Sony sells chip facility to Toshiba for $835 million; forms joint venture
21 Feb 2008
Mumbai: Sony Corporation has entered into a joint venture with Toshiba Corporation for setting up an advanced computer chips facility.
The move comes close on the heels of Toshiba's decision to abandon its HD DVD high-definition DVD format, ending a prolonged battle with the Sony-led Blu-ray technology for high-definition video formats.
Under the agreement, first announced in October last year, Sony will sell its microchip production facilities in western Japan to Toshiba Corporation for 90 billion yen ($835 million).
Toshiba will own 60 per cent in the semiconductor joint venture while Sony will have a 40 per cent equally stake - split between Sony Corporation and its game unit Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
The joint venture will make high-performance cell chips and RSX graphic chips, both used in Sony's PlayStation 3 game console, as well as other microchips that go into Toshiba products.
The joint venture is exected to go on stream on 1 April.
Sony said it is focusing more on its core businesses. Sony said in October it will focus on image sensor chips for digital cameras and pull away from heavy investments for cutting-edge chip production equipment.
Toshiba plans to invest $16 billion in new NAND-type flash memory plants with its US partner SanDisk Corp.