James Delahunty
7 Mar 2008 10:02
Once an innovator in the field, Pioneer Corp. has confirmed on Friday that it will stop the production of Plasma display panels (PDP) as it attempts to change the fortunes of its money losing business. The company is reportedly in talks with rival Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. about purchasing plasma panels for use in its flat-panel televisions.
Pioneer fell behind Samsung, Matsushita and LG Electronics Inc. in PDP technology despite being one of the leading developers at a time. "We have judged that maintaining the cost competitiveness of plasma display panels, or PDPs, at projected sales volumes will be difficult going forward," Pioneer said in a statement.
Pioneer is facing a loss of 15 billion yen ($145.6 million) at the end of its fiscal year (March 31st) after previously forecasting a profit of 6 billion yen ($58 million). After opting out of plasma panel production, Pioneer faces a one-time fee of 19 billion yen ($184.5 million), but expects to return to profitability by the fiscal year ending March 2010.
In 2007, Pioneer partnered with Sharp Corp. to procure Sharp's liquid crystal displays and the company is reporting that the partnership is going very well. The two will also work on Blu-ray Disc recorders and players.