Report: PS3 Production Begins In Taiwan

According to a report from news service AFX Asia citing The Commercial Times, Taiwanese based electronics firm ASUSTeK Computer will deliver the first PlayStation 3 console to Sony this month, as full scale production of the company’s next generation console begins. The first consignment is for 4 million units, with monthly shipments beginning with 200,000 units and increasing to 2 million in October. Fellow Taiwanese company Hon Hai Precision Industry will also begin production of the consoles shortly. The news appears to put Sony on course to deliver on its promise of production of one million units a month by November, with six million units by the end of March 2007, and by implication three million units worldwide by the end of 2006. Despite continuing concerns over the cost of the PlayStation 3, though, this is still unlikely to meet demand, and stock problems similar to or worse than the Xbox 360 launch last year have been predicted by some analysts.