PlayStation 3 sales send Asustek sales soaring

Via gamepro

Asustek Computer Inc.'s consolidated sales in November soared 81 percent month-on-month to US $2.59 billion. The figure was also 114 percent higher than November of last year, it reported Friday.

The company would not comment officially on why its revenue in November rose, but one executive confirmed that it is manufacturing the PS3 on behalf of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Stock market analysts, who have been pumping Asustek stock in Taiwan, had expected its revenue to rise around 40 percent to 50 percent month-on-month in November due to the start of PS3 sales globally, but their estimate was far short of the actual increase.

Sales of the popular game machine, which went on sale in Japan on Nov. 11 and in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan on Nov. 17, have been hampered by component shortages. SCEI had originally planned to have 2 million units available for its global launch, but problems procuring blue-laser diodes for the Blu-ray Disc drive inside the console forced it to pare its launch plan to just 500,000 units.

The company has said it is continuously shipping new consoles to retailers as they become available.