Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Wednesday it will invest about 280 billion yen to construct the world's largest manufacturing plant for plasma display panels in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture.

The leading plasma TV maker said the state-of-the-art plant will have an annual production capacity of about 12 million units and will begin operations in May 2009.

"Flat-screen TV is the business sector our company cannot lose," said Matsushita President Fumio Otsubo in a video news conference from Osaka. "To become No. 1 in the global market, we need to ensure productivity that will surpass sales."