The Official March 2010 NPD Thread (Data for 5 weeks ending Apr 3 2010)

[Squilliam]

drkohler said:

Squilliam said:

1. They can slap the fab with a massive fine. Then they can wait for about 6 months without consoles to sell whilst they desperately try to port their chip over to a new process. Thats the risk they take by having a single supplier. If its not profitable for the fab they'll get dropped as a customer and its as simple as that.

2. Yields are what they are. When moving to a new process theres always a risk that the wafers coming off the production line don't yield the desired number of chips. This relates back to number 1. If they reduced the number of wafers ordered on the 65nm process then if they are unable to ramp up the 45nm RSX wafer production like expected there would be shortages.

I think it is pointless if I continued to try and explain to you how mass manufacturing works. Both of your points are completely bizarre from a real world standpoint, the real world simply _does not work_ as you seem to think. (btw, if you think the 45nm process is a new process, you are about 2-3 years late. People have started diddling with the 20/22nm processes now, this is new). End of discussion.

This isn't mass manufacturing. This is contract semi-conductor fabrication. Sony pays aprox $5000 per wafer and yields and staying within design rules are their responsibility. So they could have screwed up the transition, the fabrication process may not be up to the demands of a complex 300M transistor, ~100mm^2 chip, it happens.