Playstation 3 chip nears completion

"Cell has nearly "taped out" -- an industry term meaning that the chip's pen and paper design and layout have been completed. Soon these will be handed over to engineers in manufacturing, who will craft samples. Meanwhile, engineers have been testing various sub-elements of the processor, both separately and together, before the manufacturing unit connects them inside actual Cell chips. At this rate, commercial production of Cell could come as soon as the end of 2004."

A lot more info @ ZDNet