TMTPOST--Intel has identified the source of the widespread instability affecting its 13th and 14th Gen Core processors. In an announcement on Monday, Intel confirmed that these CPUs are experiencing "elevated operating voltage," and a patch to address this issue is forthcoming.

"We have determined that elevated operating voltage is causing instability issues in some 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors," wrote Intel employee Thomas Hannaford on the company’s forum. "Our analysis of returned processors confirms that the elevated operating voltage stems from a microcode algorithm resulting in incorrect voltage requests to the processor."

Intel is working to release a microcode patch for motherboard manufacturers by mid-August. In the meantime, affected users are advised to contact Intel support. The company first acknowledged the problem in April after receiving reports from owners of Intel Core i9-13900K and i9-14900K processors who were experiencing frequent game crashes.

Concerns about the stability of Intel’s Core i9-13900K and Core i9-14900K processors began early in the year, along with patches addressing possibly related issues. However, major concerns erupted more recently when Alderon Games, developers of the dinosaur survival game "Path of Titans," announced they were switching to AMD servers due to the high crash rate of Intel CPUs, describing the failure rate as "nearly 100%."

Tech YouTuber Level1Tech also investigated and found that Intel’s 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, especially the 13900K and 14900K models, have major issues, particularly in server workloads. The 13700K and 14900K models were also noted to have similar, though less frequent, problems.

As the issue persisted, speculation about its cause grew. Intel's recent confirmation points to "elevated operating voltage" as the root cause, attributed to a microcode algorithm error rather than an inherent flaw in the chips themselves.

Intel plans to roll out patches by mid-August, hoping to resolve the voltage issue. Partnered motherboard vendors are expected to distribute UEFI/BIOS updates for affected CPU users to install.

Intel reassures customers that it is committed to resolving the issue. "We are committed to making this right with our customers and continue to ask any customers currently experiencing instability issues on their Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors to reach out to Intel Customer Support for further assistance."

The microcode fix could potentially dampen the reception of Intel’s new CPU releases scheduled around the same period, according to industry analysts.

The timing is challenging for Intel, as the company plans to release Arrow Lake-S desktop processors in a few months, followed by Luna Lake mobile processors. Meanwhile, AMD is set to launch its Ryzen 9000 Zen 5 processors on July 31, said analysts.

"Given Intel’s stability issues, consumers are likely to opt for AMD systems. The forthcoming fix may lead to slight performance losses in benchmark tests against Ryzen 9000 models," analysts indicated.

In addition to the CPU crashes, Intel faces a sharp decline in its market value. Intel’s stock has fallen over 34% since the beginning of 2024, wiping out more than $72 billion in market value. Intel’s stock price has halved from its peak in 2021.

Financial reports also show a significant drop in Intel’s total revenue from $57 billion in 2022 to $47.7 billion in 2023. Revenue from the data center and AI department fell from $16.86 billion in 2022 to $12.64 billion in 2023. The company’s revenue from foundry services decreased from $27.5 billion in 2022 to $18.9 billion in 2023, with operational losses widening from $5.2 billion to $7 billion.

Moreover, Intel’s outlook for the second quarter of 2024 is pessimistic. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Intel disclosed that the U.S. Department of Commerce had ordered it to cease exporting certain products to a Chinese customers, effective immediately. Consequently, Intel lowered its second-quarter revenue forecast, although the range remains between $12.5 billion and $13.5 billion, it will be below the midpoint of this range.

The same SEC filing showed that China accounted for 27% of Intel’s total revenue in 2023, and the export restrictions could impact Intel’s revenue by six percentage points.