Microsoft Corp. has signed an agreement that will see its Xbox chips produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. The Xbox, which TSMC foundry rival IBM plays in on the processor side, is Microsoft's lead video game system and has seen losses for the Redmond, Wash.-based company in the past. Thoughts of Microsoft producing its own chips for possible cost-savings efforts had once floated around the industry. Today's move with the top foundry -- coupled with its November 2003? deal with IBM and a prior deal with ATI -- infer that Microsoft will stay fabless.
"TSMC has consistently demonstrated industry leadership in the development and deployment of highly advanced semiconductor process technologies for high-volume manufacturing," said Todd Holmdahl, Microsoft's Xbox general manager, in a statement. "It was this solid record of achievement that led us to work directly with TSMC on semiconductors targeted to our future game consoles products."
News source: Electronic News
