Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s largest electronics maker, said it will give refunds for its desktop and laptop computers sold locally and in the U.S. with faulty chips from Intel Corp.

Six models sold in the local market and one model in the U.S. can be returned for refunds or exchanges, James Chung, a Samsung spokesman, said by telephone today. About 2,000 to 3,000 units of those models probably have been sold since sales began last month, he said.

Intel said yesterday that there was a design fault in a support chip or chipset, for its latest processor model called Sandy Bridge. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said it has corrected the flaw and begun making a new version that will resolve the issue.