1.   At first, the Santa Clara company dragged its feet on replacing defective chips, claiming that only scientists and mathematicians really had cause for worry.

2.   By most measures, that was a full-blown public relations disaster, in which Intel was forced to reverse itself after initially refusing to replace defective chips.

3.   Indeed, Dell Computer Corp. was scheduled to ship its first system using the defective chip Friday.

4.   It suspects individuals are picking up defective chips rejected from semiconductor companies in the region and relabeling them as NEC products.

5.   The company can make fewer chips per wafer of silicon, and the larger size creates more defective chips, which must be thrown away.

6.   Intel Corp. has offered to replace the defective chips.