Japan To Out-Produce US In Transistor Manufacturing

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Electronic equipment valued at £140 million was produced during 1958, but under the current five-year plan production will be trebled by 1962. In fact it may expand four or five times because of the rapid increase in TV viewers and the progress in transistor production.

Television is Japan's fourth largest industry. Today one TV set is being made every 6½ minutes. Yearly sales exceed £200 million. The big manufacturers such as Matsushita, Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric, Yaou Electric and Hayakawa Electric are planning to increase their production from their already high total of over 350,000 sets a month.

Production of transistor radios is now running at about 55,000 a month - four times the 1958 level and well above last year's figures. Transistor radios account for more than 70 per cent of all radios manufactured.

About 90 per cent of all transistor radio production is exported to the US.