Sony cuts PlayStation 3 production cost in half

[m7ammed]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/12/sony-cuts-playstation-3-production-cost-in-half/

In a piece primarily focused on Blu-ray over at Business Week, a bit of scrolling led to quite the interesting tidbit: Sony has apparently been able to slash the production cost of its PlayStation 3 in half. More specifically, it was noted that the firm has been able to "shrink the PS3's chips and tweak its design," which aided in getting the cost per machine "to around $400 now, from above $800 just before it went on sale in November 2006." According to Nikko Citigroup's Kota Ezawa, the biggest culprit for such an improvement is the "reduction in the parts count." Still, we wouldn't get our hopes up for yet another price cut just yet, but at least things are moving in the right direction.

wonder if removing BC had anything to with the price cuts

 

[LaBounti]

Taken from Wikipedia

The cumulative reduction in production costs is as follows:

* Blu-ray (cost reduction: US$100)
* Cell B.E. (cost reduction: US$29 – US$40)
* EE removal (cost reduction: US$27)
* Chipset Modifications: Sony has removed a CXD9208GP, 2 RDRAM chips (US$5), and some passives and are planning on moving the RSX graphics chip from 90 nm to 65 nm production process and "the unification of separate smaller ICs — such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi — into single chip solutions and a change to a more specialized Southbridge." (cost reduction: unknown)

This brings the total cost reduction to at least $156 excluding the chipset modifications. Excluding the 65nm Cell B.E. change, the minimum cost reduction based on this approximation becomes $127.

 

[ceiling_fan]

The more efficient chips probably emit less heat which may translate into cheaper cooling systems etc.

 

[Eric.]

The more efficient chips probably emit less heat which may translate into cheaper cooling systems etc.

That's something I wouldn't agree with doing. If it runs cooler, fine. But just because it runs cooler doesn't mean they are allowed to skimp on cooling components to let it run as hot as a 90nm.

 

[ceiling_fan]

That's something I wouldn't agree with doing. If it runs cooler, fine. But just because it runs cooler doesn't mean they are allowed to skimp on cooling components to let it run as hot as a 90nm.

I feel the same, but from a business perspective Sony is profiting from this, and it's logical to do so as long as the product works. This may not even be a factor, I was just theorizing about lowered production costs.