Sony has today confirmed that they will be selling their PS3 computer chip operations to Toshiba, giving the company full manufacturing responsibility for the PS3 chip.

The sale of its production lines will help Sony to recoup some of the investment that was pumped into the development of its "Cell" microprocessor and some of losses that are incurred each time the company sell a Playstation 3.

The deal between Toshiba and Sony, which is said to be worth almost one billion dollars, also includes the sale of Sony's RSX graphic processor operations. The two companies will continue to work together in the development of the next-gen chips and "Cell" with 45-nanometre circuitry

Toshiba will take over the running of the "Cell" microprocessor output facility in Nagasaki prefecture and the RSX graphic chip production line in Oita prefecture in March 2008.

A full statement with further details on the deal is expected to be released later today.

Source :: Yahoo News