Intel Unveils New Energy-Efficient Bitcoin Mining ASIC

Intel has shared tech details of its first-generation “Bonanza Mine” (BMZ1) blockchain accelerator chip, revealing it is already taking orders, while also unveiling a new 3,600-watt mining rig with 300 BMZ1 chips on board.

Both show-and-tells took place at this year’s International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), which runs until February 26 in San Francisco, US.

BMZ1 Chip Enables System Hashrate of 40 TH/s

The BMZ1 chip is specifically designed for mining bitcoin, so stacking 300 of them into a 3,600-watt mining rig produces a machine with a system hashrate of up to 40 terahashes per second (TH/s).

Intel also claims its miner’s underlying BMZ1 chips are the cleanest and most powerful on the market, further fuel for a growing advocacy movement that professes bitcoin mining supports renewable energy. Incidentally, in 2018 Intel won a patent for an energy-efficient bitcoin mining process.

Intel’s BMZ1 has already received several high-profile preorders, notably from Jack Dorsey’s payments company Block (formerly known as Square) and cloud mining pool Argo Blockchain.

BMZ2 Chips Already On Order

There’s also evidence to suggest Intel is forging ahead with a second-generation model. Bitcoin mining startup Griid says it has already signed a deal with Intel that includes orders of its BMZ2 chips for later this year.

With a reported US$900 million worth of new bitcoin mining equipment heading to the US from China this year, Intel’s timing is exquisite.