Report: PlayStation 6 Chip Contract Landed by AMD, Sony Prioritizing PS5 Backwards Compatibility

While we’re just about midway in the PS5’s lifecycle, it’s understandable that development on its successor — the PlayStation 6 — would already be underway. Today, it seems our first real info about the upcoming next-gen console has surfaced, though it’s connected more on its manufacturing process rather than its specs, games, form factor and the like.

In a report by Reuters, tech company and chipmaker Intel has allegedly lost out on providing the chip for the PS6 to AMD back in 2022 per sources. Intel was seeking a contract to design and fabricate the PS6 chip, which was estimated to generate $30 billion in revenue.

Intel lost out to AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) in a bidding process, and the two were the final two contenders in the bidding process of the contract. Per the report, snagging the PS6 chip design business would have meant not only for Intel’s design segment, but also as a win for the company’s contract manufacturing effort, which was the centerpiece of Inteo CEO Pat Gelsinger’s plan to turn the company around.

Apparently, Intel lost out on the contract as a dispute on how much profit Intel stood to take from each chip sold to Sony blocked the company (Intel) from settling on the price with the electronics giant according to two unnamed sources. The meeting between Sony and Intel took place in 2022 across several months, including the two companies’ CEOs, “dozens of engineers and executives.”

When reached for a comment an Intel spokesperson said, “We strongly disagree with this characterization but are not going to comment about any current or potential customer conversations. We have a very healthy customer pipeline across both our product and foundry business, and we are squarely focused on innovating to meet their needs.”

For those not aware, the PS5 is powered by custom chips which are being manufactured by AMD. Reportedly, ensuring backwards compatibility was a priority for the PS6, and moving away from AMD to a new hardware maker would have risked that feature, which would have been costly for Sony. This backwards compatibility feature was something discussed by Intel and Sony’s engineers and executives as well.

Outside of this report, we’re not expecting a lot of news regarding the PS6 to seep its way out, as we’re very far off from its announcement. Heck, the PS5 Pro just got announced recently, and that mid-gen refresh is due for release in November this year, so expect the PS5 to tide us over for a few more years at the very least.

More PlayStation Reading:

• PlayStation Co-CEO States Benefits of Playing Consoles Compared to PC, Mobile; Business to Be Centered on “Home Consoles” But Wants to Increase Market Pie
• PS5 New Adaptive Controller Charging Feature Added in Latest Update Only Available in Slim & PS5 Pro; Gamers Unhappy About It
• PS5 Pro Reveal Doesn’t Go as Expected, Community Reaction Largely Negative and Unimpressed

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