Mitsubishi Electric was founded in 1921 in Kobe, spun off from Mitsubishi Shipbuilding's marine electric motor factory. The company's first product was an electric desk fan, not an air conditioner, and air conditioning grew out of decades of work in electric motors and refrigeration that came before it.

That engineering background is part of why Mitsubishi Electric is credited with pioneering the modern split system, separating the compressor from the indoor unit to cut down on noise inside the home. In 1984, the company introduced its City Multi series of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems, technology that changed how larger buildings distribute heating and cooling.

Mitsubishi Electric employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and is publicly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Air conditioning is one part of a company that also builds industrial automation systems, elevators, and space and satellite technology.

That breadth means the air conditioning division draws on engineering resources and testing standards developed across a much larger organisation, rather than the research budget of a single-product company.