Intel launches its first-ever crypto mining chipset

Source: Intel

Intel has entered the crypto business as the company has introduced a new chipset called "blockchain accelerator" that is customized for mining bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Intel says that Blockchain technology has a lot of potentials and it is "declaring [its] intent" to contribute to this technology with the launch of "blockchain accelerator" chipsets.

Crypto mining requires a lot of energy and an enormous amount of computing power. Intel says it realizes that, and its blockchain accelerator is a scalable, sustainable, and the most energy-efficient computing solution for this. The company adds that it has years of experience in the cryptography, hashing techniques, and ultra-low voltage circuits field and that it will reveal more about the circuit innovations at the International Solid-State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) this month.

"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"

— Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President, Intel

Intel says the chipset will ship later this year. Companies such as Argo Blockchain, BLOCK (formerly known as Square), and GRIID Infrastructure have already preordered the chipset from Intel. Additionally, the company adds that the blockchain accelerator is implemented on a tiny piece of silicon so, it will have a minimal impact on the supply of current products.

Source: Intel | Via: The Verge