Panasonic TV mass production models were entrusted to TCL, and panel production capacity was transferred to China

According to foreign media reports, Panasonic and TCL have reached an agreement to entrust the production of TV mass production models to TCL. Panasonic actually withdrew from the production of small and medium-sized televisions with low profit margins, and concentrated on the production of high-priced models. According to the report, Panasonic entrusted the mass production model to TCL because the profitability of Panasonic's TV business was weakening, and it was urgent to adjust its business strategy.

In May, Kyodo News agency reported that Panasonic had ended television production in Japan by the end of March. The only remaining Utsunomiya City plant will focus on the research and development of production processes, and mass production bases will be concentrated at four overseas plants. Television used to be at the heart of the home appliance business, but profits have shrunk as competition has intensified. In the future, the company will only be able to limit its self-production to high-priced models in an effort to enhance profitability.

Panasonic began producing television in Japan in 1952, and has long supported the company's development as a major product. In the later plasma development, Panasonic invested heavily in the plasma TV business, but lost the competition with LCD, announced its withdrawal in 2013, and now in the field of LCD, Panasonic has once again chosen to compromise.

In fact, in recent years, upstream panel head brand companies such as Samsung, LG, Mitsubishi, etc., have chosen to withdraw from the LCD panel industry in the past two years, and the panels required for their LCD TVs have been imported from China. This has been the norm in the TV panel industry in recent years. Why are more and more LCD panel companies choosing to quit?

The author believes that this is not unrelated to the changes in the industrial pattern of TV panels, the handover and replacement of innovative display technology, and the strategic direction of other brands, because the trends and layouts of the upstream of the industrial chain are often ahead of schedule, one step wrong step at a time.

The panel industry pattern has shifted to the domestic sector. Due to the improvement of the comprehensive competitiveness of mainland panel factories in scale, efficiency and technology, the pricing power gradually grasped and continuously squeezed the living space of foreign brands through price wars. In recent years, China's LCD panel industry continues to rise, market share ushered in a new breakthrough, has accounted for 50% + share of global LCD, according to the China Commercial Industry Research Institute is expected, by 2022 China's panel production capacity will account for 56%.

According to industry insiders, the Chinese mainland display industry has become the most important growth pole in the world with an output value of up to 64.8 billion US dollars (about 418.39 billion yuan) and a growth rate of 29.6%. BOE, Huaxing Optoelectronics, Huike three-head manufacturers in the first half of 2021 LCD TV panel shipment area accounted for 50.9% of the total global shipping area in the current period, the center of gravity of lcd panels has shifted to China.

In the face of the strong rise of China's display industry, foreign giants have also given in, resulting in the current situation.

The handover of innovative display technology is another reason why many brands are withdrawing from liquid crystals. For example, Samsung and LG have stopped production LCD panels, in fact, they want to get rid of the low-yield or even negative-income industries of liquid crystals, and spend more energy on more advanced OLED, quantum dots and other fields.

At present, LGD is mainly aimed at the OLED field, and expanding production and increasing more sizes are the top priorities at present. Samsung also recently announced that it will soon mass-produce QD-OLED panels, and is also continuously increasing its Mini/Micro LED products. The required LCD panels are solved by sourcing from China.

At present, the global LCD panel has shifted to China, especially in the two years of the epidemic, China has borne the burden of global LCD panel production, but the LCD industry, whichse price has fallen so quickly, is also facing the dilemma of low profits, and upgrading the industrial chain is the long-term road in the future.

Panasonic entrusted the mass production model to TCL side highlights the rise of China's TV manufacturing, but the future is still a very severe internal friction of the panel, as well as the lack of innovative display technology panels, China's panel industry still has a long way to go.