Broadway (microprocessor)

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IBM Broadway microprocessor. The reference to Canada in the picture is related to where it was packaged i.e. by IBM Canada in Bromont.

Broadway is the name of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) used in Nintendo's Wii video game console. It was designed by IBM, and is currently being produced using a 90nm SOI process. This allows the chip to draw 20% less power than its predecessor, the 180nm Gekko, which was used in Nintendo's GameCube video game console.^[1]

Based on unoffical reports, it is likely still a derivative of the PowerPC G3 or 750CXe line, as it appears to lack Altivec.^{[original research?]} Nintendo likely opted for this older design as the faster G4 processor was designed by Motorola, not IBM, and IBM's G5 processor may have been too expensive and unable to support hardware backward compatibility for GameCube software.^{[original research?]}

Broadway is being produced by IBM at their 300mm semiconductor development and manufacturing facility in East Fishkill, New York. Very few official details have been released to the public by Nintendo or IBM.

[edit] Specifications

• 90 nanometer process technology
• Power Architecture core, specially modified for the Wii platform
• IBM Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology
• Backwards compatible with the Gekko processor

[edit] References

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