INTEL'S BILLION-$ MISTAKE / HP CONFIRMS JAN. 9 PCs AFFECTED BY FLAW / DELL, SAMSUNG, TOSHIBA RECALLS
SAN FRANCISCO, FEBRUARY 4, 2011 (BLOOMBERG.NET) By Aaron Ricadela - [PHOTO - Hewlett-Packard Co. said that the availability of certain machines will be "impacted" by a chip-design flaw disclosed by Intel Corp. and that it will delay a product presentation scheduled for next week in San Francisco. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg] Hewlett-Packard Co. said that the availability of certain machines will be "impacted" by a chip- design flaw disclosed by Intel Corp. and that it will delay a product presentation scheduled for next week in San Francisco.
"We are postponing the business notebooks briefing on Feb. 10 as the availability of HP products will be impacted" by the flaw outlined by Intel, according to a statement sent to reporters yesterday by Edelman Public Relations Worldwide.
Intel, the world's largest maker of semiconductors, said on Jan. 31 that it will incur $1 billion in missed sales and higher cost to fix the design flaw. The error also is affecting personal-computer makers including Samsung Electronics Co., which said it will offer refunds on some PCs, and NEC Corp., which said it may push back the release of four new models.
The fault is in a support chip, or chipset, for Intel's latest processor model called Sandy Bridge, unveiled this month in a bid to improve PC graphics and repel a challenge by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
HP, the world's largest maker of PCs, sells many computers that use chips other than Sandy Bridge, said Marlene Somsak, a spokeswoman for Palo Alto, California based HP.
"HP has the broadest lineup of PCs in the industry and there are many HP choices using a wide variety of processors," Somsak said yesterday.
HP climbed 83 cents to $46.52 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. It declined 18 percent last year.
XPS, Alienware
Dell Inc. spokesman David Frink said in an e-mailed statement that the Intel flaw affects four Dell products sold under its XPS, Vostro, and Alienware brands.
"We're committed to addressing this with customers who have already purchased one of the four products, will work directly with them and provide further detail as it becomes available," Frink said.
Computers that use the potentially faulty chips have been sold since Jan. 9, and Intel said it's corrected the flaw and begun manufacturing a new version of the chip that will resolve the issue.
Intel said it expects to begin delivering an updated version of Sandy Bridge's chipset, called Cougar Point, to customers in late February and be at full production in April. The company has shipped about 8 million of the Cougar Point chips to customers that will have to be replaced, Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said on a Jan. 31 conference call.
HP had planned to discuss the notebook computers, aimed at business customers, with journalists next week, before officially unveiling them to the public on Feb. 23, according to an earlier e-mail from Edelman.
To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Ricadela in San Francisco at aricadela@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net. .
Intel's Billion-Dollar Mistake
YAHOO FINANCE CANADA, Companies:Intel Corporation, By Matt Rosoff, On Monday January 31, 2011, 12:01 pm EST
Intel is recalling an untold number of high-end desktop PCs because of a design flaw, and expects the problem to cost the company about $1 billion.
The design flaw affects the Intel 6 (formerly codenamed Cougar Point) support chip, which rides alongside the Sandy Bridge processor on motherboards. The flaw could cause performance problems with devices connected via Serial ATA ports, such as hard drives and DVD drives.
The chip has shipped in desktop PCs only since January 9th, and only Second Generation Core i5 and Core i7 quad core based systems should be affected. Those are among the most powerful PCs available, and are used for running processor-intensive applications like video rendering. Notebooks use a different support chip, codenamed Huron Bridge.
Intel did not disclose the number of systems it expects to be affected.
Intel says its Q1 revenue will be lowered by $300 million as the company shuts down production of the current Intel 6 line and replaces it with the repaired chips. Repairing and replacing the flawed systems that have already shipped will cost another $700 million, Intel estimates.
Analysts aren't too worried about the news -- FBR Capital Markets estimates it will affect EPS by about $0.07 for the year, which is only about 4% of the company's total earnings. Still, it's an embarrassing misstep for the company, which is already under pressure from the rise of tablet computers, most of which use processors designed by Intel rival ARM.
Samsung, Toshiba recall systems affected by Intel chip flaw updated 08:55 pm EST, Tue February 1, 2011
[PHOTO - The affected laptops won't catch on fire or fall apart right away, but Intel discovered that there was an issue with some of the Serial ATA ports in the chipsets which could degrade over time and result in poor performance of hard drives and DVD drives.
If you purchased one of the Toshiba laptops below Toshiba asks that you return your laptop to the store you purchased it from for a full refund. Before you return your laptop you should back up all of your data to an external hard drive or if it is small enough upload it to Dropbox. You should also use a tool to wipe your hard drive of personal information.
The following Toshiba Laptops have been recalled: Model Name Model Numbers--
Satellite A660 See note below
Satellite A665 S5176, S5177, S5182, S5183, S5184, S5185, S5187, S5189, S6100
Satellite A665 3D Edition 3DV10, 3DV11, 3DV12
Satellite E305 S1990
Satellite L655 S5161, S5161BN, S5161RD, S5161WH, S5162, S5166, S5166BN, S5166RD, S5166WH, S5167
Satellite M645 S4116, S4118
Portege R835 P50, P55, P56
Qosmio X500 Q930
Qosmio X505 Q8100, Q8102, Q8104
Note: If you purchased a Satellite A660 from Toshiba Direct, with a Core i7 2630QM quad-core processor, you will be contacted directly by Toshiba.
Read more: http://notebooks.com/2011/02/02/toshiba-recalls-33-laptop-models-sold-since-january-9th-2011/#ixzz1CoBvIC3L]
NEC expects delays over Sandy Bridge issues Computer makers have already begun announcing recall and refund programs for systems affected by Intel's faulty Sandy Bridge chips.
Samsung will provide refunds for some of its PCs, while Lenovo is waiting to make an announcement until after it has worked with Intel to determine a proper solution.
Toshiba has also posted a list of model numbers for refund-eligible notebooks sold after January 9. (SEE LIST BELOW)
Recent reports suggest Intel has determined the exact cause for the problems, which center around a transistor that leaks current. The issue reportedly causes the 3Gbps SATA port to show degraded performance or fail in some cases.
Many companies, including NEC, have been forced to delay launch schedules while the problems are resolved. Other affected computer makers reportedly include Apple, HP and Dell, among others. [via Businessweek]
Read more: http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/02/01/nec.expects.delays.over.sandy.bridge.issues/#ixzz1Co9bYK3X
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