It became the largest private firm in Japan, active in the manufacture of ships, heavy machinery, airplanes and railway cars.

The Kobe Shipyard constructed the ocean liner Argentina Maru (later repurposed as the aircraft carrier Kaiyo), and the submarines the I-19 and I-25.

[15][16] As part of the rescue, MHI acquired ¥50 billion of Mitsubishi Motors stock, increasing its ownership stake to 15 percent and making the automaker an affiliate again.

[23][24][25] In June 2014 Siemens and MHI announced their formation of joint ventures to bid for Alstom's troubled energy and transportation businesses (in locomotives, steam turbines, and aircraft engines).

[29] In June 2024, MHI announced it will cease newspaper rotary printing press production due to declining demand.

It produced North American F-86 Sabre, Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighters.

[37] On December 12, 2012, MHI acquired Pratt & Whitney Power Systems, the small gas turbine business of United Technologies.

[38] In the civil aircraft sector, MHI develops and manufactures major airframe components, including fuselage panels for the Boeing 777 and composite-material wing boxes for the 787.

[40][needs update] On 25 June 2019, MHI announced the acquisition of Bombardier Aviation's CRJ programme, in a deal expected to close in the first half of 2020, subject to regulatory approval.

[43] Bombardier will retain its assembly facility at Mirabel, near Montreal, Canada, and will continue to produce the CRJ on behalf of MHI until the current order backlog is complete.

It also operates a nuclear fuel manufacturing plant in Tōkai, Ibaraki which processes 440 metric tons of Uranium per year.

[49] MHI has also been selected as the core company to develop a new generation of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) by the Japanese government.

[53] MHI unsuccessfully attempted to acquire the energy business of Alstom in 2014 in order to develop its service network in Southeast Asia.

It was formally started in 1884 when Mitsubishi leased and then acquired the 'Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works' company (founded in 1857 as 'Nagasaki Yotetsusho Foundry'[57]).

It primarily produces specialized commercial vessels, including LNG carriers, and passenger cruise ships.

[58] On 1 December 2017, MHI announced that it will launch two new wholly owned companies on 1 January 2018 in conjunction with reorganization of its shipbuilding business: In late 2019, MHI, exploring a withdrawal from LNG carrier construction, started to negotiate with Oshima Shipbuilding to divest its historic shipyard located in Koyagi, Nagasaki.

[60] On 24 December 2019, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding delivered its first fuel gas supply system for a marine LNG engine.

[61] In June 2020, MHI entered talks with Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding to acquire the latter's naval and patrol ship business.

The demonstration, conducted in cooperation of Shin Nihonkai Ferry,[64] sailed 240 kilometres, from Shinmoji in Northern Kyushu, to the Iyonada Sea, over seven hours, with a maximum speed of 26 knots.

[70] MHI's products include: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries apologized and compensated victims of Chinese forced labor by Japan during World War II in 2015.

[77][78] Eighteen family members of other victims of the forced labour overseen by MHI, who had previously sued sometime before 2008, were now able to receive the compensation as well by the decision.

[78] The Japanese government has officially disputed the lawsuit and defined the verdict as "a breach of the international law", citing the 1965 agreement which was made by the two nations to establish diplomatic relations, since all of the "problems concerning property, rights, and interests" that had been existed between the two countries and respective peoples thereof during the occupation era "have been settled completely and finally".