Japanese home appliance and electronics company Hitachi Ltd. has decided to stop manufacturing TVs and outsource this line of its business to another company amid intensifying competition.
TV prices plummeted more than 30 percent over the past year as Chinese manufacturers jumped into the heated market that is already saturated with Korean players. According to Japanese media on Wednesday, Hitachi's decision comes amid rising losses and its inability to maintain its price competitiveness due to the high wages paid to Japanese workers. Hitachi began manufacturing TVs in 1956.
The company plans within this year to shift the focus of its Japanese plant from TV sets to other products, while outsourcing TV production to another company. As a result, the number of TV manufacturers in Japan will shrink to five, including Sony, Panasonic and Sharp. However, Sony's TV division is also projected to post a deficit this year, making this its eighth consecutive year in the red, while Panasonic is expected to see losses for the fourth straight year, thus necessitating some painful restructuring, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Toshiba Corporation has decided to stop manufacturing cell phones. Toshiba has been jointly running a cell phone manufacturing company with Fujitsu, but decided to sell all of its stake in the joint venture to its partner to focus on its other businesses.
