computer components & hardware - nVidia & Sony jointly developing the graphics processor for the PS3

From Dow Jones News:-

Sony, NVIDIA In Chip Development Tie For New Game Machine

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and U.S. chip
maker NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) said Tuesday they are jointly developing a
custom graphics processor for SCEI's successor to the "PlayStation 2"
game machine.

The collaboration is under a broad, multi-year and royalty-bearing
agreement, the companies said.

"We will first use the processor for our next-generation computer
entertainment system," said a spokeswoman at SCEI, a game business
unit of Sony Corp. (6758.TO). The chip may also be used in Sony's
other digital consumer electronics products, she added.

SCEI has yet to reveal when it will introduce its new game machine,
dubbed " PlayStation 3," or "PS3," by the media. Analysts expect SCEI
to launch the machine around spring 2006.

"Our collaboration includes not only the chip development but also a
variety of graphics development tools and middleware," Sony Executive
Deputy President Ken Kutaragi said in a statement.

The custom chip is the graphics and image processing foundation for a
broad range of applications from computer entertainment to broadband
applications.

The graphics processor will be manufactured at Sony's Nagasaki chip
factory in southern Japan, as well as at a fabrication facility
jointly operated by Sony and Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO) in Oita, southern
Japan.

SCEI has already said the new game machine would use as a central
processing unit a powerful microchip called "CELL," which Sony,
Toshiba and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) are jointly
developing.

-By Kanji Ishibashi, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2929;
kanji.ishibashi@ dowjones.com