IBM didn't necessarily come out and say what they were working on, just that they were working on chips for Sony & Nintendo's next gen systems.
They then went on to state how their Power line would have cell integrated and Power chips would be able to do the things that cell does.
And I admit I don't know a whole lot about this, so I appreciate you explaining it, I also put Fusion in "" because I know it was a specific line, I was just using it as a reference for combining two chips like they did for 360 Slim. but I'm just dropping the puzzle pieces on the table here and trying to see how they all fit together.
AMD guys says what he says about pipeline, so I look at their published pipeline. IBM says what they say, so I assume they are both working together. Just putting 2+2 together and seeing what I come up with.
I'll requote the IBM guy;
IBM is working with gaming machine vendors including Nintendo and Sony, said Jai Menon, CTO of IBM's Systems and Technology Group, during an interview Thursday. "We want to stay in the business, we intend to stay in the business," he said.
[...]
"I think you'll see [Cell] integrated into our future Power road map. That's the way to think about it as opposed to a separate line -- it'll just get integrated into the next line of things that we do," Menon said. "But certainly, we're working with all of the game folks to provide our capabilities into those next-generation machines."
Menon did not elaborate on specific chip and hardware developments for gaming systems, but said its Power processors have capabilities that are similar to those of the Cell chips.
"The kinds of things you used to be able to do with the Cell you can do in ... [the] Power line," Menon said.
What I noticed when I had first post this was that IBM made no mention of Microsoft, so maybe when the AMD guy mentioned his roadmap, maybe he was referring to MS using a Fusion APU. MS has been with the 360 for going on 6 years now, so a new system next year wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities.
That thought was just kinda layed to the side when MS posted jobs for next generation console development 2 months ago. Made me think they were just gearing up the planning stages for a release in 2 years (2013).
Mix this info with the rumors of the last 2 days, and you figure the pieces have to fit the same puzzle. I might have it all wrong, or slightly confused and mixed up, but I'm only speculating based on what info is out there. So all insight on what is and isn't possible, what does and doesn't make and why is always welcome.