Sony is going into overdrive for what is speculatively its shortest console cycle with the PlayStation 5 - and AMD just confirmed its support. | Source: Shutterstock.com
AMD appears confident it can respond to Sony’s plans to pump out 10 million PS5 consoles by year-end.
Speaking yesterday in AMD’s Q2 financial results call , CEO Lisa said the silicon giant is on track to deliver enough custom SoCs (system-on-a-chip) on time for the release of both PS5 and Xbox Series X during the holiday period 2020.
Su explains:
‘We passed an important milestone in the second quarter as we began initial production and shipments of our next-generation game console SoCs. We expect strong second half semi-custom growth as we ramp production to support the holiday launches of the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.’
Earlier this month, reports revealed Sony is significantly increasing its production of PS5 units due to an anticipated increase in demand spurred by the ongoing pandemic.
Lockdown measures and mounting fears of a second wave are likely to mean people will continue turning to video games as more time is spent at home. Sony estimates this will translate to more early sales of its highly-anticipated next-gen console.
The gaming giant has shifted from an initial order of 5 to 6 million units by March 2021 to 10 million units by the end of 2020.
Su’s confidence implies that despite Sony virtually doubling its production order, AMD will meet the demand in what is already a busy second half of 2020 for the company.
AMD plans to launch both new 7nm Zen 3 CPUs and RDNA2 Big Navi GPUs this year alongside supplying custom AMD Zen 2 chips for Microsoft and Sony’s upcoming next-gen consoles.
Although the uncertainty of the current global situation may yet derail plans, notably when it comes to the logistics of shipping enough units worldwide in time for release, Sony and Microsoft remain resolute in their commitment to a holiday 2020 launch.