TOKYO (AP) - Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. plans to double its production capacity for plasma display panels when a new plant begins production in western Japan in May 2009, a company spokesman said.
The Osaka-based maker of Panasonic-branded electronics plans to manufacture 300,000 42-inch plasma display panels a month at a new plant to be built in Amagasaki, spokesman Akira Kadota said.
Combined with a planned output increase at another factory that cam on line this month, Matsushita will be able to turn out 1.26 million panels a month by May 2009, up from the current 640,000 panels.
Construction of the new plant near Osaka is slated to begin in November, Kadota said. The company currently has four plasma display panel plants in Japan and another one in Shanghai.