[Link: today.reuters.com]

This article at Reuters.com states that Fujitsu is in talks to sell off their LCD panel division to Sharp.

The deal would mark Fujitsu's effective withdrawal from the volatile and highly competitive flat-panel market, since the company already plans to sell a 30.1 percent stake in its 50-50 plasma panel joint venture to existing partner Hitachi Ltd. in April.


Withdrawal from the volatile flat-panel market??

I like the Fujitsu panels and I hope this is a case where a reporter jumped the gun.

Rick,

I read about the pdp sale to Hitachi a couple of weeks ago. It looks like Fujitsu is selling some more of its technology.

I wouldn't worry just yet, as no mention has been made of shutting down pdp sales -- just the manufacturing facilities.

This whole thing doesn't make sense. Every other pdp vendor has been increasing pdp manufacturing due to the very high demand. A number of companies have come out and said that the future is in flat panel displays & micro-chip devices, and CRT factories have been closing all over the place.

I honestly don't think that Fujitsu is going to leave the pdp marketplace, they'll probably just oem the panels like other companies such as Sony. Don't forget, Fujitsu's best display (the 50") uses Panasonic glass.

Dawn

The impression I got is that they WILL shut down their brand. It really doesn't make sense to keep losing money on the rebadged models since they really only compete in flat panels and have no other categories in home entertainment to subsidize the flat panel category.

Sony, JVC, Toshiba and others have relied solely on OEM glass from other manufacturers (including Fujitsu) to cpmpete in the FDP category, but they had a larger picture to think of. They needed to maintain a strong presence in the high end video category and ultimately as a primary home entertainment manufacturer in general.

Also, the other manufacturers listed above could count on add-on sales of matching DVD players, VCR and audio components in a lot of cases (we all know people who buy all Sony), so they may have been able to justify low FDP profitibility as a portion of the overall picture.

Fujitsu's involvement in home entertainment is pretty much strictly plasma, and has been around only since they began offering plasma.

We know that Fujitsu uses a lot of glass from other vendors. The ED 42" model, 50" model, and 63" models are all sourced from other vendors, and fitted with what I feel are superior electronics (because they do look better)

We also know that Fujitsu has subsidized their line by selling OEM glass on the HD 42" and 55" sizes to other vendors.

Now that this most of this OEM money is going to Hitachi, they seem to have little reason to keep the Fujitsu branded line on the market.

Just read the latest info on the Fujitsu sale in TWICE -- below is in excerpt:

.....Although Fujitsu LTD was one of the first companies to produce and market plasma display panels in volume, aggressive competition from third-tier Asian companies has quickly ratcheted down pricing, and profitability in the technology.

Fujitsu’s course follows that of NEC, another early plasma developer, which sold its plasma manufacturing operations to Pioneer Electronics last year, citing profitability concerns.

As for Fujitsu General America’s North American sales operation, company president Tedd Rozylowicz said the decision by parent Fujitsu LTD in Japan will have little or no impact on his company’s plans to market and sell high-end home theater display products.

“FHP is a combination of two companies – Fujitsu and Hitachi – who provided glass to us in the same way the Panasonic and Samsung have provided glass to us,” Rozylowicz said. “Fujitsu General LTD is an affiliate of Fujitsu LTD, and we are customers of FHP, but the bottom line is that it is not going effect us, even for a moment.

“We will continue to buy glass from who ever has the best product available, including FHP.”

My rep repeated that same point to me yesterday, almost verbatim, in a conversation we had right after the Superbowl concluded...

I am not looking for another go-to line just yet.

I think Fujitsu will still continue to manufacture and market flat panels...these two recent sales are business decisions from the parent conglomerate who have decided that they wish to devote more of their corporate resources to their mainframe computer hardware and software endeavors. They feel that there will likely be more upside to spending the money in that area than developing, manufacturing and selling OEM panels, that's all. Doesn't mean that the subsidiary that manufactures and sells completed sets cannot and won't continue to do so.

Eric