Earlier this year, Sony and Toshiba announced that they had successfully shrunk the 65nm cell that powers the Playstation 3 down to 45nm. Though the companies were previously rumoured to be moving the console chip onto the newer process in autumn this year, Japan’s Nikkan Kogyo is now reporting a date for mass production of the 45nm Cell processor: 2009.

The smaller chip will use 40% less power than its predecessor, meaning it will generate less heat, thus not requiring as much cooling and ultimately making it cheaper to produce. Cheaper production costs also means more $$ for Sony (or price drops for us). From a consumer perspective, we would of course expect to see price drops in 2009, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.