Intel Acknowledges Counterfeit Chips

Intel (News - Alert) officials say that 'at least one counterfeit version of its Core i7-920 processor' has reached the U.S. market, and they're trying to determine how many more are out there.

PCWorld reports that last week hardware site HardOCP found 'one of its forum members received a counterfeit processor from Newegg, an online seller of computers and components. Instead of a processor, he found a fake processor and a plastic mold of a heat sink and fan.'

'The counterfeit Core i7-920 processor package was so crudely put together that it would have been easy to spot even by non-technical buyers. According to a user named Nix posting to a forum on Hardforum.com, the outside box was delivered open and misspelled the word 'socket' as 'sochet.' The label also contained a poorly spoofed hologram,' according to The Register (News - Alert).

In other words, a fake this clumsy never should have made it into a customer's hands. Other computer users are also claiming to have received counterfeit i7-920 processors.

Newegg shipped a genuine processor to the affected customer. Intel acknowledged the existence of the fake chip: 'Intel has been made aware of the potential for counterfeit i7-920 packages in the marketplace and is working to identify how many and/or where they are being sold,' Nick Jacobs, an Intel spokesman, said in an e-mail reported by PCWorld.

ZDNet observed that 'it’s not often that a reputable retailer is duped into passing on dodgy goods to customers, but it seems that Newegg managed to end up with counterfeit Intel Core i7 920 CPUs in its supply chain.”

For their part, ZDNet says, Newegg is calling it a 'shipping error that occurred with certain recent orders of the Intel Core i7-920 CPU,' claiming that 'after investigating the issue internally it appears one of our long term partners mistakenly shipped a small number of demo boxes instead of functional units.”

As ZDNet says, however,' I have to say that the demo boxes argument is a weak one. The typos on the box, the genuine-esque label and the fakey manual inside the box seem to rule out this being a demo box.'