Panasonic will shift half of the production of its TV-sized LCD panel base in Japan over to smaller tablet-sized panels next year as TV sales slump, reports Japanese media.
After last week’s revelation that Panasonic has been facing millions in losses from its flat panel TV business across plasma and LCD, with the company confirming that they would close factories and cut over a thousand jobs, it is now looking to push into small LCD production.
Plunging demand for TVs in Japan came after the government halted subsidies for energy-saving appliances, pushing down the price of large LCD panels according to the Nikkei Business Daily.
LCD screens in the tablet form factor will now gradually make up half the output of the Hyogo Prefecture factory, beginning next year.
Panasonic has ironically been highly regarded for its large plasma screen televisions despite the shrinking market for the TV type, with DisplaySearch forecasting 206 million LCD TV sales ahead of the diminutive 17 million plasma.
