NEC and Matsushita plan PDP production

06/01/1998

NEC and Matsushita plan PDP production

With PDP (plasma display panel) demand expected to rise in the next four years, NEC, Tokyo, will ramp production of the displays beginning this month, a move followed by Matsushita Electronics, Osaka, which expects to start its own PDP production.

Meanwhile, Matsushita is building a PDP manufacturing line at its Ohtsuki Plant in Osaka. The new line is expected to be operational by year-end, with production capacity targeted at 10,000 plates of 40-in. PDPs/month. The company plans to add another four PDP production lines by 2003, with a total production capacity goal of 100,000 plates/month.

NEC plans to produce 42-in. PDPs at its subsidiary, Kagoshima NEC, Kagoshima Prefecture. In addition, the company has set an agreement with Paris-based Thomson Multimedia to jointly develop next-generation PDP technologies. The deal will see NEC supply Thomson with its 42-in. PDPs on an OEM basis.

The two firms will compete in the growing PDP market with Mitsubishi, which began PDP production in April 1997, and Fujitsu, which has been in volume PDP production since October 1996.

The Japanese display industry is forecasting that the market for PDPs will reach 260 billion yen ($2.0 billion) by 2000, and nearly triple to 760 billion yen ($5.8 billion) by 2002.