IBM dips its toe into consumer devices

The five-year deal will see the three companies invest in a purpose built development centre on IBM premises in Austin, Texas to create what they are calling a "supercomputer on a chip".

In a joint press release the companies said the partnership will use IBM's chip technology and Toshiba's expertise in system integration to further cement Sony's position in the consumer electronics market.

Codenamed 'Cell' the chips produced will be as powerful as IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer, and will benefit from the IBM's Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology, launched last year.

IBM has set aside a large part of its new wafer fab in Fishkill, New York to make the chips.

The companies say they want the developed chips to be broadly available to other market players, and won't just be restricted to the three partners.

The chip will be designed for products which work in high-bandwidth environments such as video and audio streaming applications. The companies were unable to confirm if the chips will be used in upcoming versions of Sony's PlayStation 2 games platform.

Analysts say the partnership is big news, if only for the fact it gets three such big names together. Paul O'Donovan, analyst at Gartner Group, said: "It's not very often you get an announcement of this size. To be honest, whatever it produces it will be very influential, especially because Sony is very keen to set industry standards."

However, he also warned the success of the chip was dependent on the state of the roll-out of broadband, without which its functionality would surplus to requirements.