Sony outsources PSP production to Taiwan's Hon Hai

TOKYO: Sony Corp.'s game unit said it had outsourced part of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) production to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Taiwan's top electronics parts maker.

Hon Hai, which also makes Sony's PlayStation 2 game console, started PSP production earlier this month in China's southern city of Shenzhen, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) said.

The development comes as little surprise since Taiwan's Commercial Times said earlier this year Sony would outsource PSP production to Hon Hai.

Sony's gaming unit aimed to achieve lower production costs, higher output capability and flexible operations by outsourcing PSP production, an SCE spokeswoman said.

She declined to comment on how PSP production would be shared between Hon Hai and Sony's existing production facility in Chiba, near Tokyo.

Sony launched PSP, which can play movies, music and games, last December in Japan and in March 2005 in the United States, aiming to take a chunk of the portable game machine market -- traditionally rival Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s stronghold.

The outsourcing to Hon Hai comes ahead of Sony's planned European launch of PSP in September.