Sony and Microsoft look to 65nm to reduce costs

Microsoft and Sony are both aggressively preparing to migrate chief components of their latest consoles to 65nm silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology production in order to help shrink the gap between retail prices and production costs.

iSuppli‘s research shows that at present, manufacturing costs of the 20GB and 60GB PS3 are around US$ 306.85 and US$ 241.35 more than current retail prices. iSuppli also notes of Microsoft’s situation saying that the Xbox 360 Premium package priced at $US 399 actually costs the company US$ 525 to produce. The DigiTimes reports that:

during a recent Sony investor conference, the company said that it has already started production of various sized chipsets on 65nm node and noted that die-size could be shrunk by 40% in comparison to 90nm process, indicating that corresponding costs could be reduced along with the reduction in die size.

On the Microsoft side of things, they’ve announced last April that they would start producing Xbox 360 CPUs on 65nm SOI technology in the first quarter of 2007. However, DigiTimes does note that rumors suggest that the move to 65nm might be delayed to mid-2007.

A recent Chinese-language Commercial Times report comments that if 65nm manufacturing is introduced, three key Xbox 360 components – the CPU, northbridge, and graphics chip – may see their prices reduced by 30% to 40%.

On the Sony side, they add that they also plan to reduce the number of parts in the PS3 in an attempt to see “drastic” cost reductions.

Microsoft and Sony are both aggressively preparing to migrate chief components of their latest consoles to 65nm silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology production in order to help shrink the gap between retail prices and production costs.

iSuppli‘s research shows that at present, manufacturing costs of the 20GB and 60GB PS3 are around US$ 306.85 and US$ 241.35 more than current retail prices. iSuppli also notes of Microsoft’s situation saying that the Xbox 360 Premium package priced at $US 399 actually costs the company US$ 525 to produce. The DigiTimes reports that:

during a recent Sony investor conference, the company said that it has already started production of various sized chipsets on 65nm node and noted that die-size could be shrunk by 40% in comparison to 90nm process, indicating that corresponding costs could be reduced along with the reduction in die size.

On the Microsoft side of things, they’ve announced last April that they would start producing Xbox 360 CPUs on 65nm SOI technology in the first quarter of 2007. However, DigiTimes does note that rumors suggest that the move to 65nm might be delayed to mid-2007.

A recent Chinese-language Commercial Times report comments that if 65nm manufacturing is introduced, three key Xbox 360 components – the CPU, northbridge, and graphics chip – may see their prices reduced by 30% to 40%.

On the Sony side, they add that they also plan to reduce the number of parts in the PS3 in an attempt to see “drastic” cost reductions.