Sony isn’t exactly happy with the current economic situation. The complicated Cell processor, which is used in the PlayStation 3 video game console, is today made by Sony self, but it has admitted that this is not an optimal solution. For the the last three years it has spent $3.8 billion manufacturing computer circuits and it is now trying to find new ways to lower these costs. One very possible alternative would be to let semiconductor manufacturers TSMC or UMC to take over the manufacturing of Cell and both of these giants have big plans for 45nm, which Sony also considers a necessity for lowering manufacturing costs.
Sony aims to transition to a 45nm process with Cell at the end of 2008 or early 2009. The question is who will be making Cell by then. It has already started working on the 65nm version of Cell, which should lower the production costs of PlayStation 3 and hopefully also the retail prices.
“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 specialize in (such) chip production,” Nakagawa said.
