ITOCHU Corporation (Headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that ITOCHU has agreed to make GET-IT Co., Ltd. (Headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Yuki Hirota, Representative Director and President; hereinafter “GET-IT”) an equity-method associate through a third-party allotment of shares by GET-IT. GET-IT operates refurbished IT equipment redistribution and third-party maintenance businesses.

It was estimated that the global IT asset disposal market was approximately US$18.4 billion in 2024, and the market is expected to continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 7%, reaching US$26.6 billion by 2029.^*1 In Japan as well, the market is set to expand from approximately US$1.07 billion in 2024 to US$2.14 billion by 2033.^*2 In recent years, the importance of businesses consistently ensuring that their IT device procurement, redistribution, third-party maintenance, and recycling operations are proper has been increasing against the backdrop of increasing demand for replacement IT equipment alongside the shift to cloud computing, progress in digital transformation, the increased need to ensure data is properly erased prior to disposal and demands to reduce environmental impact through resource circulation.

GET-IT is a circular tech^*3 business provides services related to the procurement and sale of refurbished equipment and third-party maintenance services centered on IT equipment for corporate customers, including servers, storage systems and network equipment. By purchasing used equipment from IT equipment manufacturers, distributors, leasing companies and others and then erasing any data and inspecting and refurbishing the equipment before reusing it by reselling the equipment or breaking it up for parts used in maintenance, GET-IT helps extend the lifecycles of IT equipment and facilitates resource circulation. The company’s strengths include technical capabilities that enable it to support a wide range of products spanning many models and generations in a multi-vendor environment, and its inventory operations that utilize procurement and sales networks in Japan and overseas. GET-IT also has an extensive track record in the third-party maintenance field.

ITOCHU has established the ITOCHU Digital Value Chain (hereinafter “DVC”) to comprehensively support the digital transformation of corporations and promote the transformation of their businesses. In the circular tech market, ITOCHU established Belong Inc. in 2019, and it has expanded its used mobile device distribution business (reuse business), mainly in Japan.^*4 Furthermore, ITOCHU is advancing the establishment of a value chain that encompasses IT equipment procurement, resale, maintenance, and recycling through its capital and business alliance with ERI (hereinafter “ERI”), a U.S. company engaged in the recycling business for waste electrical and electronic equipment (E-waste).^*5

Through this investment, ITOCHU will expand its business domains beyond used mobile devices into the redistribution of refurbished IT equipment for corporate customers and the field of third-party maintenance. Going forward, ITOCHU will collaborate with Belong, ERI, and DVC to further strengthen its circular business supporting the entire IT equipment lifecycle.

Under its management policy, “The Brand-new Deal: Profit opportunities are shifting downstream,” ITOCHU is creating value throughout the entire supply chain while bolstering initiatives for the SDGs. Through this investment, ITOCHU will strengthen its Circular Tech Value Chain, which spans IT equipment procurement, reuse and recycling, contributing to the appropriate management of the lifecycles of the IT assets of corporations, government agencies and other organizations and to the realization of a resource-circulating society.