AMD says it's unaffected by Intel chip flaw

The Californian firm made the claim after conducting tests on its microcode following Intel's admission that errata in Pentium and Pentium MMX processors systems mean systems can be crashed by code 'bombs'.

"We spent a couple of hours testing and we're glad to say we're unaffected by all the bombs that could go around," said Richard Baker, regional manager for PC products at AMD Europe.

Baker admitted that the Intel problem was "pretty obscure" but added that it left systems vulnerable. "All these systems are open to malicious instructions and any virus-type code can include these bombs. You can't patch it in software; you have to spin the silicon," he said.