Panasonic Corp is considering exiting from the
plasma screen market as part of a major restructuring over the next
three years, a news report said Monday.
The embattled consumer electronics producer plans to terminate
production of plasma panels at its main plant in the western Japanese
city of Amagasaki around the financial year starting in April 2014,
the Nikkei business daily reported without citing any sources.
Panasonic had already written off the value of production
equipment at the three buildings there in the fiscal year to March
2012, the Nikkei said.
Its television business, which generated sales of more than 1
trillion yen (10.5 billion dollars) in the fiscal year starting April
2009, was predicted to see income drop to less than half of that by
2015 if operations in the sector continue, the daily said.
Panasonic has already stopped new development of plasma
televisions. The company decided that handling both plasma and liquid
crystal display models would be inefficient, especially in Japan,
where the flat-TV market is shrinking, the report said.
Plasma screens' pixels are tiny gas-filled chambers of different
colours which light up under electrical tension. The technology is
only viable for screens over 32 inches (81 centimetres).
Liquid crystal displays, where the light source is separate from
the colour component of the actual liquid crystal, can be more easily
manufactured in a wider variety of sizes and for various purposes
beyond televisions.
Panasonic is expected to post a fifth consecutive year of
operating losses in its TV business in the current financial year.
