Bitmain adds 7nm production capacity, new mining machine capacity may reach 58 million TH/s in the first half of next year

Bitmain's "urgent orders" this time were still paid in cash.

According to the Taiwan Economic Daily, the supply chain reported that TSMC's 7nm production capacity was in short supply and received an urgent order from Bitmain. TSMC urgently added 7nm production capacity and is expected to increase its wafer output by 10,000 wafers per month starting in November.

Although the report did not specify the total amount of 7nm orders Bitmain has received this time, the news verified the previous revelation by the tech big V "Mobile Chip Expert" that "Bitmain still has a lot of cash on hand." Bitmain's "urgent orders flooded in" this time, and they were still paid in cash.

According to reports, the new mining machine Antminer S17 Pro (56T) released by Bitmain in April this year is equipped with chips produced by TSMC's 7nm process. Take the Antminer S17 Pro as an example. According to industry insiders, a 12-inch 7nm nano wafer can roughly cut out about 3,000 ASIC mining machine chips. Then, each S17Pro mining machine is equipped with 144 chips. It can be roughly calculated that every 10,000 7nm wafers can produce approximately 208,300 Antminer S17 Pro mining machines, which means an additional 11.66 million TH/s of computing power.

According to previous reports by Caijing.com Chain Finance, the 30,000 7nm nano-wafers that Bitmain had previously ordered from TSMC can produce approximately 625,000 7nm mining machines within two quarters, and can provide 33 million TH/s of computing power from the first to the second quarter of 2020.

If the monthly production of chips is increased by 10,000 pieces from November, the new mining machine capacity will reach 58 million TH/s in the first and second quarters of 2020, based on the Antminer S17 Pro alone. And based on all 7nm mining machine models displayed on Bitmain's official website, the computing power that Bitmain's new 7nm mining machine can provide in the first and second quarters of 2020 will increase to 55 million TH/s-65 million TH/s.

As the first chip manufacturer to master the 7nm process, TSMC has almost monopolized all 7nm chip orders in the world. According to a previous report by Fast Technology, thanks to a 22% surge in revenue in June, TSMC's Q2 consolidated revenue was NT$240.999 billion, with an operating net profit margin of 31.7%, of which 7nm process revenue accounted for 21%, becoming the main source of revenue.

Currently, TSMC's 7nm production capacity is fully utilized and in short supply. Qualcomm's 7nm orders have already returned to TSMC, and Huawei is also currently making a big push for 7nm process technology. Huawei's latest chip Kirin 810 also uses TSMC's process technology. On July 26, TSMC just announced that it will recruit more than 3,000 new employees to support the company's business growth. The recruitment positions include semiconductor equipment engineers, R&D engineers, and production line operators.

The Taiwan Economic Daily reported in detail that Bitmain urgently placed an additional 7nm order, and TSMC's senior executives in charge of 12-inch production recently led a team to Japan to finalize key semiconductor equipment, expand 7nm production capacity, and determine the progress that can be rushed for delivery.

It is expected that this order will rapidly increase the proportion of revenue contributed by TSMC's 7nm production capacity this year, which may be higher than the more than 25% of full-year revenue estimated at TSMC's previous corporate briefing.

Source: Caijing.com Chain Finance

Author: Xi Xixi