PDF [4833KB] - Sony

The future of key components
To reinforce its competitive strength in its core electronics business, Sony is seeking to differentiate
its products by implementing a vertically integrated business model that incorporates
internally produced proprietary semiconductors, modules and components. Key components
include Cell, a next generation, multi-purpose microprocessor; imaging components, such as
CCDs and CMOS image sensors; display components, such as LCDs and organic electroluminescence
(OEL) displays; Memory Stick; optical devices; and lithium-ion batteries. These
components are essential for producing highly competitive products.
Cell: The next generation, multi-purpose microprocessor
Differentiating products by strategic
component
Over the years, Sony’s ability to develop such
proprietary key components as Trinitron and
CCD internally has been instrumental in creating
numerous appealing products, and has
been the foundation of Sony’s evolution.
PlayStation 2 (PS2), for example, features the
EmotionEngine (EE), a 128-bit CPU incorporating
highly advanced technology, and the
Graphics Synthesizer (GS), a high performance
image processor. Since its debut, PS2 has
revolutionized the game console market. As
the vital role played by EE and GS in the
success of PS2 showed, highly differentiated,
advanced semiconductors are essential in order
to open up new markets. Currently, Sony is
developing a new microprocessor, Cell, which
is ideally suited for the upcoming era when
the proliferation of broadband networks will
enable people everywhere to enjoy highresolution
images.
The heart of next generation digital
consumer electronics
The concept behind Cell is to evolve the conventional
microprocessor, which is more of a
narrowband data processor that computes text
and still images mainly for PCs into a broadband
data processor for game consoles and
high-definition televisions. Connecting several
multiple processors using a home network or
an IP broadband network will create a processing
capability that far exceeds that of a single
processor. The name Cell reflects Sony’s belief
that stand-alone microprocessors will be connected
through a broadband network and will
evolve to become a single global processor, in
the same way as organic cells combine to
create a living organism. Accordingly, networkenabled
devices, including consumer electronics
equipped with Cell, will become a structural
element of the broadband network itself.
Strategic alliance with IBM and Toshiba
expedites the development process
In March 2001, the Sony Group reached an
agreement with IBM Corporation and Toshiba
Corporation to collaborate in research and
development to create the architecture for a
new microprocessor, Cell, which it envisions as
the foundation of the next generation broadband
network era. Combining their respective
strengths and technologies, the three companies
expect to invest more than $400 million in
this project over five years. By incorporating
several of today’s most advanced semiconductor
manufacturing technologies, such as copper
interconnects, a silicon-on-insulator (SOI)
process and low-K dielectric material, the
project aims to create a microprocessor that is,
in effect, a supercomputer on a chip.
Investment to facilitate production of
semiconductors for 65 nanometer process
technology—the most advanced in the world
Preparations are under way to fabricate Cell
and a variety of media processors in three
locations: Sony’s Nagasaki Fab; an IBM manufacturing
facility in East Fishkill, New York; and
a Toshiba manufacturing facility in Oita, Japan.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004, the
Sony Group recorded capital expenditure of
about ¥69.0 billion for the first stage of
construction of a mass-production facility for
semiconductors that use 65 nanometer (one
nanometer equals 1/1,000 of a micrometer)
process technology. Additional capital expenditure
of about ¥120.0 billion is planned for the
second stage of construction, beginning in the
fiscal year ending March 31, 2005. Trial operations
at each of the three locations are scheduled
to commence during the first half of
2005. Combined monthly production capacity
of the three facilities for 300mm wafers is
expected to be approximately 15,000 wafers.
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