Intel will launch a processor specialized in crypto-mining

In digital, if there is a truly energy-intensive segment that has a massive impact on the environment, it is indeed the mining of cryptocurrencies. To give a little virtue to mining and anchor themselves in this vast market, foundries are embarking on the design of processors specifically designed for this task and designed to consume lessenergy. During the conference annual ISSCC which brings together manufacturers in the processor sector, Intel has just announced the arrival of a chip dedicated to mining.

The Bonanza Mine is a processor described as a very power-efficient, ultra-low-power Asic chip. low tension. The Asic constitute a family of specialized processors that optimize their tasks compared to CPUs and GPUs also exploited for mining. Intel is not the only one in this niche and, with this novelty, it is positioning itself against Bitmain on the Asic market specialized in cryptocurrency mining. As another competitor, there is also the founder specialized in Asic chips, MicroBT.

On track since 2018

In fact, Intel has been interested in the design of processors dedicated to mining since 2018. The firm even filed a patent at the time. It described a specialized SHA-256 processing algorithm for extracting Bitcoins. Investing in this branch also shows that the foundry only wants its GPUs for gamers are mainly used for mining. This is also what causes great concern for shortage concerning the graphics cards.

The foundry should present its new chip from the end of next month. Intel’s processor should be able to find a comfortable place in this market given the prohibitive prices of its competitors and the substantial delays they encounter in the production of their processors. In any case, according to information from Fox Business, the start-up crypto-mining company Griid has reportedly already signed a long-term commitment with Intel for its processor.