Intel announces Blockchain Accelerators, expects 1000x performance over GPU mining
Intel enters the non-fungible Thunderdome
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Today Intel announced something brand-new in the computing space, named a Blockchain Accelerator, Intel hopes to improve energy efficiency optimizing hashrates with a brand-new type of chip, which seeks to dethrone the tried and true GPU for mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Mining efforts have been known to consume more energy than entire countries, but with this new innovation from Intel, could those days finally be over?
As penned in a blog post by Raja Koduri, Intel’s SVP and the General Manager of Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics, Intel intends to enter the market and make a huge splash in the B2B sector with a new class of chip. Quoting Web 3.0 and the Metaverse, Intel intends to invest heavily in blockchain-based technologies, and chips that seek to serve the growing market of miners, and users transacting using blockchain technology.
In the blog post, Intel goes over the state of energy efficiency in the current market, and how they are looking to curb usage:
“We are mindful that some blockchains require an enormous amount of computing power, which unfortunately translates to an immense amount of energy. Our customers are asking for scalable and sustainable solutions, which is why we are focusing our efforts on realizing the full potential of blockchain by developing the most energy-efficient computing technologies at scale. “
What is a Blockchain Accelerator?
Blockchain Accelerators are expected to supplant the GPU as the preferred option for miners around the world, and Intel’s got huge clients lined up, waiting to purchase them.
“Our blockchain accelerator will ship later this year. We are engaged directly with customers that share our sustainability goals. Argo Blockchain, BLOCK (formerly known as Square), and GRIID Infrastructure are among our first customers for this upcoming product.”
Based on this information from Intel’s blog post, you can expect that they are not going to offer this to consumers quite yet, with bigger solutions, saved for the clients with the most cash. They also boast that these blockchain accelerators are expected to have ‘over 1000x better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining’ They also promise more information about the chips in late February at the International Solid State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) which runs from February 20-28.
This looks to shake up the bitcoin mining industry, especially for miners who have large farms, and electricity consumption that might make your eyes water. Intel’s claims should make these large partners stand up, and take note. Intel entering the ring is going to be bad news for smaller makers of ASIC-computing chips for the purpose of Bitcoin mining, which looks to be becoming more lucrative than ever before with the advent of Web 3.0.
Looking for GPU hashrates? We’ve got you covered with the GPUs that you can get now. They might not be as efficient as Intel’s upcoming offering, though.
