According to papers to be presented at the ISSCC, the initial Cell chip has a single processing unit that can pass computing tasks out to as many as 8 other processors. Thus, working in tandem, it can process up to 10 sequences of instructions simultaneously. This compares well with rival Intel x86 architectures, which can process just two, according the conference paper.

According to the Journal, Sony and IBM are working on creating a Cell-based workstation for game designers and graphics animators. The big test for the architecture could well be how easy it is to programme for - games houses are unlikely to want to spent huge amounts of time unlearning what they have learned. Sony are due to present the full technical details of the machine in Tokyo next month.

- The first version of the chip will run at speeds faster than 4GHz. Engineers were vague on how much faster, but reports from design partners say 4.6GHz is likely. By comparison, the fastest current Pentium PC processor tops out at 3.8GHz.
- Cell can process 256 billion calculations per second (256 gigaflops), falling a wee bit short of marketing hyperbole calling it a "supercomputer on a chip." The slowest machine on the current list of the Top 500 supercomputers can do 851 gigaflops.
- The chip will have 2.5MB of on-chip memory and can shuttle data to and from off-chip memory at speeds up to 100 gigabytes per second, using XDR and FlexIO interface technology licensed from Rambus. "One of the key messages you hear from the architects of next-generation chips is that their performance is being limited by off-chip bandwidth," said Rich Warmke, Rambus, product marketing manager. "We've really licked that with Cell. 100GB per second is really unprecedented in the industry."
- The chip will have 234 million transistors, measure 221mm square and be produced using advanced 90-nanometer chipmaking processes.