Toshiba, Sony, SCE to Establish Chip-making Venture
February 22, 2008
Following a basic agreement signed in October 2007, Toshiba, Sony, and SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) announced on February 20 that they have signed a definitive agreement to establish a chip-making venture. The new company is slated to start operations as of April 1, 2008.
Pursuant to the contract, Toshiba will spend about 90 billion Yen (US$835 million; US$1=107 Yen) acquiring Sony's 300mm wafer production line at the Nagasaki Technology Center Fab2. The new company will utilize the said facilities to manufacture high-performance Cell chips and RSX (Reality Synthesizer) graphic chips, both used in Sony's PlayStation 3 consoles, as well as other microchips for use in Toshiba's digital products.
The joint venture will be 60% owned by Toshiba, 20% by Sony, and 20% by SCE, Sony's game subsidiary. Fabrication is projected to leverage the 65mm process technology in the initial phase and migrate to the 45mm process in the future. The name of the new company is currently pending.