On February 25, Pioneer announced that it will cease manufacturing 42″ plasma display panels (PDPs) and instead procure from Matsushita Electric Industrial or Hitachi. 42″ manufacturing from Pioneer’s Kagoshima prefecture will stop around March 2009. The focus will be on 50″ and larger plasma TVs that will be manufactured at Pioneer’s other plants. It might be news to some, but Pioneer also offers LCD TVs with LCD panels that are procured from Sharp. In this business year, Pioneer is targeting to sell 480K plasma TVs. The Kagoshima-based plant was purchased from NEC but Pioneer is wanting NEC to purchase it back.

The strongest players in the plasma TV market are Matsushita, Samsung SDI and LG Electronics. Pioneer and other small players will eventually need to find a strong niche, be absorbed, or bow out.

Source: Reuters

Technorati Tags: Display Manufacturer, 42″, PDP, Plasma Display Panel, Plasma, NEC, Matsushita, Samsung SDI, LG Electronics, LGE, LG, Pioneer, 50″

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