An increasing number of Japanese electronics companies are licensing technology for their products in China, reported Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The newspaper said that the move was a way to avoid price wars with local firms by nurturing them as contractors to manufacture products under Japanese firms’ brand names.
Next year, Hitachi plans to provide a local firm with the technology to make projection televisions. Toshiba, which licenses the production of its washing machines and microwave ovens to Chinese firms, plans by 2005 to have licensed technology to manufacture another three items, including air conditioners. Mitsubishi Electric Industrial Co, which provides refrigerator manufacturing technology to a Chinese firm, is considering expanding the number of its licensing arrangements in China. Matsushita Electric has an existing partnership arrangement with TCL Holdings and it plans to introduce other products, such as digital television sets.
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