IBM muscles in on consumer electronics

IBM has expanded its current alliances with Sony and Toshiba to develop chips specifically for mobile consumer electronics.

Sony and Toshiba will have access to IBM innovations in the chip arena while Big Blue will have the benefit of the two organisations' consumer knowledge.

Rupert Deighton, IBM spokesman for EMEA, said: "Traditionally, complex systems on chips have been developed by telecommunications-facing companies that created pretty large and power-hungry silicon. We're looking at producing chips for the future. Some of our recent technologies allow better signal insulation and lower battery power consumption, ideal for mobile devices."

Deighton said this is the first co-development alliance of its kind in terms of the size of the companies involved and the size of the financial investment. He added: "This isn't a couple of million dollars dealt at the bottom of the garden."

One project in the pipeline is Cell, a processor architecture that will enhance peer-to-peer computing performance and high-speed applications.