Rationalizing The Illumina Instrument Lineup

Summary: If Illumina want to rationalize their instrument lineup and reduce production costs they should withdraw 5 of their current sequencers and release one new one. See the end of the article of details.

Illumina sell a lot of different sequencing instruments. 7 different base models and then variations on top of this. In this post I wanted to summarize the current lineup and speculate on what should be done with it.

The MiSeq

The MiSeq seems to be an evolution of the original Genome Analyzer. It’s the only current instrument that uses 4 color sequencing and is more than 12 years old.

It likely has a relatively low COGS based on its use of consumer grade CMOS sensors and LED excitation. It uses Tecan syringe pumps and Vici Valves on the fluidic side.

Roughly I’d estimate the BOM cost at $30K but low volume production and custom assembly likely contributes significantly.

Further information here.

The NextSeq 550 and the MiniSeq

While they address different markets the NextSeq 550 and MiniSeq seem like very similar instruments. These instruments use a red/green 2 color chemistry.

From what I can tell they use exactly the same optical assembly. The NextSeq 550 just uses 6 where the MiniSeq uses 1. The cameras used appear to be very cheap Aptina CMOS sensors, and cheap LED excitation sources.

The MiniSeq probably has a COGS lower than the MiSeq, but again given low volumes this likely isn’t hugely significant.

The NextSeq 550 being 6 MiniSeq’s crammed in a small box likely has a higher BOM cost. If I use an estimate $10K per optical block (PI actuator, custom objective, LEDs, filters/lenses) then we get a ~$80K BOM. This seems too high and I suspect those blocks can be made from $5K or less, but I’m often accused of underestimating costs so we’ll go with $80K.

Further information here.

The NextSeq 1000/2000

Probably the same instrument sold under two different SKUs to segment the market. These instrument use super-resolution (SIM). However the cameras used here are probably cheap CMOS image sensors and the cost similar to the MiSeq.

The NextSeq 2000 uses a blue/green 2 color chemistry to enable super-resolution.

Illumination likely requires lasers (blue and red), which adds to the BOM. Even so it could well be cheaper to manufacture than the NextSeq 550. With the lasers costing $10K each assuming there isn’t anything crazy on the optical side BOM would go ~$50K.

Further information here.

The NovaSeq 6000

The is likely an evolution of the HiSeq X. This means TDI cameras, lasers, Vici Valves, syringe pumps. I don’t have a full BOM breakdown, but making a wild guess… $300K. There are some pretty big error margins on this number in my view and it might be interesting to follow up in a future post (subscribe).

Uses 2 color Red/Green chemistry.

Again, COGS likely effected by relatively low production volumes.

Further information on the HiSeq X here.

The NovaSeq X

Here Illumina appear to have ported the super-resolution approach from the NextSeq 2000 over to the NovaSeq. As such it now uses 2 color blue/green chemistry.

I doubt this affects the BOM cost massively, but I’ve pushed to up $100K over the 6000 in my estimates. The NovaSeq X has a much bigger flowcell, this might require more/better cameras etc.

Again, large error margins here and might make for an interesting future post.

Rationalization