Shares in Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) were lower in pre-market trading today, extending Wednesday’s decline after the tech giant admitted that its chips have a vulnerability that will require software patches.
However, Intel denied media reports that said other companies’ chips were not affected and that the software updates will have a major effect on the devices’ performance.
Intel shares had their worst day in eight months on Wednesday, losing 3.6% but pared bigger earlier 6% losses after the firm disputed some of the details of Tuesday’s report from online technology news site The Register.
The tech firm disclosed the chip's vulnerabilities on Wednesday, calling parts of the report inaccurate but still acknowledging that there are design flaws that could make systems susceptible to attack.
Meanwhile media reports today said Intel’s chief executive, Brian Krzanich sold millions of dollars worth of shares after the company was informed of the vulnerabilities but before it was publicly disclosed.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in late November, the reports said, Intel disclosed that Krzanich had sold hundreds of thousands of shares that he previously owned and that he had acquired as stock options.
They added that the disposal was part of a 10b5-1 plan, which executives use to plot out stock sales ahead of time in an effort to avoid accusations of acting on insider information, which the Intel CEO adopted on October 30 2017.
In pre-market trading in New York today, Intel shares were 2.2% lower at US$44.25.