Sony is withdrawing from joint research with IBM and Toshiba to develop the manufacturing technology for producing chips with circuitry of 32 nanometers or less.
Sony has been moving away from the production of advanced semiconductors, which involves heavy investment. The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment company already said last month that it would sell to Toshiba its production facilities for making the
While it is withdrawing from the joint R&D on technology, Sony said Tuesday, it will continue to work with Toshiba and IBM on design work for cutting-edge chips with
A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. 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 companies as costs for chip-making equipment balloon.
