Monday, January 31, 2011

Design Error: Problem-Intel chips cost hundreds of millions of dollars

Cougar Point is to blame. Because it means one of the newest Intel chips, a piece of high-tech silicon that should be especially notebooks this year, a boost. But Cougar Point has a problem. He does not work as desired, can cause users long term problems and should be replaced. The Intel says himself and announces even help.

The problem: Cougar Point is in charge of Intel's new chip sets for the control of hard drives and DVD drives. In this case, however, have now been found Intel's developer, there may in time lead to difficulties. "In some cases, the power of Serial ATA (SATA) deteriorate over time and potentially degrade the performance of disk drives and DVD-like devices, or interfere with their operation," it said in a statement the group.

The production of defective chips is already set and a new design was developed in which the issue has been fixed. The production of the new version had already been taken. Good for Intel is that the faulty chips only since the ninth January have been delivered to the manufacturer, the total number of such devices should therefore still be limited - at least for Intel ratios, after all, the U.S.

company of the world's largest chip maker. However, Cougar Point is part of the chips that are part of Intel's new mobile processor, codenamed Sandy Bridge. $ 700,000,000 Total cost to this technology have been waiting many notebook manufacturers eagerly, because they're playing arguments for the sale of new models of laptops in the hands: longer battery life, frugality, if you want turbo power when you need them, Intel promises the new system.

So nothing really new, but a promise that Intel can, according to initial tests appeared to spend - as if all the chips work correctly. Intel now plans to develop with its customers, so the manufacturers of notebooks and motherboards, a system to allow affected users to exchange the faulty components.

In many cases may mean a complete replacement of the equipment in question. Users who already have a computer based on the new Core i5 or Core i7 Quad Core processors Sandy Bridge generation should contact either Intel or contact the manufacturer of your computer in order to discuss the way forward.

Intel expects sales of the Group due to the replacement program by 300 million dollar will be lower than originally expected. The total cost for repair and replacement of the defective chip is Intel with $ 700 million. Huge sums of money, no question. Intel's annual profits and faux-pas would nevertheless have little effect.

The expected profit for the first quarter of 2011, the group at 11.7 billion dollars - plus or minus $ 400 million. Since the reputational damage outweighs by the chip-change more difficult than the financial loss. mak

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