Intel Corp said it expects to begin shipping new chipsets sooner than expected in mid-February for use with its Sandy Bridge processors following a design defect found last month.

Intel had announced last week that it had discovered a flaw in a chipset used with its new Sandy Bridge processors, a major product launch for the company this year, and stopped shipments of them.

But Intel said on Monday that after consulting with PC manufacturers it is resuming shipments of the current flawed chipsets for use in some PC system configurations that are not impacted by the design defect.

Under certain configurations, known configurations that work, they'll begin shipping again. We'll release the parts under those conditions, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy told Reuters.

Shares of Intel were barely changed, up 6 cents at $21.75 in after-hours trading.

For Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, the design flaw has been another distraction at a time when it faces sluggish personal computer sales and a major challenge from the exploding popularity of mobile devices, a market dominated by Britain's ARM Holdings.

Intel had previously said it would deliver a new version of the chipset in late February.

It said the resumption of shipments would not affect first-quarter and 2011 guidance given by the company last week when the flaw was announced.

Intel cut its first-quarter revenue forecast by $300 million and expects the total cost to repair and replace the chip to be about $700 million. Full-year revenue is seen unaffected.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Bernard Orr)

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