Rumor: Chip Problems Will Delay the As-Yet Unannounced Next-Gen Xbox

A post on CVG does a great job of summarizing some technical jargon discussed over on SemiAccurate, the latter of which reports rumors that Microsoft’s run into some technical glitches with the chips for its next-generation Xbox. The net result? The console will miss its alleged release target of September 2013.

The problem, it seems, is that the chip is “producing ‘painfully low’ yields,” and that Microsoft has contracted with no fewer than three manufacturers to try and figure out ways to fix the chip’s poor results in time for a September 2013 release date. According to the SemiAccurate post, the latest this can be worked out to hit that target is November 1.

The post also offers up its own understanding of what will be powering Microsoft’s next iteration of the Xbox:

“SemiAccurate has been saying for a while that all signs were pointing toward a PowerPC, specifically an IBM Power-EN variant. The dark horse was an x86 CPU, but it was a long shot. It looks like the long shot came through, moles are now openly talking about AMD x86 CPU cores and more surprisingly, a newer than expected GPU. How new? HD7000 series, or at least a variant of the GCN cores, heavily tweaked by Microsoft for their specific needs.”

Got all that? Because I don’t.

Anyway, the main thrust of the story is that Microsoft’s got a  problem with getting this thing done in time to stay as competitive as they’d like. If Sony manages to get the jump on Microsoft in terms of their own next-gen console—with a reasonable price, I should add—then suddenly the Xbox’s place at the top of the gaming food chain in North America doesn’t look quite as good. And of course, none of this takes into account the Wii U, which will be launching it’s far-less-powerful self onto store shelves this fall, a full year ahead of Sony and Microsoft.

So make of all that what you will.

Via CVG and SemiAccurate