Sony Corp. plans to pull out of its alliance with Toshiba Corp. and NEC Electronics Corp. for the development of next-generation computer chips for mobile phones and other digital electronics, sources said Saturday.
In a bid to share massive costs, the three firms agreed in February 2006 to jointly develop technologies for production of 45-nanometer chips and announced in December the development of mass-production technologies for the chips.
The three-way contract expired at the end of last month. While Toshiba and NEC Electronics plan to sign a new contract to develop energy-saving and other technologies to improve the next-generation chips, Sony has chosen not to participate, the sources said.
Sony plans to withdraw from the costly project and concentrate on digital camera sensors and chips for liquid crystal display televisions.