Component orders for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in 2013 reportedly may increase from 9-12 million units each to over 15 million units as their pre-orders in Europe and the US are both better than expected, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
The sources pointed out that they sent out component samples for testing in mid-2012, received orders in the first half of 2013, will start mass shipments at the end of July and reach the peak production in September and October to catch up with the year-end holidays.
Although the order increases will not benefit component makers in the third quarter due to related orders have already set for the quarter, the sources expect their shipments in the fourth quarter to increase significantly.
Seeing game consoles enjoying strong demand, many component makers are also aggressively preparing their capacities to handle any possible short-term orders. Taiwan-based camera lens supplier Newmax has recently announced to expand its capacity in China, which market watchers believe is meant for Xbox One's Kinect device.
Taiwan-based Kinko Optical, which landed camera lens orders for PlayStation 4, is also set to invest NT$1 billion (US$33.4 million) in 2013 to expand its plastic lens capacity, the sources noted.
Component makers see rising orders from game console players
Photo: Michael Lee, Digitimes file photo
Article translated by Joseph Tsai
