The chip that will transform computer games

By Euan Stuart Dec 12, 2005

Ken Kutaragi, creator of the PlayStation, believes in the power of the big idea. According to the 30-year Sony veteran, it is the thing on which all effective leadership depends, says Richard Waters in the Financial Times. Right now, the big idea at Sony is a microprocessor known as the ‘cell chip’ or ‘cell processor’. This is actually a collection of separate processors hooked together to share out the computing load imposed by multimedia applications such as interactive video games.

This is the “digital heart” whose raw power Sony believes will open up new possibilities in digital entertainment, powering the next generation of its home electronics. Scheduled to make its debut next spring with the launch of the PlayStation 3 (PS3), the cell technology can process ten times the number of operations of previous game processors, says Eric A. Taub in The New York Times. Indeed, Sony reckons the cell will make the PS3 as powerful as Deep Blue, the IBM computer that dethroned chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

What’s more, the cell will allow PS3 users to run multiple programmes in parallel. For example, they could play games while conducting high-definition video chats, surfing the web or accessing music, movies or photographs stored on the console. The PS3 will also be able to render in real-time complex “movielike” animations that previously took hours to create. And it will be able to display high-definition images equivalent to that of digital projectors in cinemas.

Why is this new cell technology so important? The reason is that the old way of boosting the performance of chips – by adding more transistors – is running out of steam, says Otis Port in BusinessWeek. Or rather, it’s running into steam — in the form of too much heat. By 2008, the chips coming tothe market will have circuit lines so “skinny” that an advanced microprocessor could sport up to 20 miles of tiny wires. The “juice” needed to push signals through circuitry could generate enough heat to melt the wires.

The solution is to put more than one processor on a single chip. AMD is already doing this. Intel’s upcoming ‘dual core’ chips will further exploit this approach with its virtualisation technology, codenamed Vanderpool. These chips can simultaneously boot up two different operating systems, each running different software applications. But Sony’s new cell technology goes a stage further: it will boast nine processors on a single chip So much for the theory. What about the reality? At a recent trade show, prototype PS3 games were “stunning” in their cinematic quality, says Peter Lewis in Fortune. Assuming the games were running on actual PS3s as Sony claimed (and not some supercomputer behind a curtain), they support the idea that next-generation videogames will essentially be interactive, high-definition movies. Sony has also equipped the PS3 with a “next-generation” DVD player based on the Blu-ray technology, which offers several times the capacity of today’s DVD discs. Meanwhile, cell chips are expected to be used in everything from supercomputers to handheld devices. Truly, it is the technology of the future.

How to profit from Sony’s new cell technology

Having made its reputation on the Trinitron TV and the Walkman, Sony has suffered the fate of many technology leaders from the analogue era – falling behind with digital, says Richard Waters in the Financial Times. But the new cell chips open up a huge range of possibilities. If Sony cracks digital and arms itself with a monster processor, its new gadgets could have a lot more power than those of its rivals.

There will be winners and losers, says Mark Edelstone, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, but overall this will prove a ‘win’ for the consumer electronics industry. As this new game console war kicks off, no one is happier than IBM, which is selling ammunition to all sides, says Dean Takahashi in the San Jose Mercury News. Sony’s current console, which has already sold 87 million units, was a “boon” to chip companies such as LSI Logic, Rambus and MIPS Technologies. Companies in line to benefit from the new cell technology include Samsung, which will supply dynamic random access memory chips for Sony’s PlayStation 3, and Invidia which is going to make the graphics chip for the PS3. That deal could generate at least $400 million in sales for the company in the coming years. Broadcom, meanwhile, will make wireless internet chips for Nintendo

Published in How to invest | More articles by Euan Stuart

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