Intel, the semiconductor giant, could make a bigger push into the world of crypto at the upcoming International Solid State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) next month, where the company plans to plans to introduce a new “Bonanza Mine chip” that is potentially a power-efficient Bitcoin ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) geared towards mining. Little is known so far, but Intel has a slot scheduled in the Featured Chip Releases category for February 23, according to a table with presentations scheduled to take place from offices in Hillsborough, Santa Clara and San Diego, California.
Not sure whether Intel will showcase a viable product or simply reveal a prototype chip. As pointed out in a report by Tom’s Hardware, Intel has been working on entering the Bitcoin market for some time. In 2018, the US Patent and Trademark Office awarded a patent to the chip giant for efficient mining of cryptocurrencies using the SHA-256 algorithm. Intel also disclosed a small stake in leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase in August 2021.
Unlike CPUs or GPUs that are geared towards a wide range of use cases, an ASIC is a type of chip designed for a specific type of task – in this case, Bitcoin Mining. They only do one job, but they have to be exceptionally good.
Usually, graphics cards or GPUs are the chips involved in cryptocurrency mining. In fact, many attribute the ongoing GPU shortage to Ethereum mining, in part, as tokens sell out before any regular user can get their hands on them. However, for now, a specialized Intel mining chip labeled Bonanza Mine will not provide a solution to that problem as ASICs are only geared towards Bitcoin mining.
Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Accelerated Graphics and Computing Systems Group (AXG) at Intel, said in a statement. interview last month that being able to do blockchain validation much more efficiently at a much lower cost with less power is a solvable problem. “And it’s not a GPU thing, so don’t try to mistake it for a GPU thing. The GPU will do the graphics, gaming and all that amazing things,” said Koduri. “We’re working on that, and at some point, hopefully in the not too distant future, we’ll share some interesting hardware for that,” he added.
That said, Intel will face stiff competition from Bitmain and MicroBT, the world’s largest manufacturers of Bitcoin mining hardware.
