On February 23, while presenting the latest models of its screens, Panasonic announced that the contract signed with the Chinese manufacturer of Skyworth TVs will come into force from April 1 this year. initially focused primarily on the European and US markets. According to the official press release:
— […] the new partner will lead sales, marketing and logistics across the region, while Panasonic will provide expertise and quality control to maintain its renowned audiovisual standards while fully co-developing its top-of-the-range OLED models.
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There is no immediate complete takeover of Panasonic's TV division yet, and for now the Japanese will continue to sell and distribute TVs in their local market (and perhaps some other Asian markets). It's not 100 percent either. it is certain whether Skyworth will ultimately take over the entire production of this brand's TVs, or only some of it – depending on the type of screen and the market it would target. Currently, Panasonic's mid-range and lower-end screens are produced by third-party companies, and only the high-end ones are assembled by itself, while Skyworth is known mainly for the production of OLED TVs based on LG matrices.
However, it is difficult to imagine a situation in which it would be profitable for Panasonic to arrange with another subcontractor or to assemble TV sets on its own, for example only for the Japanese market, since the Panasonic factory in Utsunomiya has not been assembling them for some time. All the more so because a year ago the head of Panasonic, Yuki Kusumi, clearly said that the company was ready to sell the entire TV division, which was problematic for it, so it wanted to have as little to do with it as possible. The agreement with Skyworth is intended to open the door to this. So we're not dealing here with a question, “Whether” Panasonic will stop producing and distributing its TVs, and “When” it will happen.
The end of an era
This announcement can be treated as the proverbial dot on the “i”. The final stage of a certain process that we have been observing for the last dozen or so years. The Japanese from Sony gave us Trinitrons, the Japanese from Sharp dominated the first years of LCD TVs (who still remembers the Aquos brand?), and the Japanese from Panasonic reigned over plasma TVs, which many people still remember with great fondness. For years, the best and most popular TV sets came from Japan. Then, however, the market began to be taken over, first by the Koreans and now by the Chinese.
Panasonic ZT60, one of the best plasma TVs in history. In the middle of the last decade, it was a dream for many movie lovers.
It was a symbolic moment August 2024, when Sharp, the one-time market leader, stopped production at its last large LCD factory — the last of its kind in Japan. In the meantime, the transfer of assembly, distribution and brand rights to Chinese and Taiwanese entities was also progressing: in 2016, Foxconn took majority control of Sharp, and in 2017 HiSense took over 95%. shares of Toshiba Visual Solutions and acquired a 40-year license to use the brand. However, a few weeks ago we heard about the cooperation between Sony and TCL, under which the Chinese giant will take over the production of Bravia TVs in April 2027 and in this duo it will have the last word, because it will have 51%. shares in the resulting joint venture. Panasonic's OLED TVs are therefore the last substitute for the former Japanese television powerhouse and the contract with Skyworth de facto consumes this substitute. This means that although Japanese TV brands will still exist in stores, none of the companies associated with them will have full control over their production.
Summary of key events related to the acquisition of Japanese TV brands.
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Created using AI / Copilot
The Chinese, after taking over the last LG LCD factory in April 2025, currently produce the vast majority of LCD TV screens and 100 percent the biggest ones. Only Samsung and LG and the factories of large OLED matrixes of these companies are the world away from Chinese control over the TV market.
Read also: A war for the TV market is taking place before our eyes. China has a big plan
The Panasonic Z95B is currently one of the best OLED TVs on the market, appreciated by purists. Unfortunately, the high prices of OLED TVs of this brand mean that they find few buyers.
For now, there are still no equivalents in China, but this arrangement will not last forever, because TCL-CSOT and BOE are working intensively on their factories of large OLED matrices. The case of TCL is particularly interesting here, as it develops OLED printing technology based on solutions licensed from the Japanese company JOLED, founded by Sony and Panasonic, so the story comes full circle here. From a more Polish perspective, it is interesting that TCL is working on using materials developed by the Toruń-based company Noctiluca in its OLED screens.
The last samurai is… Polish?
There is a second Polish thread in this story, although this one should be treated with some caution. As I mentioned, soon there will be no production of TVs of Japanese brands that would be completely independent of some Chinese or Taiwanese company. Sharp is a bit of an oddity here. Although Sharp is majority controlled by Foxconn, it currently still has TV factories (not to be confused with matrix factories) – including one in Poland, in Ostaszewo near Toruń, managed by Sharp Consumer Electronics Poland. With a grain of salt Therefore, it can be said that most Japanese TV sets are currently assembled in Poland. So the last samurai is not an American, but a Pole 😉
