Microchips shipped for Nintendo's Wii

updated 7:20 p.m. ET Sept. 10, 2006

ARMONK, N.Y. - IBM Corp. said it has shipped the first microprocessors that will be used to power Nintendo Co.'s upcoming Wii video game console.

IBM earlier this year signed a multiyear agreement to supply Nintendo, based in Japan, with chips made at its East Fishkill, N.Y. plant. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Wii will be competing against Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, set to go on sale in November, and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, which went on sale last year. Nintendo is hoping to sell 6 million Wii consoles during the fiscal year ending March 2007.

Wii — pronounced "we" — is promised for the final quarter of the calendar year, but the release date and price haven't been announced.

IBM, based in Armonk, N.Y., is also supplying microprocessors for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.

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