Newegg drops supplier over counterfeit Intel processors

Newegg has issued an official update on the Intel Core i7 processor fiasco that came to light over the weekend. Turns out that IPEX, not D&H Distributing as initially believed, was responsible for supplying the bogus chips and as a result its contract with the online retailer has been revoked. In an initial statement, Newegg had referred to the issue as one of its partners mistakenly sending out "demo boxes" instead of functional units.

You could tell that was obviously not the case just by taking a closer look at the packaging and wording on the boxes containing the 'chips' in question. The news was first reported by HardOCP, which has now apologized to D&H Distributing for naming it as the supplying distributor, and clarified that it was merely reporting what a source from within Newegg's organization had told them.

In a statement issued to CRN, a senior D&H executive ratified his company has never bought anything other than genuine Intel products, sourced directly from Intel, and said they're glad to see the D&H name vindicated. Newegg for its part said it is reaching out to all customers who may have received the fake processors and has already sent out a number of replacement units. It's not often that a reputable retailer is duped into passing on counterfeit products to customers, but it seems that Newegg managed the situation quite well after all.