TOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics maker Pioneer Corp. is reviewing its plasma display business, a company official said Tuesday, while Japanese media reports said the company plans to stop producing them.

Ema Suzuki, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo-based maker of high-end audio equipment, said the company’s plasma display business is suffering from sluggish growth and that it is reviewing the business.
Her comments came as Japan’s business daily Nikkei reported Tuesday that Pioneer is finalizing plans to withdraw from producing plasma panels as early as this year and procure panels from Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which has the world’s largest market share. Kyodo news agency carried a similar report.
The spokeswoman said no decision had been reached as of Tuesday, adding that Pioneer President Tamihiko Sudo will unveil business plans at a news conference.
Nikkei said the company had originally planned to ship 720,000 plasma panel televisions for the latest fiscal year but later revised the plan to 480,000 amid sluggish sales. Pioneer’s plasma TV business is expected to post a 10 billion yen ($96 million) loss, the report said.
Last year, Pioneer announced a capital and operations tie-up with another electronics maker, Sharp Corp. The alliance allows Pioneer to procure Sharp’s liquid crystal displays.
Nikkei said Pioneer will shut down one of its three production sites in Japan for plasma displays as early as this year and that the remaining two factories will focus on assembling televisions.
Pioneer’s share of plasma displays production ranked fifth in the world, according to Nikkei.
Japan’s flat-panel business is going through a period of shake-up. Late last month, Sony Corp. and Sharp said they are tying up, with Sony investing in a Sharp plant for making liquid crystal displays.
In December, Matsushita, Hitachi Ltd. and Canon Inc. announced a tie-up in their liquid crystal display businesses, shortly after Toshiba Corp. said it will team up with Sharp to buy LCD panels for Toshiba flat-panel TVs.