Cell Shrinks In 2007.

Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi revealed today in an interview with Japan's Impress Watch technology site that the PS3's Cell processor will make the switch to a 65nm manufacturing process in 2007. Shipments of the more efficient chip will make it out later that year.

The Cell is in production at IBM's Fishkill and Sony's Nagasaki fabrication facilities. Currently, the chip is being produced using a 90nm process. Switching to a 65nm process will reduce costs, potentially leading to a price reduction of components that use the chip.

Elsewhere in the interview, Kutaragi hinted further at the use of Cell in products besides the Playstation 3. "It's probably okay to use just 2 (SPEs). We have plans," said the SCE boss, referring to plans to make the Cell into a more general processor. The "SPE" mentioned by Kutaragi is in reference to the parallel processing units that give the Cell much of its computational power. The PS3 has 8, of which 7 are active.