Reuters reports Panasonic is reducing plasma TV panel production and laying off around 1000 employees at its "loss-making television unit," making one wonder if the plasma TV business is in trouble.
According to the Reuters sources Panasonic will stop producing panels at its Amagasaki No. 3 factory in Western Japan by March 2012, and might also sell a LCD-making plant in Mobara, Chiba prefecture.
The Amagasaki No. 3 plant has a monthly capacity of 330000 42"-equivalent panels.
Plasma has a much smaller WW TV market share than LCD-- with 17M plasma TVs (from 248M TVs) shipping in 2011, according to DisplaySearch, with Panasonic holding 40% of the 2010 plasma panel market.
No official announcement is yet available from Panasonic at the time of writing, but the company should reveal more during its July-September earnings report later this month.
