Intel Crypto Chip
Intel is investing in blockchain technology with a new chip designed to mine cryptocurrency.
The semiconductor giant said on Friday that it was launching a new microprocessor for blockchain applications, including Bitcoin mining and creating non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, as it looks to compete with the likes of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices in the space.
The new chips, which are comprised of the Bonanza Mine ASICs, will be used by several customers this year, including Block, Argo Blockchain, and GRIID Infrastructure.
As a part of furthering its footprint in the space, Intel has also formed a new segment called Custom Compute Group within its Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics business unit.
“We are mindful that some blockchains require an enormous amount of computing power, which unfortunately translates to an immense amount of energy,” Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President General Manager wrote in a blog post.
“Our customers are asking for scalable and sustainable solutions, which is why we are focusing our efforts on realizing the full potential of blockchain by developing the most energy-efficient computing technologies at scale,” Koduri added.
Thanks to decades worth of research on cryptography and hashing techniques, Intel appears to be confident that these new ultra-low-voltage crypto mining ASICs will be able to provide “1000x better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs.”
The company plans to provide more details on its crypto mining and blockchain efforts at the upcoming International Solid State Circuit Conference, which takes place in San Francisco in a couple of weeks.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
