Sony Corp. said that it would not prolong chip development collaboration with Nec and Toshiba as a part of its strategy to withdraw from manufacturing of semiconductors. The move may indicate that that the firm has no plans to develop or manufacture any chips itself in future, an decision that would seem very surprising even a year ago from the co-developer of the Cell processor.

Nec and Toshiba reportedly want to sign an agreement under which they plan to improve the 45nm process technology, which was developed by Nec, Sony and Toshiba, in order to get better energy efficiency and other peculiarities. But since any development efforts in the next stage would have more to do with actual production than the initial phase and Sony is considering outsourcing of 45nm chips, it will not renew its contract with Toshiba and Nec Electronics, a Sony spokesman is reported to have said, according to a report by Reuters news-agency.

Earlier this year Sony Executive Deputy President Yutaka Nakagawa said that investment in chips would come down significantly from the 460 billion yen ($3.8 billion) allocated over the three business years since April 2004. The company, which currently produces its Cell processors used in the PlayStation 3 using 65nm and 90nm process technologies, seriously thinks about outsourcing the production to third parties, which would reduce the research and development investments, while Sony would still enjoy lower pricing of Cell.

Sony believes that contact semiconductor makers now have enough technology expertise to produce complex processors, such as Cell, and it is not necessary for this one of the world’s largest producer of consumer electronics to invest into chip manufacturing technologies.

It remains to be seen what will happen with joint efforts of Sony, IBM and Toshiba in development of 32nm process technology.