A design error in one of its chips forced Intel to bring shipments of "Sandy Bridge" processors to a standstill.

Intel, the world's leading manufacturer of semiconductors, said it would have to spend a total of $1 billion (£600m) to fix the flaw in its six-series chipset.

The Sandy Bridge processor, which was launched in January, unites standard processing with graphics units on a single die. But, the manufacturer found a flaw in a support chip, dubbed Cougar Point. The flaw would have resulted into failures over time in connections to hard drives and DVDs.

More than 500 computer models were planned to be equipped with the "Sandy Bridge" processors. The chip giant has decided to delay hundreds of new personal computer models for as many as three months. The move could choke growth in the personal computer market.

Confirming the flaw, Intel said in a statement, "In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives."

The flaw in the chipset forced Intel to slash its revenue target for the coming quarter by $300 million. During the most-recent quarter, the company pocketed $11.5 billion in revenues and $3.4 billion in net income.