Intel begins shipments of Bitcoin-mining ASIC

Intel announced the start of deliveries of an ASIC chip for Bitcoin mining to selected customers.

Intel AXG Custom Compute team is now shipping the Blockscale ASIC! First product will always be unforgettable, congratulations team👍
Excited to see how @ArgoBlockchain @griid and @HiveBlockchain improvise around Blockscale and our open design. pic.twitter.com/0rxtNTLMfw

— Raja Koduri (Bali Makaradhwaja) (@RajaXg) June 29, 2022

Raja Koduri, senior vice president of Intel’s Architecture, Graphics and Software division, wrote on Twitter:

“The Intel AXG Custom Compute team is now shipping the Blockscale ASIC! The first product will always be unforgettable; congrats to the team. Proud to see Argo Blockchain, GRIID Infrastructure and HIVE Blockchain improvise around Blockscale and our open design.”

In February the company presented the first specialized chip for mining digital gold Bonanza Mine. The ASIC specifications were significantly lower than market leaders.

In April Intel announced the second generation of the chip for Bitcoin mining Blockscale. Journalists found information confirming that the manufacturer’s ASIC outperforms competitors in efficiency by about 15%.

Among the first Blockscale customers named by the company were HIVE Blockchain Technologies, Argo Blockchain, GRIID Infrastructure and Block Джека Дорси. The latter firm is not mentioned in Koduri’s tweet about the start of deliveries.

“HIVE is proud to partner with Intel. We can’t wait to use the new ASICs for mining BTC,” the Canadian company said in response.

$HIVE is proud to have partnered with @intel, and we can’t wait to put the new ASICs to good use mining $BTC! https://t.co/qDWKnU95MI

— H I V E (@HiveBlockchain) June 29, 2022

Mining company entered into a deal with the chipmaker to purchase Bitcoin mining equipment in March. Deliveries were expected to begin in the second half of the year. In June HIVE sold around 10 000 ETH to “finance strategic relationships” with Intel.

Argo Blockchain expressed thanks to the chip maker and to Koduri personally.

Thanks, @RajaXg and @intel. We’re excited to be innovating with these new ASIC chips in our custom immersion mining rigs. Our thanks to @ePICBlockchain for joining us on the ride. https://t.co/pKlxDjkm08

— Argo (@ArgoBlockchain) June 29, 2022

“We are very excited to bring innovations with these new ASIC chips to our custom immersion mining rigs. We thank ePIC Blockchain Technologies for joining us on this journey,” the company said.

In May Argo Blockchain signed with ePIC Blockchain an agreement to purchase 6,600 Bitcoin miners based on Blockscale. The contract provides for the option to order up to a further 23 400 units.

In February, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger criticised Bitcoin for its environmental impact and said that the company’s ASIC chip would help the technology develop in a responsible and sustainable manner.

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