James Delahunty
1 Feb 2011 20:08
Intel announced yesterday that it had discovered a design flaw that affects its Intel 6 Series (code-named Cougar Point) chipsets.
The chip-maker said it has implemented a silicon fix for the problem. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as HDDs and DVD drives.
The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories.
The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue. The company will start delivering the updated version of the chipset to its customers in late February. The systems with the affected support chips have only been shipping since January 9th and the company believes that relatively few consumers are impacted by this issue.
For the first quarter of 2011, Intel expects this issue to reduce revenue by approximately $300 million as the company discontinues production of the current version of the chipset and begins manufacturing the new version, but full-year revenue is not expected to be materially affected by the problem.