Yeah, Sony's been
threatening to do it for years, and haven't been putting out plasmas in the US since 2005, but Sony finally is getting serious about quitting the low-profit (for them, at least) world of plasma -- and it would appear they've finally done it. Sony has been seeing a sharp decline in shipments, from 300,000 in 2004 to 100,000 in 2005, and profits have been slim due to the lack of their own plasma display factory; they plan to increase LCD shipments to pick up the slack, and hope to increase their shipment ratio of 40-inch plus LCDs by 50% before year's end. They've also contracted construction on an eighth-generation LCD plant, which should start production in fall 2007, and handle 50,000 glass substrates a month. Sony hopes to boost LCD sales 33% in 2007 to a whopping eight million units, and if it means bigger displays and lower prices we sure won't be complaining.
[Via
HD Beat]
