the adventure of Intel in the world of cryptocurrencies it has ended suddenly. Tom’s Hardware reports that the company has decided to discontinue Blockscale, its chip dedicated to Bitcoin mining equipment —known as ASIC miners. The news comes to light just a year after the first generation of the hardware was released, which will not have successors in the immediate future.
Intel has not provided further details on the reason for the determination. In a statement provided to the aforementioned outlet, it is mentioned that the decision is part of a process aimed at prioritize investment over what the company calls IDM 2.0. The latter is a mixed component manufacturing model that includes offering its foundry service to third parties, as well as outsourcing certain processes to strategic partners.
So things, Intel confirmed that it will not continue with the development of Blockscale series chips, which they thought exclusively for Bitcoin mining. However, despite the cancellation of the hardware, those of Pat Gelsinger assure that they will continue to support the clients with whom they assumed a long-term commitment.
Although references to the Bitcoin mining chip no longer appear on its website, Intel will continue to take new orders from interested buyers until next October. Shipments, meanwhile, will be made until April 2024. From then on, it is unknown until when support for the processor in question will be extended.
Intel gives up on Blockscale, its Bitcoin mining chip
When Intel announced its chip to mine Bitcoin, it seemed like a very interesting bet on the part of the American company. It is that behind the launch there was the promise of addressing one of the biggest problems of mining this cryptocurrency: its massive energy consumption.
Intel hardware placed a strong emphasis on energy efficiency. Raja Koduri, who was serving as the company’s chief architect at the time, claimed that Blockscale chips had performance per watt 1,000 times higher to that of conventional hardware used to mine cryptocurrencies under the SHA-256 algorithm.
Intel’s plan soon gained the interest of several renowned companies. One of the first to commit to adopting the new Bitcoin mining chip was blocksby Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter. But she was not the only one. other great pools of crypto mining, such as grid and Argo Blockchainalso leaned towards this promising component.
Despite this, it is clear that creating hardware specially designed for Bitcoin mining is no longer a priority at Intel. Or that being one of its newest businesses, it became a cutting variable when it comes to reducing expenses. Let us not forget that the chippera of Santa Clara, California, he had a 2022 to forget in financial matters. Something that was seen especially in the third quarter, when they suffered an 85% year-on-year drop in their profits. Situation that forced to plan massive layoffs.
Furthermore, the price of Bitcoin has undergone large fluctuations over the course of the last year. When Intel announced Blockscale, in March 2022, the price of the cryptocurrency was around $40,000. Said value was well below the all-time high—$69,000 in November 2021—although it was still high compared to what would be seen months later. The BTC had a sharp fall and was trading below $17,000 in January 2023. Since then it has recovered and today it is at $30,000, although a new correction is not ruled out.
Plenty of time to change your mind
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It is clear that not all companies are willing to deal with such volatility, no matter how lucrative a business seems. In any case, Intel has not completely closed the door on the possibility of continuing to be linked to the crypto world. Asked if the cancellation of Blockscale implied a definitive exit from the blockchain market, the company mentioned that it would continue to “monitor market opportunities.” Not a yes, not a no, after all.
If Intel changes its mind and wants to go back to dedicated hardware for ASIC miners, have plenty of time to try. After all, the last Bitcoin will only be mined in the year 2140.