Intel Corp (INTC)

[mas]

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2011/01/31/intel-shares-halted-for-news/

Intel has announced a design flaw was found in a chip accompanying its recently released “Sandy Bridge” line of PC processors. A fix is expected to be issued in February, and the result will be a $300 million reduction to Q1 revenue, it said, and will reduce Q1’s expected gross margin percentage by 1 point, to 61%. Full-year gross margin is expected to be 63%, versus 64%, previously.

As Intel described the matter:

As part of ongoing quality assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel® 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix. 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 hard disk drives 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. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue.

However, if you look at the numbers, it would appear the Q1 forecast has actually improved: the company now sees Q4 revenue of $11.7 billion, plus or minus $400 million, versus a prior view of $11.5 billion, plus or minus. Moreover, the full-year growth view is now “in the mid- to high-teens,” Intel said, on a percentage basis compared to the company’s prior expectation of approximately 10%.