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September 3, 1998

FISCAL 1998 BUSINESS FORECAST REVISION AND INTERIM DIVIDEND

Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT) today announced that it has revised its business forecast for fiscal 1998, ending March 31, 1999, and has decided not to pay the interim dividend.

1.Business forecast for fiscal 1998(1)
Unconsolidated forecast Millions of yen

	Fiscal 1998				Fiscal 1997 results (B)
	Revised forecast (A)	(A) / (B) x 100	Previous forecast1	Midterm2
Net sales	3,750,000	92%	4,000,000	1,820,00	4,078,030
Ordinary income (Loss)	-100,000	-	30,000	-70,000	17,220
Net income (Loss)	-260,000	-	20,000	-110,000	10,236

Notes:	1. Announced in May 1998.
	2. Forecast for first half of fiscal 1998.

- Factors relating to the revision of the forecast -
The market price of 64-megabit DRAMs fell below the predicted level and system LSIs suffered a severe setback owing to slow market development. Previously active electronic devices experienced a decline in demand and falling prices, while business results in the personal computer and multimedia sectors also deteriorated. The outlook for net sales and ordinary income has therefore become considerably poorer than previous forecast.

In addition, Hitachi, Ltd. took an extraordinary loss for restructuring semiconductor operations at both domestic and overseas bases, amortized the prior service cost portion of employees pension fund plans and wrote down investment in certain investment securities owing to sharp decreases in the share prices of mainly financial institutions.

(2) Consolidated forecast Millions of yen

	Fiscal 1998				Fiscal 1997 results (B)
	Revised forecast (A)	(A) / (B) x 100	Previous forecast 1	Midterm2
Net sales	7,940,000	94%	8,400,000	3,890,000	8,416,834
Income before income taxes (Loss)	-230,000	-	170,000	-125,000	171,726
Net income (Loss)	-250,000	-	40,000	-130,000	3,477

Notes:	1. Announced in May 1998.
	2. Forecast for first half of fiscal 1998.

2. Fiscal 1998 interim dividend
In view of the decline in business results, the interim dividend is not to be paid.
<Reference>
The annual dividend for fiscal 1997 was 11 yen per share, of which 5.5 yen per share was paid as an interim dividend.

*Note:

The forecasts for the first half of fiscal 1998 and for the year ending March 31, 1999 are forward-looking information which reflects management's current views with respect to certain future events and financial performance.Actual results may differ materially from this forecast. Further, this forward-looking information is based upon assumptions of future events which may not prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forecast include, but are not limited to, rapid technological change, particularly in the Information Systems & Electronics segment; uncertainty as to Hitachi's ability to continue to develop products and to market products that incorporate new technology on a timely and cost-effective basis and achieve market acceptance; fluctuations in product demand and industry capacity, particularly in the Information Systems & Electronics segment and the Consumer Products segment; exchange rates and their fluctuations between the yen and other currencies in which Hitachi makes significant sales or in which Hitachi's assets and liabilities are denominated, particularly between the yen and the U.S. dollar; uncertainty as to Hitachi's access to liquidity or long- term financing, particularly in the context of restrictions or availability of credit prevailing in Japan; uncertainty as to Hitachi's ability to implement measures to reduce the potential negative impact of fluctuations in product demand and/or exchange rates; general economic conditions and the regulatory and trade environment of Hitachi 's major markets, particularly the United States, Japan and elsewhere in Asia, including, without limitation, continued stagnation or deterioration of the Japanese or other East Asian economies, or direct or indirect restrictionby other nations of imports; uncertainty as to Hitachi's access to, or protection for, certain intellectual property rights, particularly rights to electronics and data processing technologies; Hitachi's dependence on alliances with other corporations in designing or developing certain products; and the potential impact of Hitachi's effort to deal with the Year 2000 information systems issue.

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WRITTEN BY Secretary's Office
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