CrunchGear

An industry group comprised of IBM, AMD, Samsung, and a few various semiconductor companies has just initiated Toshiba into their club, which has been formed to "work through 2010 to design, develop and produce chips using tiny circuitry." Toshiba had to drink a gallon of beer in under a minute and then do the elephant walk with all the other companies. Other secret initiation rituals are under embargo until 2035.

The partnership is good because it’ll probably mean lower prices and smaller devices for everyone. The seven companies in the group will be able to share the costs of research and development and start pumping out tiny chips using 32-nanometer circuitry.

Toshiba to join IBM, others on chip development [Reuters]