Sony said last month it would sell to Toshiba its production facilities for making the "Cell" microprocessors and "RSX" graphic chips, both of which are used in its PlayStation 3 game gear.

Sony said it would continue to work with Toshiba and IBM on design work for cutting-edge chips with 32-nanometre or narrower circuitry.Narrower circuitry makes the size of a chip smaller and helps manufacturers cut per-chip production costs. But finer circuitry also means heavier initial investments for microchip makers as costs for chip-making equipment balloon.