Sony Group licenses IBM Power Architecture-based chip technology

New York, March 31, 2004 - IBM today announced that Sony Group has licensed access to IBM's Power Architecture™-based microprocessor technology for use in next generation digital consumer electronics products.

Under the agreement, Sony Group will work with IBM to develop customized system-on-a-chip products that leverage the leading-edge performance, low power consumption and advanced function of the Power Architecture.

"This agreement marks an important milestone in the evolution of the Power Architecture," said Dr. John E. Kelly, senior vice president and group executive, technology, IBM Systems and Technology Group. "Influential customers like Sony are choosing Power for its openness, versatility and unique combination of low power and high performance, which makes it optimal for a wide range of consumer devices."

IBM's Power Architecture offerings and open licensing program is optimized to meet the diverse requirements of a wide range of applications — from wireless handsets to supercomputers. Developed to leverage a unique combination of IBM design innovation and process technology breakthroughs, such as copper wires, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistors and strained silicon technology, the architecture delivers bandwidth, flexibility and power savings unavailable from conventional processor architectures.

"Together with technologies that we currently deploy, Power will enforce Sony Group's diverse line of digital consumer electronics products," said Ken Kutaragi, executive deputy president and COO in charge of Home Electronics, Game Business and Semiconductor, Sony Corporation. "Various applications for digital consumer electronics platforms require high performance processors with various functions. Power is a clear solution for integrating system LSIs with flexibility."

Sony Group's selection of the Power Architecture demonstrates the increasing customer access to, and acceptance of, the technology in new and emerging customer segments. Through the Power licensing program, IBM offers customers the ability to design chips around the architecture and have them built either by IBM or other leading foundries.

IBM's Power Architecture-based microprocessor technology, featuring the new, award-winning PowerPC® 970FX, is the industry's leading solution for 64-bit applications. IBM Power Architecture-based chips are found at the heart of powerful, industry leading IBM eServer systems, as well as Nintendo game consoles, Apple computers, and some of the world's most powerful supercomputers and storage systems. Power Architecture processor cores also fuel custom application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) in a multitude of server, communications and consumer electronics products.

About IBM Microelectronics
IBM is a recognized innovator in the semiconductor industry, having been first with advances like more power-efficient copper wiring in place of aluminum and faster SOI and silicon germanium transistors. These and other innovations have contributed to IBM's standing as the number one U.S. patent holder for 11 consecutive years. More information about IBM semiconductors can be found at: http://www.ibm.com/chips.