Intel is accused of fraud with defective chips

The 2022 and 2023 Raptor Lake processors are allegedly defective, a report says. There is even alleged fraud.

The allegations could lead to a class action lawsuit in which a group of consumers would file a lawsuit together. The initiative was taken by plaintiff Mark Vanvalkenburgh, who purchased an Intel Core i7-13700K in early 2023. “After purchasing the product, the plaintiff learned that the processor was defective, unstable and crashing at high speed,” the official complaint states.

According to Vanvalkenburgh, the processor was causing problems with his computer. The monitor failed several times and the computer randomly restarted. Even after installing a patch for the processor, the problems persisted.

The lawsuit states that Intel knew about the defects as early as late 2022 or early 2023. “Intel’s products are tested before and after release. Through these tests, Intel became aware of the defect in the processors,” said Vanvalkenburgh. However, during the same period, Intel claimed that the chips offered fast and powerful performance without mentioning the flaws. According to the public prosecutor, concealing this information represents a form of fraud. In doing so, the chip company allegedly violated US law.

Intel's answer

Intel admitted in the middle of the year that the processors had problems. “Based on a comprehensive analysis of 13th/14th generation Intel Core desktop processors. 13th generation that were returned to us due to instability issues, we have noticed increased operating voltage on some 13th/14th generation desktop processors. “Our analysis of returned processors confirms that the increased operating voltage is due to a microcode algorithm that results in incorrect voltage requirements to the processor.”

This year, Intel released three patches to fix the problem and introduced an additional two-year warranty period. Intel has not yet responded to the lawsuit and a possible class action lawsuit.

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