Cisco reserves $125 million for the impact of Intel Atom C2000 problems

Cisco has earmarked $125 million for expected costs related to issues with Intel’s Atom C2000 chips. These processors appear to have defects with the clock output, which cause the chips to stop functioning.

Cisco doesn’t name the Atom C2000 in its quarterly results, but it’s clear from the wording that the $125 million is being set aside because of the problems with those chips. Cisco talks about “cost for expected outage of a commonly used third-party clock signal component, which is embedded in multiple products.”

That the Intel Atom C2000 malfunctions appeared at the beginning of February. In an explanation of the quarterly figures, Intel reported problems with a product, which would show ‘slightly higher failure rates’, The Register noted at the time. By then, Cisco had already posted an extensive notice and FAQ on its site that multiple network and switch products could have problems and that risk would increase after 18 months of operation.

According to an Intel spokesperson, this involves faster than expected wear of a part when it is placed under load. Specifically, it concerns the lpc clock output, which can stop functioning, causing the chip to fail, according to Intel documentation. Affected processors are the Intel Atom C2308, C2338, C2350, C2358, C2508, C2518, C2530, C2538, C2550, C2558, C2718, C2730, C2738, C2750, and C2758. It’s about the B0 stepping of the chips.

Cisco isn’t the only manufacturer to release products with the flawed Atom chips. Serve The Home lists that Supermicro, Netgate, QCT, iXsystems, Synology and ASRock, among others, have released products with the chips. Some of these have launched replacement programs, but by no means all manufacturers have provided clarity on the steps to be taken.