Japan: Fujitsu to End Plasma Production

Fujitsu, which has made HD sets and other plasma displays in the United States since the technology first became available, said last week it plans to cease its visual display business outside Japan by March. The reason given: decreasing profitability.

The company plans to continue offering support for its products that are still under warranty (probably at least another eight years, a company exec said), and will continue to sell image display items through its Japanese systems integration. But Fujitsu will target much more of its core categories, such as heating and air conditioning systems.

Fujitsu had already stopped manufacturing plasma HD and DTV sets. But its other plasma display products continued, primarily through high-end specialty stores and custom installers. In 2005, it sold controlling interest in plasma TV production to Hitachi.