Toshiba, Sony and IBM said jointly that they have entered a new five-year chip research alliance. The aggreement now includes early-stage research on emerging technologies targeted at 32 nanometer generation and beyond.

The agreement will help enable the three companies to more rapidly investigate, identify and commercialize new technologies for consumer and other applications.

Over the last five years the three companies have collaborated on the "Cell" microprocessor design, and its underlying SOI (silicon-on-insulator) process technologies in 90 and 65 nanometer.

"This is a winning combination," said Masashi Muromachi, president & chief executive officer of the Semiconductor Company at Toshiba Corporation. "With Toshiba's cutting-edge process technology and manufacturing capabilities, Sony's various semiconductor technologies and deep knowledge of consumer markets and IBM's state-of-the-art material technology, we can anticipate breakthrough process technologies for the 32-nanometer generation and beyond. Toshiba will apply these advances to assuring continued leadership in cutting-edge process technology and the accelerated development of essential devices for the age of ubiquitous connectivity."

Yoshikazu Ochiai, a Sony spokesman, said the new alliance is meant to replace the previous collaborative arrangement.

Research and development will take place at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., the Center for Semiconductor Research at Albany NanoTech, and at IBM's 300 millimeter manufacturing facility in East Fishkill.