Panasonic also stops production of LCD panels for automotive and industry

The Japanese manufacturer Panasonic will definitively stop producing LCD panels for the automotive sector and industrial applications by 2021. The company already discontinued its own production of LCD panels for televisions in 2016.

Panasonic reports that the discontinuation of LCD panel production is related to “tough competition and evolution in the LCD panel business environment”. The company says it has responded to this, taking all kinds of measures and introducing new products, but has nevertheless determined that ‘further continuation of the part would not be viable’.

It specifically concerns the Panasonic part Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display, whose factory is located in the Japanese city of Himeji. The manufacturer says it is trying to put employees elsewhere within the company so that they can keep their jobs.

Panasonic began producing LCD panels at the Himeji factory in April 2010, and Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display was formed in October of that year, mainly focusing on televisions. Due to ‘the fierce price competition in the television market’, the company stopped producing LCD panels for televisions in 2016, after which it continued to produce LCD panels for industry and the automotive sector.

The Japanese manufacturer decided in 2013 to stop the production of plasma televisions. The company still makes LCD televisions, for which it turns to external manufacturers for the LCD panels. That is also the case with the OLED televisions that Panasonic makes; the appropriate panels come from LG Display.