CIOInsider India Magazine
Intel Stops Producing its Bitcoin Mining Chips
A year after its launch, chipmaker Intel Corp., said that it has stopped producing its line of bitcoin mining chips.
Certain chip manufacturers, including Nvidia Corp., whose high-end graphics chips were popular for cryptocurrency mining, were harmed by a collapse in the cryptocurrency market.
By October 20 of this year, Intel aims to stop receiving orders for the Blockscale series, and by April 20 of the next year, it expects to stop delivery.
IDM 2.0 is the term used to describe Intel's plan to contract out the manufacturing of its chips to external clients while simultaneously increasing its own output of smaller, faster chips.
The initial purchasers of the processors from Intel were Argo Blockchain, Block Inc., Hive Blockchain Technologies, and GRIID Infrastructure.
According to the company, it has discontinued support for the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC [application specific integrated circuit] while continuing to invest in IDM 2.0 and assist its Blockscale customers.
Hive Blockchain, a Canadian Bitcoin mining company, used Intel Bitcoin-mining ASICs to mine a total of 213.8 BTC, or $3.15 million, in December 2022.
Although Intel's Blockscale 1000-series chips offer enhanced efficiency and profitability, operational income costs Year-on-Year (YOY) for the company climbed by approximately 50 percent to $1.7 billion in 2022 from $1.2 billion in 2021.
According to Intel's annual report, these operational expenses were "related to increased inventory reserves taken and investments" in the company's product roadmap.
Intel aimed to advance its IDM 2.0 plan by "spending in production capacity around the world" in order to meet its 2022 commitment of "delivering five technology nodes in four years," one of which was the first Intel Blockscale ASIC.
Intel stated that the COVID-19 supply chain shutdowns in China and the unpredictable macroeconomic environment brought on by inflation and the Ukrainian conflict affected its 2022 results.
According to the company, it has discontinued support for the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC [application specific integrated circuit] while continuing to invest in IDM 2.0 and assist its Blockscale customers.
