Hitachi, Panasonic Strengthen Plasma Partnership

Hitachi and Matsushita have agreed to grow their current partnership in the PDP business by supplying each other with plasma display panels. About two and a half years ago, Hitachi and Matsushita (Panasonic brand) initially agreed to move forward with a plasma-based partnership--primarily focused on R&D, production, marketing and intellectual property.

The latest pact announced within the past week is focused on the inclusion of cross-supplying one another with larger plasma monitors cut from substrates--notably the 103-inch and 85-inch diagonal cuts--according to Electronic News.

Panasonic will start supplying 103-inch screens to Hitachi in fiscal 2007, and Hitachi will start supplying Panasonic with 85-inch panels in fiscal 2008, the companies said. For the most part, these hyper-large screen sizes primarily are marketed to major corporations for corporate meetings and signage, as well as other nonconsumer clients.