Sharp halts production of liquid crystal panels for televisions, marking the end of TV panel production in Japan

On August 21, Japanese electronics company Sharp announced that its factory in Sakai City, Japan has completely stopped producing liquid crystal panels for televisions. As the only domestic producer of liquid crystal panels for televisions in Japan, Sharp's move marks the end of TV panel production in Japan.

Once upon a time, Japan dominated the global TV liquid crystal panel market, and Sharp was even known as the "father of liquid crystals." However, after the 2010s, Sharp was involved in a price war with Chinese enterprises, and Korean enterprises shifted to high-definition OLED panels, reducing its competitiveness. In 2023, Sharp's TV liquid crystal panels accounted for only 7.9% of the global market share and ranked fifth. The top-ranked ones are all Chinese manufacturers.

Sharp's Sakai factory was established in 2009 with an investment of 430 billion yen. However, in recent years, its performance has deteriorated and become a burden. Earlier, Sony sold its shares in a panel manufacturing joint venture to Samsung in 2012, and Panasonic also stopped producing TV panels in 2016. Regarding the Sakai factory, Sharp's chief financial officer said that it plans to reduce inventory to zero by the end of March 2025. Sharp officials said that the liquid crystal panel business is a burden, and this production halt is an "act to stop the bleeding."

Kyodo News Agency of Japan said that Japan's domestic TV panel production has lost in the price competition with overseas manufacturers such as China and South Korea. Liang Zhenpeng, a senior home appliance industry ***yst, said on the 22nd that the production cost of liquid crystal panels in Japan is high and it is unable to compete with Chinese enterprises. Closing production lines is inevitable. He also pointed out that Chinese and South Korean home appliance enterprises have high operational efficiency, make quick decisions, and are sensitive to market demands. However, Japanese home appliance enterprises often suffer from "big enterprise disease," with redundant management structures and slow responses, missing market opportunities and leading to falling behind and withdrawing from the industry.