Sony knows just as well as any of us do that $600 for a console is simply too much, especially when compared to a $250 Wii and a $400 Xbox360. And so, Sony is looking for ways to lower the price. The best one so far is to find a way to cut chip spending, and to do this, they need to outsource Cell production. This isn't as desperate as it may sound. Sony has been making their own chips since the birth of the PS1, but costs have been becoming quite steep as of late. Sony has spent $3.8 Billion USD since April 2004 on chips alone. The only thing preventing them from getting another company to develop these chips for them at a lower price was a lack of said companies. Now, there are several options for Sony, and Sony will likely outsource Cell production to bring their costs down.