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Forums - Sony Discussion - Sony plans on dropping the Cell?

sieanr on 20 September 2007

Ok, so you already know about the factory being sold off.

But this is where things get interesting; "The move follows Sony's announcement last year that it intends to reduce spending on the next-generation chip to succeed the Cell, which is used in Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 3 video game console. Under a strategy of selectively consolidating its semiconductor operations,Sony plans to beef up its image sensor business while jettisoning the Cell."

First off, I never knew Sony had plans to cut R & D on the Cells sucessor. It could be that Sony has decided to get an off the shelf part, or contract the design out. Now you may thing they are just spending money on updating the Cell, but that doesn't appear to be the case either.

Also interesting is their interest in expanding their camera line at the evident expense of tha gaming division. Not too long ago Sony purchased Konika-Minolta for no small chunk of change, and recently they have started becomming agressive in the DSLR market. It could be that recent changes in managment have caused a shift in prioities, as well as the camera market being relativly profitiable - especially when acting as a sensor supplier.

Anyone know anything else about this?

(BTW, I think the part about exiting the gaming market is bull)



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a.l.e.x59 on 20 September 2007

Either Sony exits now, or we get the "Playstation 4," sooner, and cheaper.



ChichiriMuyo on 20 September 2007

That's a logical leap that's not really supported. Really, it says Sony isn't developing the successor to the Cell, not that they aren't developing a successor to the PS3.

And really, they have no need to continue development on the Cell. The venture has proven unprofitable for them. Toshiba and IBM don't seem to take issue with it, though, so in all liklihood they will develop the next generation Cell themselves if one is going to be made at all. IF Sony wanted anything to do with the next-gen Cell they could just buy the chips from either of those two companies.

Really, any speculation they made in relation to this little tidbit of news is baseless and holds as much weight as if I countered with "Yeah, they've givng up on the Cell because they already made something better!" There's no evidence to support it, and it sounds like they are just reading way too much into this.

Edit:  Ahh, a.l.e.x59, always good for a quick laugh.  I sure hope you're attempting to be funny when you formulate your posts.



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ultraslick on 20 September 2007

What exactly are you saying here,

"The move follows Sony's announcement last year that it intends to reduce spending on the next-generation chip to succeed the Cell, which is used in Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 3 video game console. Under a strategy of selectively consolidating its semiconductor operations,Sony plans to beef up its image sensor business while jettisoning the Cell."

It says they are reducing spending for the successor to the cell.
The PS3 will always use the cell, as will games - it just wont be in house manufacturing.



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ssj12 on 20 September 2007

Sony, Toshiba, and IBM developed the CELL so Sony could just let IBM handle the upgrading. IBM is the one who would end up doing the R&D anyways.



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smallflyingtaco on 20 September 2007

This I think means nothing. They are no longer part of the Cell project doesn't mean they are not going to keep using it. There had been notice in articles last spring that they were not participating in all Cell projects, I think it was the 45nm project, with IBM and Toshiba. If they are leaving the project they can just purchase the chips from IBM or Toshiba, probably saving them money in the short term. Dropping the Cell, unless for some reason they are grabbing some other member of the Power family that is close enough for replacement -- but that is just as silly as the only other member I know of would be even more expensive, would be the end of the PS3 and that seems extremely insanely unlikely at this point.



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Onimusha12 on 20 September 2007

Will there be any future asset liquidations for Sony though or is this pretty much the extent we can expect to see from them?