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Semiconductor History | 2200 Mission College Boulevard, 31 January 2011 — A Tiny SATA Fault Creates a Billion-Dollar Recall
· 2011-1
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Semiconductor History | 2200 Mission College Boulevard, 31 January 2011 — A Tiny SATA Fault Creates a Billion-Dollar Recall
kevin
1/31/2011
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The square marked BD82H61 in this photograph is a later member of Intel’s Cougar Point chipset family, mounted among the dense copper traces of a motherboard. It is not presented as one of the defective early B2-stepping parts; it shows the kind of support chip whose small fault forced entire computer systems back through the supply chain.
On 31 January 2011, Intel disclosed a circuit-design problem in the newly released Intel 6 Series Express chipsets used with its second-generation Core processors. Some Serial ATA ports could degrade over time, eventually reducing the performance or functionality of attached hard drives and optical drives.
The defect was not in the celebrated Sandy Bridge processor itself.
It was in the platform controller that connected storage and other devices to the system, a reminder that a computer is only as reliable as its less glamorous supporting silicon. Because those chipsets had already been soldered onto motherboards and shipped inside finished products, replacing a low-cost component meant replacing or repairing much more expensive assemblies.
Intel stopped shipments of the affected version, notified customers, and said it had already implemented a silicon fix. Updated chipsets began shipping in February, and manufacturers including ASRock created exchange programs for affected boards.
That response was the good part.
Intel made the problem public before widespread consumer failures were reported, halted the defective revision, and funded the repair path rather than arguing that the statistical failure rate was acceptable. Fast containment limited a serious flaw during the opening weeks of an important processor launch.
The bad part was the scale of what validation had missed.
Intel initially forecast about $300 million in lost quarterly revenue and $700 million for repairs and replacements. Its 2011 annual report later put the final estimated repair-and-replacement cost at $733 million, before counting all of the disruption absorbed by computer makers, retailers, technicians, and customers.
Cougar Point is therefore a quality-control success only after it was a quality-control failure. Intel’s disclosure and fix were decisive, but they could not make a board-level recall as simple as exchanging the tiny chip that caused it.
The pin marks Intel headquarters at 2200 Mission College Boulevard, the address on the SEC-filed announcement. The public museum may be visited during posted hours; surrounding offices are restricted.
Photo: Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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