News Release：- 150 Thousand Units per Year -Pioneer Expands Plasma Display Production, Installing the Second Line at Shizuoka Pioneer

Pioneer has positioned its Plasma Display (PDP) business as one of the mainstays in its long-term business plan, "Vision 2005". The company has decided to invest 15 billion Japanese Yen in the installation of an additional production line with a capacity of 100 thousand PDP products per annum. The new line will be set up within the Shizuoka Pioneer Corporation, located in Shizuoka-pref., Japan, as its first continuous production line from plasma panels production to assembling of final products.
Adding this second line, Pioneer's PDP manufacturing capacity will grow up to 150 thousand units per year. The company shipped approximate 20,000 units of PDP with a mixture of 40-inch VGA type and 50-inch XGA type in the last fiscal year. Furthermore, in this year (April 1, 2000 - March 31, 2001 period), Pioneer plans to double it's figures to 40,000. A complete mass production system will be established by autumn 2001.

In addition, on March 1, 2000, Pioneer reorganized the PDP business units, which were scattered at affiliated companies, --- Display Products Company, Pioneer Video Corporation and Shizuoka Pioneer Corporation --- and unified the main functions such as product planning, product development and manufacturing all at Shizuoka Pioneer Corporation. With this reorganization, investments in facilities will be done in more effective manner and thus PDP business developments can be accelerated.

Although the sales of PDP products have been driven by the demand for industrial applications to date, the consumer market for PDP is also expected to grow in the near future. Pioneer determines that PDPs will be the next generation display, which will meet the needs of the upcoming digital broadcast era, and will continue its efforts to improve product performance and reduce cost.
Pioneer will strongly promote the PDP products for its market growth.

< Shizuoka Pioneer Corporation >