Intel Expands Core Processor Warranty Extension to Retail Purchases

Intel recently admitted to problems with recent generation Core processors for PCs, but the resulting warranty extension only applied to processors acquired with a new PC. Today, the microprocessor giant revealed that it will expand this extended warranty to include processors acquired at retail as well.

“Intel is committed to making sure all customers who have or are currently experiencing instability symptoms on their 13th and/or 14th Gen desktop processors are supported in the exchange process,” Intel’s Thomas Hannaford explains. “We stand behind our products, and in the coming days we will be sharing more details on two-year extended warranty support for our boxed Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors.”

Before this change, Intel asked customers who purchased those processors at retail to contact Intel Customer Support. One assumes the volume of support requests it received necessitated the expansion. It’s not clear if this indicates that the issues with these chips are perhaps worse or more widespread than previously thought, or whether it just received numerous inquiries from concerned customers.

Taken in the context of Intel’s recent bad news–a horrific quarterly earnings report, massive layoffs, restructuring, and cost-cutting that resulted in a historic drop in the company’s worth–one might view this as more bad news for a company that’s already reeling. But this might also be viewed as a credible company just doing the right thing for its customers, and a move that might help prevent yet another round of bad publicity.

Either way, the details are light for the moment. As Mr. Hannaford notes, it will be a few days before we know how Intel will handle this. But it should just be as simple as an extended warranty for everyone who owns one of these chips. And that should bring some piece of mind for those who haven’t had issues but are worried about the future.