Matsushita invests in the world's largest plasma TV factory

Matsushita Electronics Group, Panasonic's parent company, has announced it will build the world's largest plasma TV factory in Japan with a total cost of about $ 2.35 billion, to meet the growing demand for products. this.

Accordingly, the location selected as the headquarters for the future factory will be Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture, west of Tokyo. The factory is expected to go into production in May 2009 with a monthly capacity of 1 million products per month.

The announcement was made by Matsushita on the occasion of announcing the group's operating plan for annual revenue by fiscal year until March 2010 will be 10 trillion yen (approximately 83.9 billion USD), high. more than 8.9 trillion yen in recent years.

Mr. Fumio Ohtsubo, Matsushita Group president said in the press conference: ' We believe that in the coming years the need to use ultra-thin TV screens will definitely grow like a storm .'

Mitsushita is not alone in the plan to build a TV factory this time because it already has a joint venture partner, Toray Industries, a chemical group. This will be the fifth plasma TV factory that Toray has set up.

Matsushita president, Mr. Fumio Ohtsubo, at a recent press conference in Hirakata, Osaka.

Flat screen TVs are a very selling item in Japan and exported. This fact is due to the fierce competition among electronics giants, which has pushed the price of this type of television down, creating conditions for people to be "ready" to shelter the old and big old television sets.

While Matsushita is filled with 'winning confidence' with plasma televisions, other competitors such as Sharp Corporation choose to develop their own line of liquid crystal display microphones.

According to Matsushita, by 2010, 65% of the 200 million TVs sold globally each year will be flat-screen televisions.

Mitsuhiro Osawa, an analyst with Mizuho Investors Securities, said the world's demand for flat-screen televisions larger than 37 inches will increase from 8 million units in 2005 to 50 million units a year. 2009 because it will be promoted even more strongly during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

In fact, Matsushita is still at the top of the plasma TV industry, its real interest rate has sometimes reached 156% thanks to the extremely prosperous revenue from its ultra-thin line of television products.

Mr. Ohsubo said his firm will continue to prioritize European and American markets, which are considered 'big battlegrounds' besides emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China. .

According to him, about 70% of the group's expected revenue in the next three years will be in export volume. He said: ' Ultra-thin TV screens will be the area where we definitely won't give up. We will 'knock out' our opponents '.

According to Matsushita, plasma televisions are always better than other flat-screen TVs like liquid crystals in that they give better quality, more realistic image quality, especially on large screens.

Analysts said that the construction of a new TV factory this time is a move that shows Matsushita's determination to affirm its position in the competitive market is fierce when television is becoming the focal point of the family digital entertainment center.

Mr. Osamu Hirose, an analyst at Tokai Research Center in Tokyo, said: ' The importance of gaining TV market share is not so much in favor of the television itself. Because when the market share in the television field is expanded, it will inevitably lead to the promotion of market share of other products . '

And Mitsuhiro Osawa, said that plasma technology is relatively new technology and manufacturers have more opportunities to reduce product prices than manufacturers of LCD televisions. He said: ' Ultimately, price will be the deciding factor on which technology will sell the most products. '

Do Duong