TOKYO - IBM Corp., Sony Corp., Sony Computer Entertainment and Toshiba Corp. have agreed to jointly develop technologies for making advanced computer chips expected to be used in future electronics products. <br>
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The deal announced Tuesday by the U.S. and Japanese companies is an extension of a March 2001 agreement among Sony Computer Entertainment, IBM and Toshiba to develop the advanced chips that will be used to relay large amounts of data over broadband. <br>
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In future homes, such chips are expected to be used in various gadgets, including computers, TVs and game machines to download movies and other information over high-speed networks. <br>
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The agreement covers a new manufacturing technology called silicon-on-insulator, or SOI, used to make such high-powered chips, the companies said. <br>
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The companies will spend several hundred million dollars over four years to develop the technologies to pack more features on each chip, they said. <br>
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Under a separate agreement, IBM will transfer the latest SOI technologies to Sony and Toshiba. <br>
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The development work will be carried out by scientists and engineers from the three companies at an IBM research center in East Fishkill, New York, the companies said. <br>
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``Having IBM and Toshiba's technologies with Sony's vast experience and knowledge of the consumer market truly makes this alliance a winning combination,'' said Ken Kutaragi, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment, which makes the PlayStation 2 game console.
