The China Economic News (CENS) reports TSMC, ASE and Nanya are benefitting from Microsoft orders for chipsets for the latest XBox360. CENS reports:
Microsoft began in April farming out production of 65nm graphics chips and north-bridge chips for its latest version of XBox360 game consoles to Taiwanese foundries Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) and Nanya PCB Corp.
CENS continues:
TSMC is chosen to make the 65nm graphics chips and north-bridge chips for Xenon chips, ASE is contracted to package and test the two chips, and Nanya has won orders to supply flip-chip packaging substrates. The contract has booked a total of foundry capacity for around 10,000 300mm wafers at TSMC, currently the No.1 player of silicon-foundry industry worldwide.
People familiar with the contracts said Microsoft ordered 50% more contract packaging and testing capacity as well as flip-chip substrate in the second quarter than the first one, giving a boost to Nanya and ASE in their revenue growth this quarter.
Microsoft has also contracted two Asustek spinoffs to manufacture the actual consoles. According to Digitimes:
Pegatron Technology and Unihan Technology, two OEM makers spun off from Asustek Computer, have reportedly secured OEM orders for Xbox 360 consoles and will undertake the production at their factories in Suzhou, China, with an initial monthly shipment volume of about 500,000 units, according to industry sources in Taiwan.
The same Digitimes article also continues saying Wistron, the original contract manufacturer for the XBox, has declined to continue manufacturing them because of a reduction in the gross profit margin.
Article 1: Microsoft Contracts Taiwanese Foundries to Build Latest XBox360 Chips
Article 2: Asustek subsidiaries reportedly land OEM orders for Xbox 360 consoles
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