IBM Says It's Lucky to Get 10% to 20% Yields on Cell Processor

DailyTech - IBM Says It's Lucky to Get 10% to 20% Yields on Cell Processor:

"The Cell processor is so complex that IBM even accepts chips that have only four out of the eight cores working. Not all cores end up functional says Reeves. In regards to why the yields are so low, Reeves says '[defects becomes a bigger problem the bigger the chip is. With chips that are one-by-one and silicon germanium, we can get yields of 95 percent. With a chip like the Cell processor, you’re lucky to get 10 or 20 percent. If you put logic redundancy on it, you can double that.' According to Reeves, Sony will be using Cell processors whether they have all cores functional or not. Reeves says that the PlayStation 3 requires at least seven of the eight cores operational."

If you read the last post and mix it with this post then Apple's move to Intel becomes even more important. It seems the Cell is a bit of a stinker to fab. Yet further bad news for PS3?