At 5-600 pounds a pop (when bundled, as it will be at Christmas) you may not care how much Sony make when they sell you a PS3. But as the Technology blog reports, it may be less than you think. Yes, it's the Cell processor - the power behind the PS3 - that is the problem.
The problem is that the cost of a chip depends on the yield. Chips are made on wafers, and you have to process a whole wafer at a time. Let's assume it costs $1,000 produce a wafer with 100 chips on it. If there are no defects at all, that's 100 good chips at $10 each. If the defect rate is 99%, you only get one chip per wafer and it costs $1,000..
Of course, this is nothing new. There has been plenty of previous speculation about Sony's PS3 manufacturing costs, with the Cell processor and Blu-ray drive the main culprits. The latter is particularly important for Sony as it attempts to win the HD battle. And for the consumer interested in buying a PS3 when they launch? Don't expect a price cut any time soon.
