PS2 production to move to China
by
Mar 14, 2003
According to a recent report, Japanese electronics giant Sony said on Thursday it would shift all production of its hugely popular PlayStation 2 game console to China in the next business year in an effort to trim costs.
Sony, the world's top maker of home video-game consoles, said it had already shifted half of its PlayStation 2 manufacturing to the Chinese factories of two Taiwanese electronics firms during the current year that ends on March 31.
"Basically, nearly all of our PlayStation 2 production will be shifted to China next business year," Kenichi Fukunaga, a spokesman at Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), said.
"We'll consign manufacturing to the local factories of mainly those two existing partners," he added.
The two firms are Hon Hai Precision Industry, Taiwan's largest private-sector manufacturer, and Asustek Computer, the nation's largest maker of computer motherboards.
Accumulated global shipment of PlayStation 2 topped 50 million in January, way ahead of its competitors - Nintendo's GameCube and the Xbox from Microsoft.
Mr Fukunaga said that Sony might make some PlayStation 2 consoles in Japan if demand surged or if special editions were released.
He declined to say how much savings the shift was expected to bring, but said that Sony would benefit from low labour and parts procurement costs in China.
SCE, Sony's game unit, said no decision had been made on where the next-generation PlayStation 3 - which analysts and industry executives expect to be launched around 2005 - would be produced.
Although Mr Fukunaga reiterated that the company would not comment on details about PlayStation 3, he denied a recent Taiwanese newspaper report that Sony would launch PlayStation 3 this year.
A Sony source said the report was apparently triggered by a misunderstanding regarding recent moves to increase production of PlayStation 2 in the region.
Mr Fukunaga said that Sony's planned to start selling PlayStation 2 in China this calendar year was still on track.
Shares in Sony ended trade down 1.2 per cent at 4,110 yen, while the Nikkei average slipped 0.94 per cent.
Now, you guys know why! It made in China.