Panasonic Corp. is considering selling the former site of a plasma television panel development plant in Osaka Prefecture as the electronics maker withdraws from the plasma TV business, sources said Tuesday.
The company may rent out part of the 120,000-sq.-meter site in the city of Ibaraki to Yamato Transport Co. The municipal government is also showing interest in acquiring the land, the sources said.
Production of plasma display panels began at the plant in 2001, but it later became a base for assembling TVs and developing display panels after the company transferred plasma display panel production to its plant in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, in fiscal 2008.
Most of the roughly 500 employees at the Ibaraki plant will be transferred to Panasonic's Himeji plant in Hyogo Prefecture, which manufactures LCD panels.