from Nikkei Asia, the company will end manufacturing of solar cells and panels at its factories in Malaysia and Shimane prefecture in Japan by March 2022.
The move marks a complete exit from the solar manufacturing business. The Osaka-based company had earlierthat it was pulling out of a partnership with Tesla to produce solar panels at a factory in New York state. Panasonic’s solar module manufacturing factory in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kedah was established back in 2011. It’s main purpose was to manufacture HIT solar modules. The factory was used by Panasonic to meet the robust demand for solar products from around the world.However, Nikkei Asia reported due to the increased production by Chinese manufactures, the price of solar panels has fallen to about a third of 2012 prices.
Panasonic, however, said it plans to stay in the renewable energy business and will focus its efforts on power management systems for smart cities. “We are considering various measures to strengthen the management structure of the solar business but at this point, nothing has been decided,” the company said in a statement. It added that the Nikkei report was not something the company had officially announced.