Intel ’s play to get into the bitcoin mining market might end up being the story of the year. In a post titled “Blockchain and The New Custom Compute Group,” Raja Koduri reveals a little of the company’s playbook. At Intel, he’s the senior vice president and general manager of the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group.
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In the article, Koduri says, “we are focusing our efforts on realizing the full potential of blockchain by developing the most energy-efficient computing technologies at scale.” Intel’s play is deeper and harder than previously thought. They’re going all-in in the blockchain business. They claim to be the best.
“Today, we at Intel are declaring our intent to contribute to the development of blockchain technologies, with a roadmap of energy-efficient accelerators. Intel will engage and promote an open and secure blockchain ecosystem and will help advance this technology in a responsible and sustainable way.”
That’s right, they’re tackling the problem “in a responsible and sustainable way.” And they’re calling the mining chips “accelerators” for some reason. Is the name going to catch on?
“Intel Labs has dedicated decades of research into reliable cryptography, hashing techniques and ultra-low voltage circuits. We expect that our circuit innovations will deliver a blockchain accelerator that has over 1000x better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining.”
This new line of Intel products responds directly to the ESG, bitcoin-consumes-too-much-energy FUD, crowd. Soon enough, they’ll have to face Intel ’s PR machine. How can bitcoin consume too much energy if Intel’s product “has over 1000x better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining”?
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Who Are Intel ’s First Clients?
We can’t prove it, but, all of these companies probably knew years ago about Intel’s plans to release a bitcoin mining chip. Again, Raja Koduri:
“Our blockchain accelerator will ship later this year. Our customers share our commitment to sustainability. Our first customers are Argo Blockchain and BLOCK, formerly known as Square. This architecture is implemented on a tiny piece of silicon so that it has minimal impact to the supply of current products.”
NewsBTC analysis Intel’s chip announcement, we summarizedThe situation is:
“This could be huge. Intel plans to enter the Bitcoin mining space with a cleverly marketed “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient” ASIC chip. It is remarkable considering the fact that ASIC miners were severely delayed by the lack of chip supply. This is a great opportunity for Bitcoin miners to manufacture in the USA. The rest of Western Europe, too. ”
After that, we analyzed the situation’s implications:
“Now, the open-source Bitcoin miner that Jack Dorsey’s BlockIt makes much more sense to be working on. Theoretically, the silicon chip is the only part of an ASIC machine that can’t be bought in a hardware store. With that problem solved, by no less than an industry leader with immense manufacturing power, the sky’s the limit. If this whole thing materializes, expect a huge leap forward in the further decentralization of Bitcoin mining.”
Block was one of the very first customers. It was clear that Intel knew how to promote the ASIC chip market. Koduri addressed the issue of chip shortages in the final line.
Intel’s Bonanza Chip’s Future
Reading between the lines, it’s clear that this is not a secondary project for Intel. This low-energy chip play is something they are optimistic about. Koduri talks about the Custom Compute Group.
“The objective of this team is to build custom silicon platforms optimized for customers’ workloads, including blockchain and other custom accelerated supercomputing opportunities at the edge.
Onward, we aspire to leverage technologies from our zetta-scale computing initiative to deliver energy-efficient solutions.”
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You read it here first, Intel ’s play to get into the bitcoin mining market might end up being the story of the year.
Although this isn’t financial advice, it does not affect your ability to make sound decisions.
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