The stay-at-home economy induced by the coronavirus outbreak is expected to significantly boost demand for the PlayStation 5 (PS5) and benefit Taiwan's upstream semiconductor companies, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

Figures from VGChartz show global PS5 sales reached nearly 3.37 million units in the first four weeks after launch with around 1.39 million units sold in the US, 1.15 million units in Europe and 215,000 units in Japan.

With Sony preparing more inventory by the end of 2020, TSMC and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) are gearing up to provide AMD, the CPU supplier of the PS5, their capacity support in December, said the sources.

The CPU is made via TSMC's 7nm process with backend packaging and testing services provided by ASE and China-based Tongfu Microelectronics, noted the sources.

The sources pointed out that the monthly production of the CPU has been picking up each month to reach around one million units recently with accumulative shipments of the CPU expected to total six million units by the end of the year.

PS5 sales have been robust since its launch
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