Matsushita — famed for its Panasonic brand — has announced that it will be building an LCD factory in western Japan by 2010. The move is most likely a response to recent decline in Plasma TV sales as compared to LCD TVs — something you probably wished you knew about when you bought your shiny new Plasma TV.
The factory will cost a reported $2.8 billion dollars and should be able to make 15 million 32-inch LCD panels per year — this finally begins Matsushita’s plans of taking over the world by blanketing it in high-definition TVs.
The move should put Matsushita in direct competition with the big boys of the LCD market, namely Samsung, Sharp and Sony.
Originally, Plasma TVs were cheaper to make in larger sizes while LCDs were the more expensive mammoths that companies shied away from. However, with some new manufacturing upgrades, LCD production costs have been cut sharply and are now much more comparable to the other screens. LCD sales have been on the rise recently — with big price drops and a larger variety, people seem to be flocking toward the format over its Plasma rival.
The factory will be built by IPS Alpha Technology — 50% of which is owned by Hitachi Displays, while 30% is owned by Matsushita and 15% is owned by Toshiba — which is using the millions of dollars it saved on folding its HD DVD format to invest in a shiny new LCD plant.
