Matsushita, Toray to build the 'largest' PDP plant

To further step up its PDP production capacity, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd and Toray Industries Inc. will build a new PDP manufacturing facility in Japan, tagged to be the world's 'largest' with a floor space of approximately 284,000m?. It will be the fifth PDP plant of their joint venture, Matsushita PDP Co. Ltd (MPDP).

The plant is projected to have a monthly production capacity of 1 million PDP units, calculated based on 42-inch panels. It will require $2.3 billion for plant construction and equipment cost, and will be built in Amagasaki, Japan near the existing fourth plant.

The new plant will use MPDP's leading-edge processing technologies and production systems to realize as many as ten 42-inch panels, or eight 50-inch panels, from a single sheet of glass.

Construction will start in November while the first phase of the production will commence in May 2009.