ABB

At its core, ABB is a company that enables a more sustainable and resource-efficient future through its leadership in electrification and automation. Think of the technologies that power smart buildings, electric vehicle charging, and the robots that build cars; that's where ABB operates. But the story of this modern giant begins over a century ago with two separate, ambitious ventures. The tale starts in the late 19th century, a time buzzing with the promise of electricity. In Sweden, Ludvig Fredholm founded a company in 1883 that would soon become ASEA. Driven by Jonas Wenström's groundbreaking invention of the three-phase system for generators and motors, ASEA became a pioneer in electrical power. Meanwhile, in 1891 Switzerland, two young engineers, Charles E.L. Brown and Walter Boveri, founded Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC). They were convinced that alternating current was the future and quickly became a dominant force in building the equipment for Europe's power plants and railways. For a century, these two companies grew as fierce competitors and innovators. ASEA developed one of the first industrial robots in the 1970s, while BBC was building the world's most powerful transformers. The defining moment came in 1988, when ASEA and BBC announced a massive merger, creating Asea Brown Boveri, or ABB. This landmark deal formed a global industrial group with $17 billion in revenue and 160,000 employees overnight. Today, after strategic shifts that included selling its power grids division to Hitachi, ABB is focused on its core strengths: electrification, motion, process automation, and robotics. The company continues to push technological boundaries, from collaborative robots that work alongside humans to fast-chargers that can power an electric vehicle for 100km in under three minutes. It's a journey that began with lighting up towns and has evolved into automating the very fabric of modern industry.