Intel recalls one million "faulty" Pentium III chipsets

Intel is recalling one million faulty chips at a price that could reach $300m.

The company estimates that over one million motherboards containing the affected Pentium III 820 chipset used to build PCs have been shipped out since last November. However, PCs are only affected if they have the chip joined to motherboards using SDRAM memory system.

A spokesman for Intel, said the faulty chip is a part of the memory processor and could cause PCs to crash resulting in a loss of data. Intel is taking full responsibility and is offering a refund to affected users.

The loss of data will be difficult to measure financially. In defence, Palmer, told silicon.com: "As far as loss of data is concerned, we always advise users to have data back-ups."

This is the latest in a series of defects that have affected the company. In February, Intel admitted a separate flaw in the 820 chipset. In September 1999 it recalled one million motherboards because of faulty chips.