Hitachi aims to boost plasma TV market share

(Adds details, company comment)

TOKYO, April 18 (Reuters) - Hitachi Ltd. (6501.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Wednesday that it aimed to boost its share of the global plasma television market by targeting overseas demand for bigger flat TVs.

Japan's biggest electronics conglomerate also said it brought its struggling flat TV business into the black in the January-to-March quarter and expects to make the business profitable in the current year.

"We've been able to lower procurement costs and increase our product lineup of bigger TVs," Hitachi Senior Vice President Makoto Ebata said at a news conference.

The company, which is trying to keep up with plasma TV leader Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other flat TV makers, has been helped by greater capacity at its plants in Miyazaki, southern Japan, he said.

The world's No. 5 plasma TV maker said it would raise its global market share to 13 percent in the current business year to March 2008 from about 9 percent in the prior year.

Hitachi aims to sell 1.4 million plasma TVs in 2007/08, up 75 percent from an estimated 800,000 units in the previous year just ended March 31, by expanding sales overseas, especially in the U.S., Ebate said.

"The North America market will be a key part of our strategy going forward," Ebata said.