Microchip giant Intel is about to enter the crypto and bitcoin mining hardware market in a big way as it reads a presentation on a new revolutionary mining chip.
The multinational technology giant is set to unveil its “Bonanza Mine” processor at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) beginning February 20.
Intel’s presentation is scheduled in the “Highlighted Chip Release” category where it will detail the new chip which is described as an “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient bitcoin mining ASIC.”
ASIC refers to application-specific integrated circuits, specifically suited to the number-crunching involved in crypto mining.
Intel is jumping into the crypto mining fray
Intel’s foray into crypto mining means it could soon compete with the likes of Bitmain. Speaking to tech news outlet Toms Hardware, an Intel spokesperson said:
“Intel has built design work around SHA-256 optimized ASICs for many years, beginning with path-finding work done at Intel Labs. We’ll share more details in the future.”
In a late December live stream, graphics processor major Raja Koduri said that the company was working on specialized crypto-mining hardware and technologies. Koduri confirmed that the new chip will be completely separate from the graphics processor (GPU) that will “do graphics, gaming and all those wonderful things.”
The company has already come a long way along its development path for new mining-specific processors. In 2018, Intel patented a special processing system that uses an optimized SHA-256 cryptographic data path for high-performance bitcoin mining, Tom reports.
Gamers are already suffering at the hands of crypto miners as a global shortage of graphics cards, partly driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused prices to skyrocket. The second-hand market for GPUs has emerged in many countries, where three-year-old graphics cards are now priced higher than newer ones.
Intel, which disclosed a $780,000 stake in Coinbase stock last year, will release its first line of discrete gaming graphics cards, called the Intel Ark Alchemist, at some stage this year, as it rivals in a market that is Goes against Nvidia and AMD, which are badly needed. players.
Bitcoin Mining Ecosystem Outlook
China’s loss has been America’s gain in banning bitcoin mining operations. The exodus has ended and the hash rate has fully recovered and reached a new average all-time high of 207.2 EH/s (exhash per second) on 15 January.
The United States dominates hash power with a total of 35.4%, according to Cambridge University’s Global Mining Map (which hasn’t been updated since August). A large part of this will use renewable energy and in the meantime, China has fallen off the map.