Sony is to invest a total of JPY200bn ($1.7bn) over the three years 2003-2005 to install a semiconductor fabrication line for a 65nm process on 300mm wafers. The line will be used to manufacture the new microprocessor code-named "Cell" aimed at broadband internet networking applications as well as other system LSIs, by Sony’s Computer Entertainment business (SCEI). Of the JPY200bn, JPY73bn will be invested in FY2003. Instalment of a new semiconductor fabrication line for building chips with 65nm process on 300mm wafers will be initiated in SCEI’s Fab2 in Isahaya City, Japan. Test production will begin using the new fabrication line, gradually moving on to mass production. This will include a 65nm embedded DRAM process. SCEI has worked with IBM and Toshiba since the spring of 2001 on the development of the new microprocessor and on advanced semiconductor process technologies. Research and development of digital signal processing technologies for broadband applications are also being conducted.

Sony is to invest a total of JPY200bn ($1.7bn) over the three years 2003-2005 to install a semiconductor fabrication line for a 65nm process on 300mm wafers. The line will be used to manufacture the new microprocessor code-named "Cell" aimed at broadband internet networking applications as well as other system LSIs, by Sony's Computer Entertainment business (SCEI). Of the JPY200bn, JPY73bn will be invested in FY2003.

Instalment of a new semiconductor fabrication line for building chips with 65nm process on 300mm wafers will be initiated in SCEI's Fab2 in Isahaya City, Japan. Test production will begin using the new fabrication line, gradually moving on to mass production. This will include a 65nm embedded DRAM process.
SCEI has worked with IBM and Toshiba since the spring of 2001 on the development of the new microprocessor and on advanced semiconductor process technologies. Research and development of digital signal processing technologies for broadband applications are also being conducted.

Dr John Kelly, senior vice president and group executive for the IBM Technology group, comments: "We believe the Cell design, and the advanced technologies like SOI (silicon-on-insulator) with which it will be manufactured, will help change the way people work, play and communicate. This announcement by SCEI/Sony is a confirmation of the progress we've made with the Cell design itself, of our advances in semiconductor technology to help it reach its full potential and of Cell's far-reaching implications for a wide variety of applications."

Toshiba also announced that construction of an advanced 300mm wafer cleanroom for system LSI chips at its Oita operation in Japan will start in June 2003. The fab will start mass production in the latter half of H1 FY2004. Once it reaches full production, it will have a capacity of 12,500 300mm wafers a month. Some JPY40bn will be invested in the new fab and its cleanroom in FY2003, as the first stage of a four-year, JPY200bn project.

In December 2002, Toshiba announced its decision in principle to construct 300mm wafer fabs at Oita and at its Yokkaichi memory production operation base. A four-year investment program from FY2003 will see JPY350bn channelled into the two new fabs.

The new Oita fab will produce cutting-edge system LSIs, mainly microprocessors for broadband network applications. It will employ Toshiba's embedded DRAM process technology and a 65nm process. This will move to 45nm in the future.

Toshiba is working with Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) on joint implementation of production facilities for the manufacture of SCEI's products in Oita's new cleanroom. The two companies will confirm details in due course, including the amount and timing of SCEI's investment.