Bitmain ordered chips from TSMC, which may provide 33 million TH/s of computing power in the first two quarters of next year

According to the previous revelation by the technology big V "Mobile Chip Expert", Bitmain has booked 30,000 7nm wafer production capacity from TSMC in the third and fourth quarters.

According to the 7nm mining machine models on sale on Bitmain's official website (currently sold out), they are mainly Antminer S17-53TH/s, Antminer T17-40TH/s and Antminer S17 Pro-56TH/s. Each S17 or S17Pro mining machine has 144 chips, and the T17 has 90 chips.

Depending on the differences in IC design capabilities, a 12-inch wafer can be roughly cut into 2,500-5,000 ASIC mining chips. According to industry insiders, a 12-inch 7nm nano wafer can roughly cut into about 3,000 ASIC mining chips.

Based on the 144 chips in each mining machine, it can be roughly calculated that the 30,000 7nm nanowafers ordered by Bitmain this time can produce approximately 625,000 7nm mining machines within two quarters.

Generally speaking, the price of an ASIC mining machine wafer is about less than US$8,000. Based on the current tight production capacity and repeated price increases, there have been rumors that the cost of TSMC's 7nm process 12-inch wafer may be raised to US$10,000. The price of Bitcoin Mainland's order for 30,000 wafers may reach US$300 million (approximately RMB 2.06 billion).

According to a previous report by Caijing.com Chain Finance, an industry insider revealed that Bitmain ranks 16th on TSMC's chip supply ranking list (the top ten are occupied by mobile phone manufacturers).

In contrast, TSMC's chips tend to be supplied to manufacturers with stable demand for more than 12 months. Since the demand of mining machine manufacturers is too closely linked to the price of coins, their demand is highly volatile, and the production capacity of mining machines is generally determined when the manufacturer's chip orders are placed three to six months ago. The manufacturer's production capacity response is generally delayed, and it is impossible to maintain a stable demand for chips.

Therefore, there are reports that, unlike previous orders, TSMC may require Bitmain to pay a larger deposit this time, or even require full payment before production. According to the "Mobile Chip Expert", Bitmain has already "paid" TSMC for this batch of orders worth US$300 million, which suggests that Bitmain currently has sufficient cash.

Recently, there is a strong demand for mining machines in the market. As soon as they are launched, they are snapped up and in short supply. According to the official website of the mining machine, all the Antminer SHA256 mining machines are sold out, and the delivery date of Antminer S17 (53T) and T17 (40T) is in September this year. The delivery of orders for Shenma mining machines M20s (68T) and M21s (56T) is even scheduled for November. Previously, industry insiders had analyzed that the production capacity of mining machines may not be loose until September to October (that is, near the end of the flood season).

It is expected that the wafers ordered by Bitmain for the third and fourth quarters will be shipped by the end of 2019 or in the first or second quarter of 2020. From this, it can be roughly estimated that Bitmain will be able to provide 33 million TH/s of computing power by the first or second quarter of 2020.

Source: Caijing.com Chain Finance

Author: Xi Xixi