Sony announced yesterday its investment of $1.67 billion (200 billion yen) to build a semiconductor fabrication line in Japan for use in developing ultra-small, ultra-high-spec chip technology, between now and 2007.
SCEI will use the plant to manufacture the behind-schedule Cell chip, which is said to be focused on broadband applications and stupidly fast processing.
The investment is clearly of highest importance to the Tokyo based company, as most chip manufacturing of any kind is often done in labs in developing countries, like Taiwan or Hungary. The decision to build a plant in Japan clearly shows SCEI's desire to keep everything under close scrutiny, and possibly a lack of confidence in anyone else to do the job for them.
Further testament of this lies in Sony’s decision to shut down a fabrication line in San Antonio, Texas - cutting 600 jobs in the process, possibly to help cushion the blow of the $1.67 billion investment and focus as many resources as possible on this single project.
"SCEI's Fab 2 already applies the most advanced semiconductor technology to produce high performance LSIs, not only for game hardware but also other electronic products," added Kunitake Ando, president and group chief operating officer of Sony. "The planned investment will further enhance this advanced semiconductor facility to become a technology driver for the next generation of Sony products” he said.
“Building on this, Sony's Broadband Network Company, newly established as of April this year, will play a key role in developing next generation electronic devices and linkages to game devices" he added.
All very interesting indeed, and possibly further indication of Sony's long term plans, which some are saying is to fully consolidate all digital living room appliances into one, trusty, net-connected broadband box, where content is to be downloaded or part streamed off servers.
Also announced was a project to combine the Emotion engine and graphics processor of the PS2 onto one chip, a project given the code name Dragon.
The benefits of such a chip - aside from cutting manufacturing costs - include simplified coding routines for programmers, as well as smaller sized innards for a PS2 - possibly indicating a smaller PS2 model in the works, much like the smaller, cuter PSOne which is aimed at the gift market.
May's E3 Expo in Los Angeles is likely to shed further light on the subject of when cell-powered PS3 will be released, as well as possible news on the streamlined PS2, and as expected, we'll be the first to let you know.
SCEI will use the plant to manufacture the behind-schedule Cell chip, which is said to be focused on broadband applications and stupidly fast processing.
The investment is clearly of highest importance to the Tokyo based company, as most chip manufacturing of any kind is often done in labs in developing countries, like Taiwan or Hungary. The decision to build a plant in Japan clearly shows SCEI's desire to keep everything under close scrutiny, and possibly a lack of confidence in anyone else to do the job for them.
Further testament of this lies in Sony’s decision to shut down a fabrication line in San Antonio, Texas - cutting 600 jobs in the process, possibly to help cushion the blow of the $1.67 billion investment and focus as many resources as possible on this single project.
"SCEI's Fab 2 already applies the most advanced semiconductor technology to produce high performance LSIs, not only for game hardware but also other electronic products," added Kunitake Ando, president and group chief operating officer of Sony. "The planned investment will further enhance this advanced semiconductor facility to become a technology driver for the next generation of Sony products” he said.
“Building on this, Sony's Broadband Network Company, newly established as of April this year, will play a key role in developing next generation electronic devices and linkages to game devices" he added.
All very interesting indeed, and possibly further indication of Sony's long term plans, which some are saying is to fully consolidate all digital living room appliances into one, trusty, net-connected broadband box, where content is to be downloaded or part streamed off servers.
Also announced was a project to combine the Emotion engine and graphics processor of the PS2 onto one chip, a project given the code name Dragon.
The benefits of such a chip - aside from cutting manufacturing costs - include simplified coding routines for programmers, as well as smaller sized innards for a PS2 - possibly indicating a smaller PS2 model in the works, much like the smaller, cuter PSOne which is aimed at the gift market.
May's E3 Expo in Los Angeles is likely to shed further light on the subject of when cell-powered PS3 will be released, as well as possible news on the streamlined PS2, and as expected, we'll be the first to let you know.
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