Today, Sony officially announced that they have struck a deal with Toshiba to sell them their much vaunted Cell production facilities. The chip was developed in part by IBM and Toshiba and is widely regarded as the powerhouse behind the PS3 is so powerful.

The sale of the facilities to Toshiba is reported to be a deal that is estimated USD $1.1 billion US. This may be seen as an attempt by Sony to counteract slow sales of its console and minimise their games division losses.

Osamu Hirose, analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center, states that this is a good step in the right direction: "In this context, the spin-off of the chip business, which requires continued and heavy investment, is positive for Sony".

After this and news that Sony will also sell RSX (the graphics chip of the PS3) manufacture to Toshiba, Sony's stock price rose 0.6 percent. More news from the markets as we get it.

By Paul Govan

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