Panasonic will stop making TV panels in September

The Japanese company Panasonic has announced that it will stop making TV panels in September. During that month, the company plans to close its LCD factory in Himeji, where it began production in 2010.

However, since its inception, the factory has never turned a profit, Reuters reports. Panasonic would have suffered a lot from heavy competition from manufacturers from South Korea and China. The company would still continue to build LCD televisions, but will have to purchase the panels from other manufacturers, The Japan Times reports citing sources. Panasonic has already done this for a certain number of models.

Panasonic will continue to make screens for cars and medical equipment, but with a reduced production capacity. The organization’s decision leaves Sharp as the sole Japanese manufacturer of TV panels. It is intended that all thousand employees of the factory in Himeji will remain in employment.

In 2013, Panasonic had already decided to stop producing plasma TVs. At the time, that decision was prompted by a drastically falling demand for such devices. In addition, it was not possible to use the plasma technology for display at 4k resolution in combination with normal consumer sizes of devices. Then the company closed some of its factories in Amagasaki.