Panasonic is exiting the small-to-mid-sized TV LCD panel business. Instead, according to the Japanese news service Nikkei, it will focus on producing panels for tablets and 50-inch and larger TV panels. The company claimed that demand for the smaller TVs has dropped since the Japanese government stopped offering subsidies for energy efficient appliances, effectively making the larger screens more attractive.
The company plans to devote half the production of its Hyogo Japan facility to tablet panels during the second quarter of 2012. The remaining capacity will be dedicated to the production of the higher margin large-screen TV displays.
Other Japanese firms have been shifting much of their own attention towards mobile. Sharp is devoting more effort to mobile and is often putting as much attention on smartphone and tablet screens as TVs. The TV market has often been cast as oversaturated and focusing too much on 3D and high-end sets that don’t sell well in a tougher economy.
