Sony plans to sell PS3 chip production facilities to Toshiba

[BigRick]

Sony may be planning to sell its chip production facilities to Toshiba for $865 million, if reports by the AP and Reuters are to be believed. The production facilities will include the lines that manufacture the PlayStation 3's Cell chip, and may or may not include the manufacturing of image sensors, depending on whether you believe Reuters or the AP's report. After the sale, Sony will probably continue to purchase chips from the facilities, with the company's game unit possibly also taking a stake in exchange for some kind of operational control. The deal isn't expected to go down for a few months yet, so even if there any problems in the handover, the PS3's production shouldn't see any short term issues. Sony and Toshiba have already responded to these reports, but managed to neither confirm nor deny their veracity to Japanese publication ITMedia.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/15/s...es-to-toshiba/

[gvortex7]

Why would Sony do something like that?

[BigRick]

Im Asking That To Myself As Well

[glenn22]

Originally Posted by gvortex7

Why would Sony do something like that?

from the Reuters article it seems that Sony is finding producing the cell chip inhouse was a lot more expensive than they thought. Weird they'd sell it to Toshiba of all companies though.

[blublublu]

Originally Posted by glenn22

from the Reuters article it seems that Sony is finding producing the cell chip inhouse was a lot more expensive than they thought. Weird they'd sell it to Toshiba of all companies though.

Toshiba co-developed the cell.

[aristotles]

Originally Posted by glenn22

from the Reuters article it seems that Sony is finding producing the cell chip inhouse was a lot more expensive than they thought. Weird they'd sell it to Toshiba of all companies though.

Ironically, Toshiba was one of the companies involved in the development of the Cell processor in the first place along with Sony IIRC.

Damn, blublublu beat me to it.

[glenn22]

Originally Posted by aristotles

Actually, ironically, Toshiba was one of the companies involved in the development of the Cell processor in the first place along with Sony IIRC.

I see. I didn't know that. This whole article makes a lot more sense then.

[gvortex7]

I know Toshiba co-developed the processor, but given the current competition between the two companies for the future of hi-def home video, I would have thought twice about selling to the biggest rival.

[takezo]

Originally Posted by gvortex7

Why would Sony do something like that?

To get Toshiba a taste of Blu-ray technology. If Toshiba believes that Blu-ray is more profitable than HD DVD, then Toshiba may just end up making Blu-ray players and finaly HD DVD will be dead.

[BigRick]

I Like Your Thinking Takezo

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by BigRick

I Like Your Thinking Takezo

How do you know that Toshiba won't incorporate the cell processor into HD DVD players?

[BigRick]

Originally Posted by gvortex7

How do you know that Toshiba won't incorporate the cell processor into HD DVD players?

I Dont Think That Its Used In BD Standalone Players. I Thought It Was Just Used For Video Games

[bootman]

Originally Posted by gvortex7

How do you know that Toshiba won't incorporate the cell processor into HD DVD players?

They might thought I doubt they could sell one for $199 if they did.

Companies go in to business like this all the time.
As much as some may wish to deny it, they are not diehards like fans of both HDM products.
The bottom line always comes first.

[takezo]

Originally Posted by gvortex7

I know Toshiba co-developed the processor, but given the current competition between the two companies for the future of hi-def home video, I would have thought twice about selling to the biggest rival.

I was half joking while wishing it were true.

Sony does have tons of emotion engine plants that they used for PS3 60GB and 20GB models.

Notice the word "game chip", It's not Cell because of IBM also owns it, and probably manufactures it even though they say it does include Cell. It's not RSX because Nvidia does that. What gameing chip is no longer in the new 80GB PS3? Emotion Engine.

Now that demand for PS2 is very low since it's very old, and PS3 not needing emotion engine, leaves Sony with plants they don't need. who better to sell it to, than Toshiba who also help pave the way for Cell. Remember Cell is intended to be a product for IT infastructure. Cell is not only for PS3. IF it is then Cell is a failure. Cell is not part of Blu-ray, it's what the PS3 uses for Blu-ray

But who knows Sony could sway Toshiba into making Blu-ray players as part of the negotiation process.

[gvortex7]

Originally Posted by bootman

They might thought I doubt they could sell one for $199 if they did.

Companies go in to business like this all the time.
As much as some may wish to deny it, they are not diehards like fans of both HDM products.
The bottom line always comes first.

Well yes, that makes sense of course, but I still think that somehow Sony could have sold to someone a but more neutral.
I guess you could look at it this way too, I think Toshiba being the co-developer of the processor sees its benefits more then any company, other than Sony.

[gvortex7]

But who knows Sony could sway Toshiba into making Blu-ray players as part of the negotiation process.

I highly doubt that.

At least not anytime soon.

[Patranus]

This is interesting.

It now gets Toshiba invested in the sucess of the Playstation 3.

The sucess of the Playstation 3 can be directly corolated to the sucess of Blu-Ray.

The cell processor was originally developed by STI a group consisting of Sony, Toshiba and IBM. It was developed over a 5 year period at an extimated cost of $500 million. The Playstation 3 is the only comershially available product to currently use the cell processor though it has been planned to incorporate it into other products such as HDTVs and optical disc players.

The cell is amazing at what it does - Vector processing. On the otherhand, the cell processor is extremely hard to program for conventional tasks.

From what I know, there is a very large market for the cell processor in video decoding. Some cell processors can currenlty decode 48 MPEG sreams simotamiously

I believe that Sonys diversion into the chip manufacturing business was not what it expected it to be. Toshiba is the number 4 manufacturer in the world of semiconductors (chips) and is good at what it does. Toshibas revenue from chip manufacturing increased 10% (~$10 Billion total sales/+ ~$1 Billion) while Sonys only increaded 5% (~$5 Billion total sales /+ ~$300 Million) from 2005 to 2006.

One of Toshibas core markets is chip manufacturing.

These companies to large amounts of business - it boils down to makeing money. Toshiba currently uses Sony batterys as an example.

[TruBlu2]

The cell processor is scheduled to be installed in other electronic devices not just the PS3. That was the goal. PS3 first, then cameras, camcorders ect.

Toshiba knows how to make chips. Their chips are in many brands devices.

They suck at hddud though, LOL


Live Blu or Die!!!!

[WickyWoo]

How do you know that Toshiba won't incorporate the cell processor into HD DVD players?

Toshiba plans to put the Cell into all-in-one flat panels that will include interactive VOD elements, probably based on HDi.

[joeorc]

Originally Posted by takezo

To get Toshiba a taste of Blu-ray technology. If Toshiba believes that Blu-ray is more profitable than HD DVD, then Toshiba may just end up making Blu-ray players and finaly HD DVD will be dead.

Toshiba Samsung completes Blu-ray Drive

TSST Korea (Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation) announced that it has completed the technical development of its Blu-ray disc drives. These offer a storage capacity up to 25GB at a single layer disc.

In the Blu-ray drive, the blue laser is the core factor that enables the next-generation optical disc format. Current DVDs use a red laser (650nm) to read and write data, while Blu-ray and HD DVD use a shorter-wavelength blue laser (405nm). As a result, the Blu-ray beam can focus more precisely, enabling it to read information recorded in pits that are only 0.16 microns long, which is more than twice as small as the pits on a DVD. Also, the smaller pit length allows for the storing of up to 25GB in a single layer disc -- about five times more than can be stored on a standard DVD disc.

The enhanced design that was first incorporated into Samsung's External DVD Writer is being adapted to the Blu-ray Drive as well. Samsung's Blu-ray Drive has the sophisticated black and silver color design of a high-end A/V product that would look perfect even in a living room. Blu-ray offers 50GB of storage capacity on a double-layer disc (25GB on a single-layer disc). A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25GB, which can be used to record over 2 hours of HDTV or more than 13 hours of standard-definition TV. There are also dual-layer versions of the discs that can hold 50GB.

Like all the other Samsung ODD Drives, the Blu-ray drive is eco-friendly and supports Firmware Live Updates that allow users to ensure they always have the latest Blu-ray firmware version. Samsung Electronics is a member of the Blu-ray Association and will launch internal and external Blu-ray drives simultaneously in 2006 under the Samsung brand through the Samsung Electronics distribution channel.

http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/R...rticleID=10987