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Sony Considers Outsourcing Cell Production

Posted by Zonk on from the get-on-up-get-on-out dept.

Gamasutra reports on comments from the Sony home office, where executives are considering plans to outsource production of the expensive/complicated Cell chips that power the PS3. Executive deputy president Yutaka Nakagawa is quoted in a Reuters report, saying that when the PS2 launched there just weren't other companies to turn to. With the chip market better-developed in 2007, there are third parties Sony is now considering to take on the task of advancing/producing the Cell. Outsourcing could also help financially with their beleaguered semiconductor division. The next move for the Cell is to 45 nanometer manufacturing, from the 90/65 the company is currently using. This scale change could not only help with profits, but may eventually make dropping the price on the PlayStation 3 an easier pill to swallow.

2 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. The real sucess by GiovanniZero · · Score: 3, Interesting
    It remains to be seen whether or not the PS3 will catch on or not but the really success for sony may be the cell processor it self. It's been seeing use out side of gaming almost as much as it has in.

    Wouldn't it be funny if Sony became a direct competitor to Intel and AMD? Next gen PCs could run on cell processors!

    I don't really care as long as something gets us out of the x86 rut.

    --
    Mod me up, mod me down, do your worst you modding clown.
  2. Not News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Because that's what Sony does best, ehh??

    But seriously though, I was just going to post an asinine comment about how the Sony Rootkit was outsourced to a 3rd party overseas, and how great their programming turned out to be.

    But when googling for some 'sony outsourcing' links, it looks like this isn't news:

    The Outsourcing Weblog: Sony Considers Outsourcing PSP Production

    The Outsourcing Weblog: New Sony CEO Could Mean More Outsourcing

    Sony Ericsson moving part of R&D program to India?

    Sony outsources IT development to India

    Sony Europe signs up with Indian outsourcer

    Sony Will Outsource Some [Battery] Replacements

    Sony to outsource notebooks to Taiwan

    And that's literly just the first 3 pages.