President and CEO’s New Year’s Message for 2026

Below we present the “New Year’s message for 2026” delivered by President and CEO Katsuya Nakanishi this morning at Mitsubishi Corporation’s headquarters (Marunouchi, Tokyo).

Let me begin by wishing you all a happy New Year.

I hope that you were able to spend some relaxing time with your families and friends and recharge for the year ahead. I, too, took the opportunity to reflect on the past year and renew my resolve. As we begin 2026 in earnest today, I would like to share my New Year’s message with you, together with some reflections I had over the holidays.

Searching for a New Order

I strongly feel we are living in a time when the world is searching for a “new order.”

In last year’s New Year message, I stated that, with the start of President Trump’s second term, changes in the United States would accelerate the pace of global change and increase the scale of its impact. In fact, just ahead of the announcement of Corporate Strategy 2027, the “reciprocal tariffs” that were announced sent shockwaves through countries around the world and resulted in the spread of protectionist trade policies, the weakening of international cooperation, and the fragmentation of global supply chains.

Early in the New Year, the United States carried out a military operation against Venezuela. I feel it will be necessary again this year to closely monitor global developments from a range of perspectives, including how this action may affect the geopolitical landscape and ongoing conflicts in other regions, as well as its ripple effects on energy supply chains, starting with oil.

I visited China last November and was struck by the technological capabilities of China’s manufacturing sector and the high quality of Chinese products. In the field of AI as well, I witnessed a forceful drive to advance the real-world deployment of AI under the national strategy of “Digital China,” supported by the cultivation and production of a large number of digital professionals.

In addition, I have become convinced that China will continue to strengthen its position in the low-carbon and decarbonization space and increase its presence as “an electrification-driven economy” by leveraging its competitive domestic supply chains while actively promoting the transition to renewable energy.

Furthermore, strategic maneuvering over critical minerals such as rare earths has intensified, and the United States has become increasingly focused on China, leading me to believe that relations between the two powers have entered a new phase. As China’s presence continues to strengthen, a shift toward a “G2”-style international order is becoming a realistic prospect, underscoring the need to closely monitor the implications for our businesses.

AI-Driven Redefinition

Another major force driving change around the world is AI. No longer merely an efficiency tool, AI has reached a stage at which it should be recognized as a core corporate function, and we are fast approaching a point where success or failure will hinge on the effective leveraging of AI through use cases tailored to the specific characteristics of each business.

In other words, AI-driven redefinition is already taking place across every aspect of business. With an eye toward a world in which “AI defines everything,” we must further elevate both the quality and the speed of our management decisions. Against this backdrop, I believe that 2026 will likely be a year of “redefining values” and “setting new rules” across a wide range of areas.

Corporate Strategy 2027: Assessing Our Current Position

In Corporate Strategy 2027, we clearly laid out ambitious quantitative targets, with the simultaneous achievement of growth and efficiency as our guiding principle.

With regard to our existing businesses, our approach has been grounded not only in steadily and reliably strengthening our earnings power, but also in strategically incorporating well-timed M&A while advancing initiatives in the areas of “Enhance,” “Transform,” and “Create.” We launched Corporate Strategy 2027 with the aim of sustainably enhancing our ability to generate earnings through such efforts.

Although it has only been nine months since the launch, concrete results are already beginning to emerge across each area, and through changes along our front lines, I am personally feeling a clear sense of progress.

However, Corporate Strategy 2027 has only just begun, and as noted earlier, we expect the business environment to remain highly uncertain. Against this backdrop, it is essential to execute initiatives while sustaining a sense of urgency and maintaining a keen awareness of both time horizons and changes in the external environment. Through these efforts, we are now being called upon to clearly demonstrate our earnings power.

Points to Keep in Mind

This year marks the second year of Corporate Strategy 2027 and it will be a critically important year for determining its success or failure. With this heightened focus shared across the organization, I would now like to highlight two points that I ask each of you to keep firmly in mind this year.

The first point is to take a fresh and honest look at where we ourselves stand. In doing so, it is important not to become overly anxious, but instead to face the challenges before us head-on. When confronted with uncertainty, do we take a step back – or do we deepen our involvement and step forward ourselves? The accumulation of these daily choices will have a significant impact on the future of both each individual and the organization as a whole. Rather than adopting a mindset of leaving things to others, we must take ownership of the challenges before us. This means taking action ourselves, engaging those around us, and confronting our goals head-on. I am convinced that it is precisely this kind of action that becomes the driving force for moving forward.

Second, I ask that you eagerly devote yourself to continued learning and approach the development of new business ideas with a flexible mindset. With the widespread adoption of the internet and the rapid advancement of generative AI in recent years, we now live in an era in which a certain level of answers can often be obtained without deep reflection. However, simply tracing information passively does not allow us to differentiate ourselves from competitors, can slow our response speed, and ultimately makes sustained growth difficult to achieve.

For this very reason, I ask that you return to the basics and consistently visit our front lines. By seeing with your own eyes, listening with your own ears, and engaging directly with unfiltered, first-hand information, I want you to sense changes in our industries and among our customers earlier than anyone else.

Maintaining a constant sense of curiosity and continuing to learn are precisely what sharpen our ability to detect change and refine the thinking that gives rise to new business opportunities.

This is how our company has continued to transform its business portfolio over time – through steady, persistent efforts of this kind. As the pace of change accelerates more than ever, now is the time for all of us to fully demonstrate that DNA and move forward together with resolve.

I will also keep these two points firmly in mind and strive to move forward together with all of you, leading from the front.

A Year of Steady Efforts and Strong Forward Momentum

Finally, as announced at the end of last year, we will implement organizational changes in FY2026. In the energy and power fields – where we have long demonstrated a strong presence – as well as in the AI and IT strategy domain, which requires companywide efforts, we have decided to flexibly realign our organizational structure. With this decision, we aim to turn a changing business environment into opportunity and move forward with strength toward the steady realization of Corporate Strategy 2027.

By ensuring that our organization functions effectively as a foundation that enables the mindset and actions I have asked of each of you, I firmly believe that our integrated strength – our greatest advantage – will grow even stronger.

The zodiac sign for 2026 is Hinoe-Uma, or the Fire Horse – a powerful fusion of the horse’s action and momentum with the positive energy of fire – making it a year well suited to pursuing goals with determination and driving initiatives forward.

We need to begin with a clear and shared understanding of our current position and the changes unfolding in our business environment. Taking on challenges as our own, we must come together as one organization and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to achieving the objectives of Corporate Strategy 2027. I firmly believe this must be a year defined by determined, unified effort.

I truly look forward to moving ahead with all of you as we embark on this New Year, pressing forward with determination.

Let us move forward together, building strong momentum throughout the year.

End