Press Release

For Immediate Release

HI CORPORATION and Sojitz Corporation Establish China Joint Venture
New Company to deliver middleware and content services to
burgeoning Chinese mobile phone market

TOKYO, Japan, May 15, 2004 - HI CORPORATION, the world leader in 3D software and games for mobile devices, and Sojitz Corporation, the integrated multi-national company formed from the combination of Nichimen and Nissho Iwai, announced today that the companies have established HI China CORPORATION as a joint venture to tap into the rapidly-growing demand for mobile content and services in China.

HI CORPORATION brings the worlds most widely deployed 3D middleware, the Mascot Capsule Micro3D Platform, now found in over 30M handsets across more than 20 carriers worldwide and already adopted by Chinafs leading handset makers, TCL and Amoi Sonic. The partnership with the Sojitz Group will accelerate the market penetration of the Mascot Capsule platform by leveraging the strong Chinese sales network that the Sojitz group already has in place. Beyond simply growing sales, the new company will perform development of Chinese content services and will provide support for global mobile phone manufacturers.

One of the largest mobile phone markets in the world, China boasts more than 280 million mobile subscribers. Growing rapidly both as a consumer of mobile content and handsets, China is also quickly becoming a major exporter of state-of-the-art mobile handsets. Building upon the strength of HI CORPORATIONfs existing licensing deals with TCL and Amoi Sonic Corporation, HI CORPORATION China will vigorously pursue Chinese mobile handset makers to maintain the current market leadership of the Mascot Capsule Micro3D Platform. Based on past successes and current opportunities, HI CORPORATION China anticipates achieving an annual turnover of 1 billion yen within 36 months.

"HI could not have found a better partner for our Chinese market entry than the Sojitz Group," noted Kazuo Kawabata, President & CEO of HI CORPORATION, "No company can be successful in the global mobile market without a strong Chinese market presence and the Sojitz sales force maximizes the opportunity for HI CORPORATIONfs middleware and content services across China."

Mascot Capsule Micro3D Edition provides a comprehensive software platform for 3D application development for mobile devices. With a range of embedded 3D rendering engines, Mascot Capsule provides software support for 3D for virtually any mobile device. The newest release, Mascot Capsule Engine Micro3D Edition Version 4 adds full support for the OpenGL-ES and M3G standards and fully leverages 3D hardware acceleration when available. Licensed globally by Motorola, Sony-Ericsson and other leading handset makers, the Mascot Capsule Micro3D Platform can be found in more than 30M handsets across more than 20 carriers worldwide, including NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone KK, KDDI, SK Telecom, AT&T Wireless,Verizon Wireless, Telefonica, and others.

HI CORPORATION China was officially incorporated on March 15, 2004 and is located at:

19th Floor, Fortune Building
No. 5 Dong San Huan Bei Lu
Chaoyang District, Beijing

The President of the new organization is Mr. Osamu Ohmi and the board of directors will include two representatives from HI CORPORATION and three from the Sojitz subsidiary Nissho Iwai Corporation.