Intel has discovered a design flaw in its new line of chips called Sandy Bridge processors that it released in January 2011.
The semiconductor chip manufacturer has estimated the cost of repairs and reduced revenue at about $1bn.
The company said the defect is not in the processors, but in a support chip that connects the processors to the rest of a system.
The problem can cause some connections to disk drives and DVD drives to degrade over time, the company said.
However, Intel said that the problem did not delete the data and that consumers would still be able to retrieve it by moving a hard drive to another computer.
Intel’s personal computer client operations vice president Stephen L. Smith said, "Intel believes that consumers can continue to use their systems with confidence while working with computer manufacturers for a solution."
Intel said it expects to begin delivering the updated version of the chipset to customers in late February and be at full production in April.
It is offering to repair or replace all of the affected boards and systems.
