LG Electronics Exit From Plasma HDTVs Suggest End Is Near For Technology

And then there was one. South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. said it plans to shut down its plasma television manufacturing business by the end of November, as the technology has continued to be outpaced by liquid crystal displays.

In a regulatory filing Tuesday, the company said the decision reflects a decline in demand for plasma TVs, which accounted for 2.4 percent of its total sales in 2013. It’s hardly a surprise that LG is exiting from plasma TV production, as advances in LCD technology have made it the go-to display technology in recent years.

Though plasma technology was a preferred HDTV display technology for some time, LCD advances continued to outpace it, particularly when it came to plasma’s high power consumption and heat generation.

“We wanted to keep it going as long as we could,” LG spokesman Ken Hong told Reuters. “No matter how much we try to keep it going it's just not a business anymore.”

The move follows a number of players that have ramped down their plasma television production, including Panasonic which announced plans last year to halt manufacturing by the end of March. After LG shuts down its plasma display business, Samsung will be the only company left -- but not for long.

By Nov. 30, Samsung SDI also plans to shut down its plasma panel business; however, manufacturing of the displays by Samsung Electronics is expected to continue until the end of the year, according to a Samsung statement provided to CNET:

“We plan to continue our PDP TV business until the end of this year, due to changes in market demands. We remain committed to providing consumers with products that meet their needs, and will increase our focus on growth opportunities in UHD TV's and Curved TV's.”