Hitachi Plasma Plant To Be Built in Malaysia

To meet demand in Australia and Southeast Asia and to cut production costs, Hitachi will reportedly spend about 3 billion yen to make plasma televisions in Malaysia.
Starting next month, Nitachi plans to make 10,000 units a month, company spokesman Masayuki Takeuchi said.  Hitachi will use the facilities of its optical devices subsidiary in the country to make 42″ plasma HDTVs and will eventually expanding production to 50″ screens, Takeushi added.
The company said in October that it will spend about 8 billion yen to build a flat-panel television factory in the Czech Republic. The plant will begin production this summer with a monthly output of about 80,000 units.  Also in October, Hitachi lowered its forecast for plasma HDTV shipments 20% to 800,000 units for the year ending March 31, 2007, citing slowing sales in the U.S. and China.