Small meeting with CEO Kusumi, CFO Waniko, and CSO Sumida

Research evidence excerpt

Small meeting with CEO Kusumi, CFO Waniko, and CSO Sumida

14 May 2026

Tokyo Intraday Comment

Consumer Electronics Panasonic Holdings (6752)

Rating: Buy

Price Objective: ¥3,120

Company Note Q&A details, our views on more AI-related investments, BBU, IRA, Blue Yonder

Share price: ¥3,275 (13 May)

Senior Analyst: Yasuo Nakane Our views

Senior Analyst: Kenichi Saita Below, we outline our impressions and outlook following our 13 May small meeting with

Analyst: Yuichi Sawayashiki Panasonic Holdings’ CEO Yuki Kusumi, CFO Akira Waniko, and CFO Kazuyo Sumida.

Shift to BBU production at Kansas plant looks inevitable

We were surprised to see that the market did not really seem to have factored in

the company’s announced strategic investments (¥500b, centered mainly on AI-related

products such as capacitors and battery backup units [BBU]) or the associated impact

on shareholder returns (particularly share buybacks). We do not believe the company

has abandoned share buybacks altogether. Instead, we think it might carry out buybacks

once there are clear prospects for operating cash flow to exceed its outlook from

FY3/28 (¥2.2t over three years). The strategic investment budget is ¥100b higher than

we expected, but the details are in line with our prior outlook, and we believe such

investments are needed. With automotive applications highly unlikely to fully cover the

Kansas plant’s 32GWh in capacity, a shift toward BBU production appears inevitable. In

addition to the front-end semiconductor production processes already being performed

by TSMC in Arizona, from 2028, when the company plans to commence CoWoS

production (back-end processes), it should be possible to produce GPUs/ASICs entirely

in the US. Within the AI server value chain, it might be possible to fully transfer existing