Sony to outsource CELL production!

Sony is trying to salvage its chip division by outsourcing production of the Cell processor, used in the PlayStation 3. According to a Reuters report: "Sony Executive Deputy President Yutaka Nakagawa told reporters that investment in chips would come down significantly from the 460 billion yen ($3.8 billion) allocated over the three business years since April 2004."

 

"Sony is already producing the cell chips, dubbed "supercomputer on a chip", using 90- and 65-nanometre circuitry for the PS3, and plans to move onto the 45-nanometre variety by 2009. A nanometre is one billionth of a metre."

 

The Cell is a huge chip -- around 221 sq mm to begin with, compared with 83 sq mm for a Pentium M -- and thus very expensive to make. Reaching a 45nm process will lead to a much smaller die and means Cell chips will be very much cheaper to make. But 2009 is a long way away, especially if you are sitting in a $3.8 billion black hole. Sony explains:

 

"When we first offered the PS2, there were no semiconductor companies that were able to make chips for the machine, so we did it ourselves. But now, there are companies that specialise in chip production," Nakagawa said. "They are aggressively investing in cutting-edge technology. Our basic understanding is that we probably won't need to do everything by ourselves for next-generation chips."

 

Well, sort of. The first 90nm chips were made by IBM. Also, according to the hype behind the Cell, it was going to be used in every sort of electronics device from TV sets to supercomputers, so having a high-volume Cell production line would be a license to print money.

I guess that idea has been put to sleep for a while, if not forever.

Meanwhile, queues still form for the Nintendo Wii -- a souped up GameCube that is so cheap to make it could be sold for $150 -- while Sony PlayStation 3 games consoles are sitting unsold on the shelves.

Sure, the PS3 hardware would be a bargain at $1,000, as it's a cheap way to get a Cell (you can run Linux on it!) and a Blu-ray movie player. But it's a very expensive way to run games that have already been played to death on the much cheaper Xbox 360.

 

Source: blogs.Guardian.co.uk