Japan's Hitachi Ltd. said Thursday it would join Matsushita Electronics Industrial Co. Ltd. in the plasma televisions market, in a bid to revive a money-losing operation.
The flat-television industry has been undergoing rapid transformation as the high-quality screens become more affordable for consumers.
Hitachi will procure glass panels -- a major component in plasma panels -- from Matsushita for television models to be launched in the next business year starting in April 2009, a Hitachi statement said.
Matsushita, best known for its Panasonic brand, is the world's largest plasma television maker.
The Hitachi group has until now produced plasma-display televisions on its own, from making the panels to assembly.
"Amid fierce competition in the flat-panel television market, however, Hitachi decided to change part of its production and development of panels" and procure the key component from Matsushita, the statement said.