HD DVD is soo last week
Toshiba, Sony and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCEI) have agreed to form a joint venture to produce semiconductor products for the Playstation, such as the Cell Broadband Engine and the RSX ‘Reality Synthesizer’, as well as other Sony and Toshiba components.
The yet-to-be-named joint venture will be 60 per cent owned by Toshiba, with the remainder split equally between Sony and SCEI. It will manufacture at the Nagasaki Technology Centre, currently owned by Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation (SCK).
Not for long, however, as the sudden cosiness doesn’t end there. Some time before the end of March 2009, Toshiba will shell out 90 billion yen (~$800 million, £400 million) to buy the 300mm wafer line installed in Fab2 of the above plant.
This follows Toshiba’s announcement yesterday, the same day it conceded defeat to Sony in the next generation format war, that it is building two new fabs in Japan, one of which will focus on semiconductors, while the other will make advanced generations of NAND flash memory.
Half of the latter, apparently, will be allocated to yet another new Toshiba joint venture, this time with Sandisk, which will increase flash memory production capacity for both of them.
So nuff respect to Toshiba for not dwelling on its defeat and getting straight back in the game. To do so with the company that beat it shows real character. It could all be a joke, however – the Sony/Toshiba joint venture has announced it will commence on 1st April 2008.
Official press release: Toshiba, Sony, and SCEI outline new joint venture for manufacturing high-performance semiconductors
