SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Intel Corp. here said it has canceled the controversial Memory Translator Hub (MTH) component, and the delay will push out the company's Timna integrated processor until the first quarter of 2001.

According to a spokesman for Intel, the company discovered that certain combinations of temperature and signals caused errors in the MTH, the component that has currently caused a recall of all Intel and third-party-manufactured motherboards which integrate it. Previously, Intel said it was designing a replacement, due sometime in the third quarter. Now, that chip has been canceled, pushing out the Timna chip in its wake.

The bottom line for customers is that the Intel 820 chipset will return to being a Direct Rambus-only part.

Intel is currently briefing its customers on the delays, the spokesman said. While the news will likely be taken as yet another problem with the trouble-ridden MTH, the spokesman said the company's hands are tied. "We simply have to look at one situation at a time," he said.

No errors have been discovered with Timna. Instead the chip, designed with an integrated Direct Rambus interface, was supposed to use a Timna-specific MTH to interface to the more popular and cheaper SDRAM. Since the MTH associated with the Intel 820 has been canceled, Intel has decided to delay the Timna's introduction until sometime in the first quarter of 2001, when the Timna's MTH can be manufactured. The Timna chip was originally scheduled to be released in the third quarter, according to customer sources.

"Since [the recall] we've determined that the Intel MTH product has issues with quality and reliability," the spokesman said. He added that under certain temperature and signaling conditions, a rise in ground bounce was experienced, in some instances producing circuit failure.

Intel's earnings will not be materially affected by the delay, but the company has restated earnings as a result of the motherboard recall.