by CIO Staff

Pioneer to Build Plasma Display Panel Plant in Japan

News
Aug 07, 20062 mins
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Pioneer is planning a new plasma display panel (PDP) factory in Japan, the company said Monday.

Pioneer is preparing land for the factory in Yamanashi prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. The precise construction schedule will be decided in early 2007 after gauging consumer demand for PDP televisions in the year-end selling period, said Michiko Kadoi, a Pioneer spokeswoman.

The company wouldn’t confirm a report in Sunday’s edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper that the factory will have an initial annual output of 300,000 PDPs, rising to more than 1 million panels.

Pioneer is one of Japan’s largest manufacturers of PDPs and has started refocusing its efforts on models for its own brand rather than selling panels to competitors for their use. In the April-to-June quarter, the company reported a 32 percent year-on-year jump in PDP TV sales due to strong demand in Europe and North America. PDP TVs accounted for almost half of the company’s entire home electronics sales in the quarter.

By Martyn Williams, IDG News Service (Tokyo Bureau)

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