The current favorite subject for online rumours has to be the upcoming PS3, with sources claiming to offer exclusive news, appearing left and right. This need for information has been fed this week by consecutive leaks by Elpida, the only confirmed PS3 memory supplier.
Earlier this week Elpida's orders were revealed giving some insight into the timeline Sony hope to stick to during production but this time Internet sources claim to have information about the size of the memory the new console will carry, giving an idea about the volume of PS3's Sony will be able to manufacture.
The new information suggests that PS3 will incorporate four XDR-DRAM chips, for a total of 256MB of main RAM, considering PS2 sports 32MB of much slower RAM, it is easy to see what kind of a performance jump Sony are aiming for. Information coming from Sony is sparse and limited to triumphant statements about the cell microprocessor but there are some assumptions that can be made based on these new memory details.
There are currently three memory suppliers working on XDR-DRAM chips, Elpida, Toshiba and Samsung. Although only Elpida have been confirmed as suppliers, all three are expected to supply chips for the PS3.
The companies will begin bulk production of the RAM in early 2005, and should be able to come up with a total of 20 million XDR-DRAM chips within that year. According to the size of the PS3 memory announced, Sony could build as many as five million units of the PS3 by the end of 2005. A number of units which would guarantee a decent sized world-wide launch.
According to current production capabilities, the 2006 yield of chips would be, approximately, 30 million, enough to build 7.5 million consoles. This figure is definitely not one which would please Sony. Considering a 2005 PS3 launch they would surele plan to sell over 10 million units during 2006.
It is possible that Sony's desire to have the technological edge over the competition may limit their ability to produce enough units. With the company's experience in the field however, it is hard to believe that they will not have compensated for just such a possibility.
