Sony reportedly considering jointly building a chip factory in Japan
Would cost billions.
Sony is reportedly considering jointly building a chip factory in Japan.
Reuters reported on a Nikkei story that claims Sony and Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, are discussing a partnership to build a chip factory in Japan, with the government apparently up for paying some of the investment of about 800bn yen (£5.24bn).
The plant would pump out semiconductors for automobiles, camera image sensors and other products hit by the global chip shortage, and would be up and running by 2024, Nikkei said.
Apparently TSMC is worried about the concentration of chipmaking capability in Taiwan under the shadow of China.
Production of video game consoles has been hit by the global chip shortage, with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo affected. The manufacture of graphics cards has also been hampered.
Last week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer told The Wrap that console shortages would continue into 2022 - although a shortage of chips wasn't the only issue hindering the availability of the Xbox Series X and S.
Last month, chip maker Toshiba told Bloomberg (paywall) the supply of chips would remain "very tight" until at least September next year - and potentially until 2023.
In July, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan told Reuters it would be "some time" before the company is able to meet demand for the PlayStation 5, admitting the chip shortage "is definitely a challenge that we are all navigating".
Despite this, PS5 is the fastest-selling PlayStation ever globally, with 10m sold.