For the fiscal year ending March 2006, Pioneer has revised its guidance to project a net loss of $719 million, compared to a $198 million loss announced in October. The restructuring expenses are expected to widen the company’s loss.

Last month, Pioneer president Kaneo Ito announced he would resign as of Jan. 1, with executive vice president Tsumihiko Sudo taking over as president.

Pioneer will decrease the supply of PDPs for OEM use and focus on panels for internal use. The segment of OEM panels is influenced by fluctuating market prices and is a big loss leader. The company has a capacity of 1.1 million units but expects only 640,000 panels to be shipped the current fiscal year.

"There is a mismatch between capacity and actual sales. We have been suspending operation of some lines. Next year's shipments were slated to increase by 40 to 50 percent, but present capacity can fulfill the demand," said Sudo.

Company executive Tamihiko Suga added that PDP will continue being Pioneer's mainstay business. "Taking advantage of Pioneer's strength, we want to expand the PDP business when the situation improves. We do not plan to withdraw from the PDP business," Suga said.

Pioneer is focusing on the high-end PDP TV market by introducing a 50-inch full specification HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) TV next spring.

Another restructuring action is dissolving the active-matrix OLED joint venture called ELDis Inc., established in 2001 by the Tohoku Pioneer Corp. subsidiary of Pioneer, Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co. Ltd., and Sharp Corp.

ELDis was unsuccessful trying to mass produce active-matrix OLED displays. "We could not find profitability in the business," said Suga. Now, Pioneer intends to boost production of passive matrix OLEDs.

With these and other restructuring measures, Pioneer expects its business to regain profitability in the fiscal year ending March 2007.