After a fourth straight year of projected losses reaching over $140 million dollars, electronics giant Pioneer has announced it will cease production of it’s own plasma HDTV design and will, instead, focus on HDTV plasma production using panels from another manufacturer, like Panasonic/Matsushita.

he loss comes as a stunning development as Pioneer expected to post a net gain of nearly 58.02 million U.S. dollars. So a loss of nearly three times that has prompted a sort of “come to Jesus” moment for Pioneer.

“This move will allow us to transform our business model for displays from vertically integrated, capital-intensive operations to a leaner business model geared to making value-added product proposals,” the company said in a statement.

The move, which came as a result of serious restructuring at Pioneer, was not only expected, but could also be beneficial as it will allow for expansion of the high end HDTV screens, particularly the Kuro line flat screen LCD displays that incorporate panels purchased from Sharp. Pulling back is no small task, as Pioneer had invested nearly a billion dollars building four plasma production facilities and acquiring two more. Now, Pioneer hopes that the shift to third party manufacture will cut back on its production costs and refocus more on marketing and design.

Hat tip: Digital Trends