuing this transformation to enhance our corporate value. We are still halfway through, but share price, thanks to your support, is now coming up quite significantly. Now, speed and accuracy are required even more in running our business, and so to realize that, the most useful element is the interactive dialogue with investors and shareholders like yourselves. And give us feedback from various perspectives so that we can leverage that to speed up and become more accurate. Without that, we cannot continue our transformation journey.
So we would very much like to have this kind of opportunity in the future, where we gain feedback from you. I'm sure you had more questions today and wanted to discuss more today, so please let us know. We will promise you that we'll, we will take them in and consider them, and reflect them in our management to enhance our corporate value. Thank you very much for today.