Rumblings by movers and shakers in the flat-panel TV biz
In the past few days there has been precisely one buyout and one partnership between four major flat-panel players competing in a market where there's been a lot of motion as of late due to huge worldwide demand, rapidly decreasing margins, and product shortages. Fujitsu, one of the biggest flat-panel manufacturers around, announced the sale of their LCD display division to Sharp, while Hitachi and Matsushita (who you know as Panasonic) would join together in sharing technology and facilities in the plasma market. The overseas business angle may not seem too intense for us Stateside, but with Fujitsu dropping out it's clear that the flat-panel business is getting crazy competitive, and the winners are going to be the companies who can streamline like crazy, cut costs, increase quality, and crank out those units like nobody's biz.
