Microsoft has confirmed rumors that one of its three Xbox 360 manufacturing plants, located in China, will close — or, in Microsoft’s words "voluntarily expire" — on July 1, according to Next Gen.
Microsoft stated, "These types of adjustments are considered a common business practice within the consumer electronics industry and should not reflect on the relationship between Microsoft and Wistron. Also, this does not affect our guidance which still implies we expect to sell about 12 million Xbox 360 consoles by end of June 2007."
But DigiTimes indicated yesterday that the parting between Wistron and Microsoft was not an amicable one. According to the story, a Chinese newspaper named EDN reported that the real reason for Wistron’s pulling out of 360 manufacturing was due to it losing money over the venture and Microsoft’s connection with Wistron’s competitors.
