As noted by the Nikkei Asian Review, in 2009 Panasonic was still hatching plans to become one of the three world leaders in the production of solar panels, for which in 2011 it turned the core business of Sanyo Electric into its own division. Since 2012, solar panel prices dropped by about 30%, largely driven by Chinese competitors, making Panasonic's business unprofitable. The company now intends to discontinue core activities at factories in Malaysia and Japan by March 2022. Cooperation with Tesla in this area was terminated last year.

Panasonic as company is shrinking despite some nice book records that mainly come from speculations and free government money injections.