Toshiba slashes TV production

Toshiba is ending its domestic production of flat-panel televisions in a bid to double its operating profit by 2014-15. The company's shares rose by more than 5 percent in Tokyo in response to the move. The company said it aims to double its annual operating profit to 450 billion yen ($5.6 billion). In doing so, it will put a stop to the production of televisions in Japan, in which the business saw a 50 billion yen ($620 million) loss a year earlier. Instead, it will focus on its social infrastructure business and electronic devices. "We have shut down our domestic TV production. We are looking at all areas (of the TV business), number of models, numbers of panels, in order to restrengthen this division," Toshiba CEO Norio Sasaki told reporters. The company will also cut the number of TV models it sells by 60 percent in 2013. Sasaki added that Toshiba can still make a profit from televisions and has no plans to withdraw from the business altogether. Toshiba has seen its television sales decline but has been buoyed by its sale of NAND flash memory chips to Apple, Reuters reported. Apple, which uses Toshiba memory in its iPhone and iPad devices, helped keep the company above the water. Toshiba is the No. 1 maker of NAND flash memory chips -- behind only Samsung. Toshiba has ranked as the sixth largest flat-panel television maker with more than 5 percent of the global market.