PS4 costs $381 to make, AMD receives $100 per unit

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humbug

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Shortly after Techinsights estimated the PlayStation 4 (SNE) has a manufacturing cost of $296, IHS, which is well-known for its phone/tablet teardowns, has estimated Sony's console has a manufacturing cost of $381, or just $18 less than its retail price of $399.

Sony has said it expects to initially sell the PS4 at a loss, but will turn a profit if a user buys one launch title and signs up for a $50/year PlayStation Plus subscription. Manufacturing costs are bound to drop over time, as prices fall for various components.

IHS thinks CPU/GPU supplier AMD is receiving $100 per PS4 unit. If reasonably accurate, that figure could mean AMD is also receiving ~$100 from Microsoft for each Xbox One produced, given the PS4 and One rely on very similar AMD Jaguar processors.

AMD shares have been pressured by concerns the company sacrificed ASPs/margins to secure its console wins.

Sony recently announced PS4 sell-through passed 1M within its first 24 hours of its North American launch. That puts the company on its way to hitting a target of 5M global sales in FY14 (ends March '14).
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It would be interesting to know how much each unit costs AMD. At $100, they could be raking it in.

Edit:

What is the GPU equivalent for desktops? I assumed it was around a 7790 or 7850 at max?
 
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Gregster said:
It would be interesting to know how much each unit costs AMD. At $100, they could be raking it in.
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I'm not 100% but i'm almost certain its IP based, Sony make the hardware, AMD do nothing after having designed it and then paintend it, if they are making the silicone it costs them about $30 per chip, very roughly with yields ecte factored in.

Edit- 7870 (apparently) with something like a Trinity Athlon sized CPU rolled into one.
 
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Well they sold the PS3 at a loss too so no diff there really, revisions and better manufacturing processes will bring the console into the green at some point but really they'll make money via the games and services :)
 
humbug said:
I'm not 100% but i'm almost certain its IP based, Sony make the hardware, AMD do nothing after having designed it and then paintend it, if they are making the silicone it costs them about $30 per chip, very roughly with yields ecte factored in.

Edit- 7870 (apparently) with something like a Trinity Athlon sized CPU rolled into one.
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do amd even make there own chips? i thought both intel and amd used outside companies to make the wafers ?

these guys still actually make the wafers for amd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobalFoundries ? which would mean I'm right and amd don't actually manufacture there own chips?
 
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arknor said:
do amd even make there own chips? i thought both intel and amd used outside companies to make the wafers ?

these guys still actually make the wafers for amd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlobalFoundries ? which would mean I'm right and amd don't actually manufacture there own chips?
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Intel have their own foundries, AMD use Global Foundries and TSMC.
 
The chips in the new consoles aren't exactly large or clocked that high, manufacturing-wise this usually indicates cheaper to produce.

Even if AMD just license their IP and sit back raking in cash, Sony/MS still need them when it's time to design a die shrink right?
 
Sony will be raking it in from PSN+ (if that's the right acronym) from almost every console,[let alone games] i'm surprised actually they're not making more of a loss from each unit.
 
Don't see how they'll be "raking it in", considering the costs involved in providing such a service. The 'free' games will make up a significantly expensive element of that, unlike Xbox Live for example.
 
If all there services ran at a loss, they wouldn't run them. That's simple.

So without any figures to back me up, i'm still fairly confident that they make profit from PSN+ (because otherwise they wouldn't of ever bothered introducing it), in the same way xblox live does. Also xbl offers free games monthly... has done for a while... so i'm not sure where the 'unlike' comes from.
 
I didn't say they ran at a loss, just that I think you're misguided in thinking that they're going to be immediately earning huge profits from PS+ with the PS4 when clearly a lot of money is being spent on the infrastructure as well as the included games for the PS4, PS3 and Vita.

The 'unlike' bit comes from the fact that the XBL games are all ancient therefore clearly not costing MS much money, as well as the fact that virtually all online services on the Xbox require XBL anyway, even if you don't play online.
 
TheVoice said:
I didn't say they ran at a loss, just that I think you're misguided in thinking that they're going to be immediately earning huge profits from PS+ with the PS4 when clearly a lot of money is being spent on the infrastructure as well as the included games for the PS4, PS3 and Vita.

The 'unlike' bit comes from the fact that the XBL games are all ancient therefore clearly not costing MS much money, as well as the fact that virtually all online services on the Xbox require XBL anyway, even if you don't play online.
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I never mentioned any immediate profits... i meant throughout the life of a console unit they sell at no profit / loss, they will easily make their money back from services such as PSN+. Game licenses / sales etc will all be extra.
 
Saw your reply Jono and thought - who doesnt :p (actually didnt know they used GI; known theyve used TSMC). Kinda well known difference between Intel and AMD

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
Jono said:
Why do you know this? Not a criticism, just curious :)
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he likely keeps upto date with the new cpu's manufacturing processes, often you will get stories about the success rates when they move to a new manufacturing process or smaller nm chips.

not all wafers are created equal and not all of them are good enough to be used
 
Well I belive Sony are sitting in some deep red account margins, as well of a couple of years of rather heavy lay offs.
 
Jono said:
Why do you know this? Not a criticism, just curious :)
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arknor said:
he likely keeps upto date with the new cpu's manufacturing processes, often you will get stories about the success rates when they move to a new manufacturing process or smaller nm chips.

not all wafers are created equal and not all of them are good enough to be used
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This, i'm a hardware enthusiast with to much time on my hands :o

Intel foundries:

Hillsboro, USA
Chandler, USA
Rancho, USA
Hudson, USA
Leixlip, Ireland
Kiryat Gat, Israel
Dalian, China

As for AMD, Global Foundries, Dresden, Germany. Was their Foundry until they sold it in 2008, they make thier CPU's and APU's at Global Foundries, Discrete GPU's at TSMC Taiwan. the PS4 and xBox One have AMD APU's, so they are made at Global Foundries, unless Sony / Microsoft use their own designated foundries.
I don't know which it is.
 
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