Intel Enters Crypto Mining Industry with new ASIC Miner

Intel Enters Crypto Mining Industry with new ASIC Miner, Intel’s decision to enter the booming area of cryptocurrency mining is self-evident: as the business grows tremendously and establishes a strong foundation, with the United States currently commanding the lion’s share of the world’s hash power, Intel wants a piece of the digital pie in the future.

For at least two years, major brands that aren’t entirely focused on the development of ASIC crypto miners, such as Nvidia and AMD, have been creating dedicated hardware for Proof-of-Work. Nvidia’s CMP graphics card range is made up of “reject” GA100 accelerators that failed to achieve quality control criteria for whatever reason, most likely owing to insufficient dye qualities, on their enterprise-grade products.

In mid-2021, AMD followed suit, announcing their own crypto-focused graphics card for the general market based on Navi-12, which was built exclusively by OEM partner XFX. Crypto Expert Icon Miners offers you the best prices for ASic Miners on wholesale.

Leviathans have limited themselves to GPU

Both GPU market behemoths, on the other hand, have focused on what they do best: GPUs. Intel, on the other hand, has taken a different, albeit more saturated, path. They’ve developed ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) mining chips to compete with Chinese companies like Bitmain, Canaan, MicroBT, and Innosilicon.

Unfortunately, Intel’s performance announcement has fallen woefully short of expectations. Intel has been planning to release a new “Ultra-Low-Voltage-Energy-Efficient Bitcoin Mining Asic” since 2018, and the performance appears to be from the same time period. Intel Enters Crypto Mining Industry with new ASIC Miner

Intel’s new ASIC miner is designed to deliver “the most energy-efficient computing solutions at scale,” according to the company. However, how Intel intends to accomplish this is unclear, and will be explained in further detail during the ISSCC conference on February 23rd.

Intel’s plan is to create customized chips that utilize less energy and resources than regular chips used in ASIC designs. However, it appears that, despite the good intentions, the end product is not up to par in this area.

Intel’s Asic miner chip development

The chip in question is known as the “Bonanza Mine” (BMZ1) and is remarkable in that it is only 7nm in size. Each Intel ASIC will contain 258 of these separate mining chips, allowing the ASIC to perform at 40TH/s while consuming 3,600 Watts of electricity. Intel Enters Crypto Mining Industry with new ASIC Miner

This is an outcome that is not just unsatisfactory, but also likely counterproductive. To put this in context, Bitmain, one of the leading ASIC makers, recently unveiled the S19+ Hydro, its new next-generation model. It’s a closed-loop liquid-cooled design capable of 198TH/s at just 5,448 Watts.

It doesn’t take a mathematician to realize that these figures are distorted. Intel, which claims to be focused on “the most energy-efficient computing technologies at scale,” has erred with an outdated processing method. Keep in mind that Bitmain’s offering is out of reach for the average amateur miner, requiring a minimum 195 unit order quantity and a $3.4 million investment in a HK3 AntSpace wet-dry stack container.

Bitmain’s assertion that if miners are used outside of this liquid cooling container ecosystem, they will not honor any warranties or offer service further complicates problems for this new equipment.

The BMZ1 from Intel can only match Bitmains S19+ Hydro’s hashrate at a higher power consumption

Many in the crypto business are unsure why Intel would even produce this device; perhaps it is being used as a signal, to demonstrate how the times are changing and how Intel is working to catch up, but most likely, it is a botched first attempt at anything meaningful. In the mining sector, power is a major concern; last year, the world’s crypto mining operations consumed more energy than Argentina consumes in a year. This is why businesses are striving nonstop to develop more energy-efficient operations. Intel appears to be focusing on the right things.

The only hope is that Intel will eventually show us all wrong and provide a significant adjustment in the industry’s power to hash ratio, and, more crucially, availability. Intel Enters Crypto Mining Industry with new ASIC Miner

Cost per terahash of Intel’s Asic Miners

The cost per terahash is, of course, the dark horse in all of this. There is a strong case to be made for Intel’s entry if it can produce an ASIC for roughly $1,500, significantly lower than the existing manufacturers’ cost-per-terahash.

Rumors of a BZM2 in production have already surfaced, and Intel has reportedly received orders from major tech companies including Jack Dorsey’s Block (previously Square). Does this appear to be a wise investment? Again, it is dependent on the acquisition cost. Intel Enters Crypto Mining Industry with new ASIC Miner

Increasing interest, on the other hand, typically pushes innovation, and we welcome Intel to the scene, especially in terms of SHA256 Proof-of-Work machines being surrounded by less capable marques charging 4-5x MSRP.