Pioneer to buy NEC unit, become world's biggest PDP business

AFP, February, 2004

TOKYO (AFP) — Entertainment equipment maker Pioneer has agreed to buy the plasma display panels business of hi-tech giant NEC, making it the world's largest PDP producer, the companies revealed.

The two companies said they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding under which NEC Corp. will sell its wholly owned plasma display making unit -- NEC Plasma Display -- to Pioneer Corp. at a price yet to be fixed.

Pioneer's new expanded operations will have a global market share of 22 percent, they said Tuesday.

Plasma display technology is locked in a battle with liquid crystal display (LCD) technology for supremacy in the exploding global market for flat-panel displays, which are used in new thin-screen televisions and computer monitors.

"Through the...