Is the PS3 Slim a fabrication or a frustrating leak? If it turns out to be the latter, then here's another possible source of frustration for Sony: Rumor has it that two Taiwanese manufacturing companies have been awarded contracts to build the PS3 Slim.

Here's another company outside of consoles that's set to benefit from the next-gen console production. Asustek Computer Inc.'s consolidated sales in November soared to 81 percent month-on-month to US $2.59 billion. The figure was also 114 percent higher than November of last year.

Although the company would not comment on why its revenue in November rose, one executive confirms that it is manufacturing the PS3 on behalf of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. There, Asus actually has to thank all of the poor homeless Chinese men who bought a PS3 unit during launch day.

Anyway, Stock market analysts expected the revenue of Asus to rise around 40 to 50 percent month-on-month in November due to the start of global PS3 sales, apparently their estimate was very much shorter compared to the actual increase.

So far sales of the PS3 has been hampered by short supply. If demand for the unit stays constant, and if the shipping of the units catches up, Sony and Asustek looks to profit.

Good news for Sony fanboys and girls: production of the PlayStation 3 has begun! Apparently, Asustek Computers, considered one of the biggest computer components producer, has already shipped PS3 consoles to Sony. If this is true, it can only mean one thing: the November launch is pushing through (Yey!).

With the 200,000 component sets shipped to Asus in June, a small volume has already been assembled and shipped back to Sony early this month. The number of consoles to be built by Asus is said to increase as the launch date approaches, with September and October marking a shipment to Asus of more than one million component sets.

There have been no reports regarding Foxconn Electronics, which was also reported to help build Sony's next-generation console, receiving any PS3 component parts. Chinese newspaper Apple Daily writes that Foxconn will start assembly operations when demand rises.