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NVIDIA PlayStation 3 GPU to be completed by end of 2005

Tom Bramwell 11:19 21/12/2004
We'll see "final production silicon later on in the year" according to CEO
Jen-Hsun Huang.

NVIDIA's graphics processing unit (GPU) for PlayStation 3 will be completed
by the end of 2005, according to US Internet reports citing comments made by
chief executive Jen-Hsun Huang to investment firm Morgan Stanley this week.

"I have every expectation that we will be able to see final production
silicon later on in the year," Huang commented, following the announcement
earlier this month that NVIDIA is collaborating with Sony on its
next-generation console format.

"This next generation architecture took several hundred people several years
to build, but this specific implementation of that architecture should take
about 50 engineers. It's something we're running full throttle on," he
added.

Although NVIDIA's provision of a custom GPU for PlayStation 3 is now out in
the open, this is the first time the graphics firm has discussed the
question of production timing, and Huang's comments seem to tie in with
projections that Sony's next-generation console will be ready some time in
2006.

Microsoft's rival Xbox 2 format, expected to be unveiled within the coming
months, has been tipped to arrive earlier than that, possibly in time for
Christmas 2005. NVIDIA's fierce rival ATI is providing the graphics hardware
for Microsoft this time around.

Huang also spoke of the PS3 chip's relationship with past PC-based
architecture, or the lack thereof. "It's nothing to do with Windows, it
doesn't use any of the Windows features, and it's not about driving Windows.
It's not about the PC at all," he said of the GPU's background.

In announcing its collaboration with Sony this month, NVIDIA revealed that
the PS3 chip would be a custom GPU incorporation next-generation GeForce
technology, and that it will be manufactured at Sony's Nagasaki Fab2 as well
as OTSS, the fabrication facility Sony shares with Toshiba.

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