VNU reports that Microsoft has plans to update the Xbox 360 CPU next year.
The new CPU will be built using technology that can reduce heat and power consumption, as well as potentially increasing speed. It will also help Microsoft cut the console's cost.
The improved Xbox 360 CPU will be manufactured using 65 nanometre technology starting in the first quarter of 2007, Chartered Semiconductor of Singapore said. The existing CPU uses 90nm technology.
Although the launch of the Xbox 360 last November was generally hailed as a success for Microsoft, the console has been troubled by reports of overheating causing games to crash or freeze.
These have come despite the unit using a pair of powerful fans, together with heat pipes, to carry heat away from the CPU core.
Microsoft has shyed away from much discussion of the number of overheating and freezing Xbox 360s -- last year they would only say that a fraction of the Xbox 360s were crashing and/or freezing. If VNU is correct then they are now going to do something about these "isolated" CPU problems.
