ESG Focused, Intel Launches 2nd Generation BTC Mining Chips

two months after announce an energy efficient GPU BTC mining initiative, tech giant Intel has announced the launch of its second generation BTC mining chip, the Blockscale ASIC.

According to a company statement released on Monday (4), the new chip will provide more energy efficiency to the activity than the models currently available on the market.

The forecast is that the chip will begin to be marketed in the third quarter of this year. That is, from the month of July 2022.

Intel mining chip

Also according to Intel, each of the chips will have a hashrate (computing power) of up to 580 gigahash per second (GH/s). The chip will also have on-chip temperature measurement and voltage capability detection capabilities.

In addition, the energy efficiency will be 26 joules/terahash (J/TH). This one consumption makes the chip more efficient than Bitmain’s latest model, the Antminer S19 Pro+ Hyd., which offers a hashrate of 198 TH/s with an efficiency of 27.5 J/TH.

Furthermore, the miner is also more efficient than MicrtoBT’s Whatsminer M30S++. After all, this miner has 112 TH/s and an energy efficiency of 31 J/TH.

Furthermore, the chip will support up to 256 integrated circuits per chain.

“The Intel Blockscale ASIC will play an important role in helping BTC mining companies achieve sustainability and hash rate scaling goals in the years to come,” said Jose Rios, General Manager, Blockchain and Business Solutions at Intel.

According to the announcement, some companies have already registered to buy the new chip. These include Argo Blockchain, Block Inc., Hive Blockchain Technologies and GRIID Infrastructure.

As pointed out by Balaji Kanigicherla, vice president and general manager of Intel, the product is the result of years of research:

“Intel’s decades of research and development in cryptography, hashing techniques and ultra-low voltage circuitry enable blockchain applications to scale their computing power without compromising sustainability.”