Japan's Mitsubishi Electric To Focus On Small LCDs Due To Competition

TOKYO, (AFP) - Japan`s Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said that it plans to wind down production of large-size liquid crystal display (LCD) panels to focus on smaller panels because of price competition.
The company, which expects to post 38 billion yen (345 million dollars) in sales of LCD panels in the year to March 2005, said only 20 percent of that will come from large LCDs measuring over 15 inches (38 centimeters) and which are used mostly for personal computers.
"By fiscal 2005, there will be virtually no production of large-size panels," said a company spokesman.
"We foresaw from last year that the price of large-size LCDs would fall," he said. "When we thought about production efficiency and management efficiency, we decided to make small- and mid-size panels."
Earlier this month, three of Japan`s largest consumer electronics makers -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. -- announced plans to jointly produce LCD panels for flat-screen TVs.
Japanese manufacturers, which also include Sharp Corp., will be competing with South Korean heavyweights such as LG Group and Samsung in the large LCD panel market.