The flat-television industry has been undergoing rapid transformation as the high-quality screens become more affordable for consumers.

Hitachi will procure glass panels — a major component in plasma panels — from Matsushita for television models to be launched in the next business year starting in April 2009, a Hitachi statement said.

Matsushita, best known for its Panasonic brand, is the world’s largest plasma television maker.

The Hitachi group has until now produced plasma-display televisions on its own, from making the panels to assembly.

“Amid fierce competition in the flat-panel television market, however, Hitachi decided to change part of its production and development of panels” and procure the key component from Matsushita, the statement said.

In a separate joint statement, Hitachi and Matsushita said they would cooperate in the development of energy-saving or other value-added plasma displays and talk about enhancing cooperation at overseas production bases.

Pioneer Corp. — which like Hitachi has faced recent financial problems — also entered a plasma panel tie-up with Matsushita in April.

Sony and Sharp announced in February they were teaming up in liquid crystal display panels, a rival technology.

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