Intel confesses chip-speed glitch

Intel has admitted that a bug in the software used to measure Pentium chip performance caused the company to overstate the speed of its 100-MHz and faster chips.

Intel officials say the bug turned up in software the company uses to generate industry benchmark tests. The glitch caused the company to overstate Pentium chip speeds by 10 percent in comparison with other chips.

The flaw was discovered last week by Intel competitor Motorola. Despite charges by some critics that the inflated figures were deliberate, Intel is calling the error an "oversight."

A debugged version of the testing software will be available for downloading at the Intel Web site within ten days, according to company officials.