SCE builds 81 Bln Yen plant for PS2 parts
Posted by @ 1:51 PM, EST
From the Nikkei Industrial Daily Monday edition:

NAGASAKI --Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has completed construction of a factory on the grounds of Sony Nagasaki Corp. for producing core components like 3-D graphics processors and Graphics Synthesizer chips for its popular PlayStation2 video game console.

SCE invested 81 billion yen to build the 20,000 sq. meter facility, which has an output capacity equivalent to 10,000 eight-inch wafers a month. The company plans to transfer all production of such PlayStation2 parts to the new site from a Sony plant in Kagoshima.

The factory is scheduled to come on line in mid-April, and to start shipping components to an assembly facility in Chiba Prefecture in June.