Each Blockscale ASIC chip will deliver up to 580 gigahashes per second (GH/s) of hash rate with up to 26 joules per terahash (J/TH) of power efficiency and support up to 256 integrated circuits per chain, in addition to featuring on-chip temperature– and voltage–sensing capabilities.
Therefore, a mining system consisted of 256 Intel Blockscale ASIC chips would supposedly output roughly 148 TH/s and consume about 3,860 watts (W) of power. The flagship air-cooled mining system of the current global market leader, Bitmain, outputs 140 TH/s with an energy consumption of 3010 W, resulting in 21.5 J/TH of power efficiency.
More than to compete head-to-head with current market leaders and seek to provide a more energy efficient offering, Intel will arguably add value to the industry in the short to medium term by increasing availability of miners.
Intel’s shipments will also include a reference hardware design and software stack to jump-start customers’ system development. Argo Blockchain, Block, Inc., Hive Blockchain and GRIID Infrastructure are among the first mining companies to get their hands on Intel’s upcoming chip, which will begin shipping in Q3 2022.
Intel said it will work with and supply prospective customers who share the company’s sustainability goals starting in 2023.
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While this means only some customers will receive Intel chips (or rigs using Intel chips), this will help to relieve the imbalance in supply and demand, and likely help bring down the cost of hardware from other manufacturers who will find lower demand.
Whether this happens or not will depend on a number of factors, such as whether the Intel chips are in a quantity that is enough to affect the imbalance, the futur eprice of bitcoin, the future difficulty level, and more.
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While this Ver 1 product isn't jawdropping specs, it does represent a significant move forward for the industry.
Intel's entry into the market legitimizes it. For some random midwest power company looking to turn excess capacity into BTC, it may have been a hard-sell to convince them to send $20M to some upstart chinese hardware company....those dynamics change when its Intel.
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Good point!
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