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Panasonic looks to make push into high end LCDs

19 December 2007 14:57 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 4 comments

Matsushita and Hitachi are in negotiations that may reshape the flat panel HDTV market in the near future. Although Matsushita, whose Panasonc brand may be the most recognized in the plasma HDTV market, is looking to take over a joint venture between the two companies and Toshiba that's currently a money loser for Hitachi.

Up until now Panasonic has been committed to plasma technology, especially for 50" and bigger HDTV displays. Unfortunately with the sudden rise in popularity of LCD technology starting before last Christmas, combined with major advancements in LCD technology, plasma is no longer the undisputed champion of large flat panels. While Panasonic has continued to improve plasma technology, it's becoming clear that high end LCDs aren't going anywhere. If they want to be a leader in the high end HDTV market they'll need to put a lot more effort and money into LCD R&D and production.

"This is a move that Matsushita had to make," said Tetsuro Miyachi, fund manager at Franklin Templeton Investments Japan. "It needed to decide whether it would become a niche player in 50-inch-plus TVs or pursue the mass market, and if it was going to do that it had to get bigger in LCDs," he said.

Sharp has already invested heavily in a plan to build the world's largest LCD plant. Meanwhile Sony and partner Samsung are increasing production at their existing South Korean plant.

Source: Reuters

Permalink to this article

Matsushita profit more than doubled in first quarter (28 April 2008)

Pioneer considers outsourcing smaller plasma panels (25 February 2008)

Panasonic shows DMP-BD50 Blu-ray player (10 January 2008)

Pioneer to show off plasma technology at CES (6 January 2008)

Fujitsu getting out of Plasma business (30 December 2007)

Panasonic developing an 150-inch plasma HDTV? (25 December 2007)

Zepto introduces HDTVs with built-in Windows Media hooks (23 December 2007)

Sony to halt rear projection LCD manufacturing (23 December 2007)

Toshiba and Sharp team up in LCD business (21 December 2007)

U.S. holiday shoppers prefer LCD to Plasma (28 November 2007)

Vizio on top of U.S. LCD market (25 November 2007)

Samsung to invest over $2 billion in LCD next year (22 November 2007)

LG to offer 52-inch LCD with Wifi (18 November 2007)

New Toshiba LCD has 3840 x 2400 Resolution (5 November 2007)

Samsung regains top spot in flat panel TV sales (3 November 2007)

Sharp talks out about LCD sales (31 October 2007)

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Discuss this article!
dsgtrain (Member) 20 December 2007 5:10
Good News! Hopefully it won't be long before you can pick up a 42" LCD from Panasonic! [ + quote]
vinny13 (Inactive) 20 December 2007 13:02
Panisonic makees good quality products :P [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 28 December 2007 5:36
I would not mind trying all this. [ + quote]
JohnDough (Newbie) 11 January 2008 20:18
I will wait for plasma getting a bit cheaper but miles better than LCD. Bye JD [ + quote]