Panasonic plans to invest 600 billion yen ($4.9 billion) in areas such as electric car batteries, supply chain software and hydrogen energy, which the company sees as the core of its growth, according to media reports.
In the 2022-2024 fiscal year (April 2022-March 2024), Panasonic will invest 400 billion yen in "growth areas" such as electric vehicle batteries and 200 billion yen in "technical pillar areas" such as hydrogen energy, according to a statement issued on April 1. and plans to achieve a cumulative operating profit of 1.5 trillion yen.
Panasonic is looking for new ways to grow. Kazuhiro Tsuga, the former chief executive of Panasonic, once a global leader in consumer electronics, spent nearly nine years spinning off lossmaking businesses such as plasma TVs and making Panasonic a lean and lossmaking company. Last April, Tsuga handed over power to Yuki Kusumi.
Kusumi now faces the challenge of leading Panasonic on the path of sustained growth. Over the past year, Kusumi has turned Panasonic into a holding company. Under such a structure, he believes, it will be easier for Panasonic to decide where to invest to achieve long-term growth.
Kusumi said in an interview last June that he planned to "refine and strengthen" Panasonic's remaining business over two years. During this period, improving efficiency will improve the company's profitability, resulting in hundreds of billions of yen in funds and used for new development measures such as mergers and acquisitions.
One of Panasonic's favorite growth areas is the electric car battery business. Panasonic is in talks on the location of a US factory where it plans to produce 4680 batteries for Tesla and other carmakers. It is reported that the multibillion-dollar plant will be operational as soon as 2024.
Panasonic also sees an opportunity in supply chain software. In 2021, Panasonic bought Blue Yonder, an artificial intelligence software developer, for $7.1 billion. Blue Yonder manufactures supply chain management software and uses artificial intelligence to predict product demand. Panasonic plans to combine Blue Yonder's software with its hardware such as cameras and sensors to provide customers with higher-margin solutions.
