"We are working on making silicon-based changes to future products that directly address the Specter and Meltdown threat in hardware, which will be released this year.", this obviously only involves new processors, not existing ones.
After three weeks, it is the first time that Intel even mentioned addressing the CPUs with a hardware fix. It remains unknown how Intel will make exactly those changes. Intel posted sales of more than $ 7 billion last quarter, and is in the quarterly earnings, an increase of 4 percent over the same period in 2016. Operating income was $ 5.4 billion, compared with EUR 4.5 billion. before.
"We've been around the clock with our customers and partners to address the security vulnerability know as Spectre and Meltdown. While we made progress, I'm acutely aware that we have more to do, we've committed to being transparent keeping our customers and owners appraised of our progress and through our actions, building trust."
According to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. It is not clear when the adjusted hardware will appear exactly this year. The company recently promised that the vulnerability this month will be closed in all recent chips through software updates. However, the patches recently caused technical problems (random reboot issues).
Intel warns its investors against the "very dynamic conditions" within the company due to the processor vulnerabilities. Spectre and Meltdown are two security vulnerabilities that allow attackers to access sensitive information through a bypass with the processor. Meltdown affects Intel processors, while Spectre effects equipment from multiple manufacturers.
The company saw its turnover increase by a 6 percent in 2017 to a record level of $ 62.8 billion.
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I'm sure they still intend to fix the microcode issue, otherwise Intel is just begging to get sued into oblivion if they do absolutely nothing about it. It seems a little too unrealistic to have such a major security risk go completely un-fixed for what is likely a minimum of 80% of CPUs on the market, including servers. That being said, it would also be unrealistic for Intel to replace every one of those CPUs, especially if they can be made safe via just some updates .
Sure it's unrealistic. Because they made an error and can't make up for it. That's how it goes when you are in Intel's market position. Apparently Intel hired a firm that's specialized in taking care of such a "crisis". On reddit one user said that Intel hired Sard Verbinnen (google it, but you'll have a hard time finding anything about their contract), which is specialized in taking care of large PR desasters. Seems they are afraid about what people think about them...
they would go out buisness if they had to "replace" everyone CPU that is effected. And they are still working on pusing microcodes out,
I still have no intrested in Buying a CPU any time soon though
I mean, it's nice that they are working on microcode updates. They have been doing so for the better of 2017, or not? I guess Intel has not gotten any microcode engineers free to take care of something like this seven months after.
Also, they would have given out information about the mid of January, but they still do not have working microcode updates that don't produce issues for the platforms... that's another stupid move, even though things turned out different anyway.
I would have gotten the upgrade itch to be honest, but right now I don't trust any CPU until things are really taken care of. It's upsetting that this looks like a middle schooler's take on fixing this, it feels like Intel is acting like a chicken with it's head chopped off, running around flapping their wings with no direction at all...