Sony is to buy back the Cell processor plant it sold to Toshiba in 2008.

Back then, Toshiba paid ¥90bn for the facility. That was worth $835m at the time.

How much today's deal - which is subject to due diligence - will cost Sony wasn't stated, though the figure of ¥50bn ($603m/£390m) has been bandied about in the press.

The plant is currently owned by Sony-Toshiba joint venture Nagasaki Semiconductor Manufacturing (NSM). Toshiba owns 60 per cent, Sony the remaining 40 per cent, though half of that is technically owned by Sony subsidiary Sony Computer Entertainment International (SCEI).

If the deal goes ahead, Sony will take possession of Toshiba's share on 1 April 2011. ®

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