There is a real shake-up going on in the TV panel industry right now and Pioneer is just the latest company to quit making its own panels.The company has announced, after a week of rumours, that it's going to shut down its plasma panel manufacturing operations. The company reassured customers though that it will still be making its popular ‘Kuro’ line of plasma TVs but will be sourcing the panels from a third party. The company has also said that it will take on Sharp LCD panels for an increased push into the LCD TV sector.
In a statement, Pioneer explained: “We have judged that maintaining the cost competitiveness of plasma display panels at projected sales volumes will be difficult going forward. Accordingly, we have decided to terminate in-house plasma display panel production and to procure these panels externally.”
The company, which expects to record massive losses of around £70 million for last year, has been struggling to restructure its display operations. Sony recently signed a deal to get LCD panels from Sharp, on top of those it already buys in from Samsung.
I guess what’s most telling about all of this is Pioneer’s stronger push into LCD TVs, which dominate the flat panel market with consumers. I hope it’s not a signal of Pioneer’s future exit from the much smaller plasma TV segment.-Martin Lynch
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