The continuing shortage of Xbox and PlayStation consoles has been a story since these platforms were launched in November. The shortage is not unique to console games – there are issues with the availability of hardware on both computers and consoles, as GPUs recently launched from Nvidia and AMD are hard to find, just like AMD’s Ryzen 5000 CPUs.
According to Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, the company has been asking questions about Xbox production for weeks.
‘I get some people [asking], ‘why did you not build more? Why did you not start earlier? Why did you not send them earlier? “All of this,” Spencer said on a Major Nelson podcast, as seen by VGC.
“It’s really just about physics and engineering. We do not hold them back: we build them as fast as we can. We have all the assembly lines going. I was on the phone with Lisa Su at AMD last week [asking], ‘how do we get more?’ So this is something we are constantly working on. ”
I do not want to say that AMD can do nothing to improve the situation for Microsoft, but the ability of the company to change the situation is probably limited. AMD’s involvement with the chip is limited to its design. The actual work of producing and shipping it in sufficient volume is done by TSMC.
There are indeed a few buttons and slides over which AMD has indirect control, or it may work with TSMC to increase returns as a certain number of Xbox Series X | S SoCs is not Rare missing specification. Small adjustments to improve yield and performance are common. From mid-mid to mid-2010s, it was not uncommon to see AMD or Intel introduce a newer variant of an older chip, but with a lower TDP compared to what they shipped through the door has. These improvements reflect low-end optimizations.
Although AMD may be able to increase Xbox production by reducing orders in other 7nm product families, the company will be limited with the capacity of TSNC at 7nm. Last fall, several reports suggested that TSMC would be able to build 140,000 waffles of 7 nm per month by the end of 2020. In the first half of 2020, TSMC’s WPM (wafers per month) was estimated at 110 K. This implies that the company increased its capacity of 7 million during the year by 1.27 times.
Clearly, that was not enough, and Nvidia’s decision to build with Samsung on 8N instead of tapping on TSNC’s 7nm was also not enough to spare Ampere’s availability. Nvidia is currently expected to move to TSMC 7nm in 2021 for extra Ampere production, which could put the situation even further.
Relief may occur in the form of deductions on the mobile demand of 7 nm if companies switch to 5 nm. Currently, a number of companies have urged consumers to expect better product availability after the period from March to April 2021, which may reflect from new capacity available online, to improved yields, to a decrease in utilization of 7 nm as businesses transition to 5 p.m. It may even be that companies at that stage predict a decline in the closing level, which could lead to a weakening of demand, especially in the short term. Once people can safely leave home again, we’ll likely see video game spending and home entertainment return to other forms of recreation, even if the pandemic creates a long-term increase in the number of people buying and subscribing to consoles after streaming services, or to work from home.
Image by VGChartz
The best data we have about the relative performance of the two console manufacturers comes from VGChartz. They set their sales estimate for the first six weeks since launch (the Switch data is in line with its launch, not current sales). The results are not particularly good for Microsoft, although we note that only a very limited amount of data can be retrieved from the first six weeks, especially at a time when console sales are still limited. All indications are that Microsoft and Sony continue to sell every console they can manufacture.
US Sales, VGChartz
US sales are a better story for Microsoft. While the Xbox Series S | X is still lower than PlayStation 5, it’s about 30 percent, not nearly 50 percent. It’s also the one area where Xbox Switch actually beats in terms of global sales. Elsewhere, Switch leads, including Japan.
For now, it appears that the PlayStation 5 is selling the Xbox series (both flavors) strongly worldwide, with tougher (but still Sony-favorable) competition in the US. Whether AMD can do anything to put more console soCs in the hands of its partners is unknown. Wasn’t it the PlayStation 5 that had to face the severe limitations on offer?
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