Intel enters Bitcoin mining machine chip market: Using TSMC 5nm chip with energy efficiency ratio of about 35J/T or mining machine mass production in the middle of the year

Wu said the author   |   Colin Wu

Editor of this issue   |   Colin Wu

Wu said that he learned from industry insiders that Intel's latest Bitcoin ASIC chip will use TSMC's 5nm chip. MPW has been completed and samples will be delivered to customers one after another. It is expected to be put into production in February. As early as June or July this year, major customers will complete and ship Bitcoin mining machines based on Intel's chips.

However, there is still a lot of uncertainty about the above time. Industry insiders revealed to Wu that the quality of Intel samples is critical, and the current chip energy efficiency ratio should be around 35J/T (the mining machine energy efficiency ratio should be increased by at least 10%). On the other hand, the size of Intel's investment at the corporate level will also determine whether this move can challenge the status of Bitmain and Shenma. It can be expected that Intel's chip shipments will not be large this year, but if progress goes smoothly, it may pose a certain challenge to the current Bitcoin mining machine chip landscape in 2023.

On January 18, a piece of news shook the Bitcoin mining industry. Intel's conference agenda revealed that it planned to hold a presentation in the "Highlight Chip Release" category on February 23 to outline the new "Bonanza Mine" processor, which is called an "ultra-low voltage energy-efficient Bitcoin mining ASIC." Intel said it has been working on the design of SHA 256 optimized ASICs for many years.

On January 19, TheBlock reported that Bitcoin mining company Griid quietly disclosed a major piece of information last month: On September 8, 2021, GRIID signed a supply agreement (the "Intel Supply Agreement"), under which GRIID can purchase the BZM2 ASIC designed by Intel. In addition, under certain conditions, by around May 2025, GRIID will have the right to purchase at least 25% of all qualified Intel-designed ASICs from Intel.

As early as September 2016, Intel submitted a patent application for a Bitcoin mining chip, claiming that it could significantly reduce power consumption during mining. The patent is described as "a system that combines a specific chip with a Bitcoin mining hardware accelerator," which includes a computing block and a message digest data link, and possibly a second computing block.

Wu said that he learned from industry insiders that Intel's latest Bitcoin ASIC chip will use TSMC's 5nm chip. MPW has been completed, and samples will be delivered in succession. It is expected to be put into production in February. In the middle of the year, major manufacturers will complete and ship Bitcoin mining machines based on Intel's chips. As early as 2018-2019, Intel was commissioned by SoftBank to jointly complete 8,000 TSMC 7nm mining machines. Due to poor energy efficiency, they were not subsequently shipped in large quantities. At present, the ASIC project is under the charge of Raja Koduri, Intel's senior vice president and head of the AXG department. He was promoted by the new CEO and has a higher voice within the company.

However, from a business perspective, it may not be a good time for Intel to join the battle. Industry insiders estimate that 1.5-2 million Bitcoin mining machines will be shipped this year, and with the continued export of idle domestic mining machines, the total network computing power will reach a minimum of 300-350EH/s and a maximum of more than 400EH/s. In terms of Bitcoin prices, due to the Fed's expectations of an interest rate hike, the market currently tends to wait and see and is slightly bearish.