The ‘Intel Blockscale ASIC’ (application-specific integrated circuit) is a second-generation Bitcoin mining chip and the successor to the ‘Bonanza Mine’ (BMZ1) processor. The device is designed to provide energy-efficient hashing for proof-of-work consensus systems.

“Intel Blockscale ASIC is built for the challenging environment of cryptocurrency mining,” says Intel. Temperature and voltage sensors are included in each ASIC. The accelerator may operate at a variety of frequencies, allowing system designers to strike a compromise between performance and efficiency.

The chip has a hash rate of 580 GH/s while using just 26 J/TH (joules per terahash), making it an energy-efficient crypto mining chip. Hash rate refers to how rapidly a miner can provide answers to Bitcoin’s next block, whereas joules per terahash refers to how much energy is required to produce each terahash. A terahash is equal to one trillion hashes.

The device also purportedly includes “on-chip temperature and voltage monitoring capabilities,” as well as capability for 256 integrated circuits per chain, both of which were not present in Intel’s initial “Bonanza Mine” CPU. Intel also says that because of the “nature” of the silicon utilized, it can be produced in large quantities “without impacting the constant stream of new CPUs and GPUs.”

Intel launches new bitcoin mining chip

Intel vice president and general manager of Custom Compute in the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group, Balaji Kanigicherla, says: “The buzz surrounding blockchain technology continues to grow. It enables decentralized and distributed computing, paving the path for new business models. Intel is developing technologies that can offer an appropriate mix of hashing throughput and energy efficiency independent of a customer’s operating environment to enable this new era of computing. Intel’s decades of research and development in encryption, hashing algorithms, and amazingly low voltage circuits enable blockchain applications to increase their computational capacity without sacrificing sustainability “.

The Bitcoin Mining Chip Blockscale ASIC will be available from Intel in the third quarter of 2022. Companies such as Argo Blockchain, Block Inc., Hive Blockchain Technologies, and GRIID Infrastructure will be among the first to create new systems based on Intel’s ASIC. According to Intel, in 2023 and beyond, the business will collaborate with and supply prospective customers that share the company’s sustainable aims.