Rising manufacturing costs for semiconductors, a key component for the tech industry in general, will make the PS6 and the next Xbox they are more expensive to produce. This is the reality that can be read between the lines in the evaluation of the alternative CEO of SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment), Hiroki Totoki, who also acknowledged that the cost of PS5 components has also increased.

The main reason justifying this cost increase is not new, it is an issue that has already been pointed out by such important executives as NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, and it can be summed up very simply: node jumps and manufacturing technology changes new generation semiconductors it no longer brings the same cost reduction as previous generationswhich means there is no saving when making these jumps.

To give an example, the cost of 5 nm chip wafers manufactured at TSMC was $16,000 in 2020 and the cost of a 3 nm chip wafer from the same manufacturer was 20,000 dollars in 2022. With the second one, we have smaller chips, which means it is possible to get more units per wafer, but this advantage is masked by the increase in its price, and also because it is a smaller node, there is a greater risk of getting more broken chips.

More expensive and less powerful PS6 and Xbox, is there another option?

The truth is that if there are two more options which both companies could use. Both Sony and Microsoft could launch more powerful next-gen consoles, meaning they’ll maintain a significant jump in terms of raw performance, and apply an increase in the selling price allowing them to pass on the increased costs to consumers. This has already happened in specific generations, with the PS3 being the best example.

As for the second option, Microsoft and Sony may decide to launch more powerful next-gen consoles but keep the retail price lower. That way it would be them will have to absorb the cost increasewhich would not be a big problem as they could eventually recoup the losses incurred per unit sold by selling the software and services.

This model has been working for years and both companies are used to it, so I think that’s the most likely, especially given what Phil Spencer said yesterday when he talked about the next-gen Xbox. The head of the Xbox division has assured that its next console will represent the biggest generational leap in history, and to achieve such a big leap, important changes need to be made, which makes me think that the adoption Intel CPU and NVIDIA GPU The next Xbox could be a reality.