Intel Reveals First-Gen Mining Chip, Second Gen Still Under Wraps

Intel revealed the specs of the archetypal procreation of its highly anticipated mining chips astatine the International Solid-State Circuits Conference connected Sunday, but didn't uncover details astir the 2nd generation, which volition beryllium supplied to Griid Infrastructure, a bitcoin mining company, aboriginal this year.

• The spot giant's entranceway into the marketplace for crypto mining application-specific integrated circuits was expected to alteration the playing field, wherever 2 companies reign supreme, but the show revealed for Intel's first-gen "Bonanza Mine" is beneath existent top-of-the-line machines.

• The details were archetypal revealed by Tom's Hardware. An Intel spokesperson confirmed to CoinDesk that the hardware tract had nonstop entree to the league presentation. The spokesperson described the spot revealed astatine ISSCC arsenic a "first-generation merchandise exploration from 2018," whereas the supply agreement with Griid notation to its second-gen ASIC, codification named BZM2.

• Intel has packed 75 ASICs, each 1 measuring 7 x 7.5 millimeters, onto each hash board. The first-gen Bonanza Mine strategy has 4 hash boards, which output a maximum hashrate of 40 terahash/second (TH/s) astatine 3,600 watts of powerfulness consumption. That is acold beneath Bitmain's Antminer S19j XP, which delivers 140 TH/s astatine 3,010W, oregon MicroBT's Whatsminer M30s++ that brings 112 TH/s astatine 3,472W.

• The ASICs themselves battalion 258 SHA-256 treble hash engines, which run astatine the "ultra-low" voltage of 355mV. Each 1 runs astatine 1.35 to 1.6 gigahertz astatine 75° Celsius, burning connected mean 7.5W apiece to scope up to 137 GH/s.

• That brings its powerfulness ratio to 55 joules/terahash/second (J/TH/s)at 355mV. The Antminer tin beryllium arsenic businesslike arsenic 21.5 J/TH/s astatine 140 TH/s. Intel's strategy tin run astatine antithetic powerfulness and thermal profiles, from a precocious show astatine 47.7 TH/s and 59.72 J/TH/s, to powerfulness redeeming astatine 34.5 TH/s and 54 J/TH/s.

• Jack Dorsey's Block and Argo Blockchain volition besides beryllium getting Intel's caller mining chips aboriginal this year, but neither has confirmed whether they volition beryllium getting first- oregon second-gen ASICs. Griid's proviso statement with Intel, overmuch of which is redacted, notes that Intel volition beryllium licensing the notation plan materials for the BMZ2, which implies that customers could plan their ain systems utilizing Intel-supplied silicon.