Sony Corp, the world's second-largest consumer-electronics maker, will mass produce its next-generation chip for PlayStation game consoles and other audiovisual products starting in the latter half of 2005, a company official said.
Sony will install a test production line for the so-called "Cell" chip at a plant in Nagasaki prefecture as a first step, Kenshi Manabe, chief technology officer at Sony's game unit, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. told an industry meeting in Yokohama.
Tokyo-based Sony is counting on Cell to equip the successor to PlayStation 2, the world's best-selling video-gaming console, and other audiovisual products that can use Cell's better computing speed and network features. Sony is looking to those products to secure future earnings after the company's group net income fell 98 percent in the three months to June 30.
"Sony's success from 2006 onward is highly dependent on Cell," said Shoji Hiraga, who manages the equivalent of US$91 million in Japanese equities at Resona Asset Management Co, which holds Sony's shares.
"This shows that development is on schedule," he added.
Sony Computer in April said it will spend ?200 billion (US$1.82 billion) during the next three years to make the chip, of which ?73 billion will be spent in the current fiscal year ending in March next year.
Sony shares fell ?110, or 2.8 percent to 3,880 as of 1:10pm in trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Sony shares have fallen by 22 percent so far this year, making them the worst- performing on the Nikkei 225 Stock Average since Jan. 1.
Cell will be a specialized chip for the company's next generation of computer entertainment systems and other products.
The new processor will be much faster than existing chips, enabling better performance and more sophisticated functions.
The chip "is not only for a video-game console," Manabe said. "It is more general-purpose, for other Sony products."
Sony is developing the chip with Toshiba Corp, Japan's largest chipmaker, and International Business Machines Corp, the world's largest computer maker.
Most of the ?73 billion investment for the current fiscal year is to start test production of the chip as early as next month, Manabe said.
At Sony's annual shareholders' meeting in June, Sony Computer President Ken Kutaragi said Sony plans to make and show a trial version of the Cell chip by the end of March next year.
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