Intel will be unveiling its first dedicated Bitcoin mining ASIC next month. According to the chipmaker’s schedule for the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), it’ll be unveiling a Bitcoin mining ASIC during a session titled “Bonanza Mine: An Ultra-Low-Voltage Energy-Efficient Bitcoin Mining ASIC.” It is scheduled for Feb. 23. Cryptocurrency mining has been on the rise over the past couple of years with both Bitcoin and Ether repeatedly hitting all-time highs.
During this period, both miners and hardware vendors have made quite a bit of money. The primary ASIC manufacturers include Bitmain, MicroBT, etc. Unlike NVIDIA and AMD, these companies make specialized processors for mining (compute), rather than graphics processors.
A while back, Intel revealed that it was planning to launch mining GPUs sometime in the future (after the launch of the ARC graphics cards). It’s highly unlikely that these are the same ones. We’re most probably looking at ASICs manufactured on excess 14nm capacity or defective 10nm wafers.
The first shipment of Intel’s BZM2 ASIC miners is slated to ship in 2022 itself, with clients like GRIID promised fixed pricing for all orders placed prior to May 2023. This particular deal was signed on September 8, 2021, and extends up to May 2025. (https://exceptionalpets.com) During this period, GRIID will be able to purchase 25% of all qualified Intel-designed ASICs.
Via: Coindesk
