Panasonic has announced that it has withdrawn from domestic production of televisions.


Due to sluggish profitability, we will concentrate on overseas production in the future.

Panasonic announced at a press conference on the settlement of accounts on the 10th that the production of organic EL TVs, which had been continued at the factory in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture, ended at the end of March and withdrew from domestic production of TVs.



The reason for the withdrawal is that the cost was high due to the small amount of production, which led to the slump in profitability.



In the future, we will concentrate on in-house production overseas such as Malaysia and the Czech Republic, and we are proceeding with negotiations to outsource the production of small and medium-sized LCD TVs to TCL, a major electronics company in China.



The Utsunomiya Factory will remain as a base for developing TV manufacturing methods and producing repair parts.



Panasonic began domestic production of televisions in 1952 during the former Matsushita Electric Industrial era, and sold more than 20 million units worldwide in the peak of 2010, and has long been the flower-shaped division of the company.



However, due to fierce price competition with Korean and Chinese manufacturers, the plasma TV business, which made a huge investment, was forced to withdraw in 2014.



In the most recent fiscal year 2020, global TV sales fell to 3.6 million units.



The company aims to improve its profitability by reviewing its production system worldwide.

Domestic production of TV withdrawal one after another

The TV business of major electronics manufacturers is shrinking, and many manufacturers are withdrawing from domestic production.



Of these, Hitachi used to produce TVs under the "Wooo" brand, but in 2012 it discontinued its own production.



Toshiba also sold its domestic production under the "REGZA" brand to the Chinese electrical equipment manufacturer "Hisense Group" three years ago, and virtually withdrew.



In addition, Sharp also discontinued production of LCD TVs at its factory in Tochigi prefecture three years ago.



Behind the successive withdrawals is the fact that price competition with overseas manufacturers has become fierce and it has become difficult to generate profits.



On the other hand, the Sony Group has a factory in Inazawa City, Aichi Prefecture, and Mitsubishi Electric has a factory in Nagaokakyo City, Kyoto Prefecture, which continues domestic production.

History of Panasonic TV business

The television business of Panasonic and former Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. began in 1952 with the domestic production of black-and-white televisions.



Launched color TV in 1960.



During the period of high economic growth that followed, color TVs, along with cars and coolers, were called 3C, and sales increased, and they suddenly became the leading role in the living room.



High-definition TVs are also called "the king of home appliances," and have long been a driving force in the business of not only Panasonic but also Japanese electronics manufacturers.



In the battle for supremacy of "flat-panel TVs" since the 2000s, Panasonic focused on plasma TVs and continued to make huge investments.



We built huge plasma panel factories one after another in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture.



However, plasma TVs were inferior and withdrew in 2014, mainly because Korean manufacturers started selling low-priced LCD TVs.



The production of OLED TVs at the Utsunomiya Factory in Tochigi Prefecture, which had been in production until the end, also withdrew at the end of March.



Panasonic sold 20.23 million TVs worldwide in 2010, when it was at its peak, but in the latest 2020, it has dropped to 3.6 million.



Panasonic's withdrawal from domestic production has become a symbol of the decline of Japanese manufacturers' televisions.