In April 2022, Intel first announced plans to launch the Blockscale ASIC chips reportedly dubbed "Bonanza Mine". These products were made specifically for the blockchain and Bitcoin mining market. Now, Intel has put an "end-of-life" label for these Blockscale 1000-series, with no plans to launch future versions of these chips.
Tom's Hardware got a statement from an Intel spokesperson who stated:
As we prioritize our investments in IDM 2.0, we have end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC while we continue to support our Blockscale customers.
When it was first announced a year ago, Intel said the Blockscale ASIC would "play a major role in helping bitcoin mining companies achieve both sustainability and hash rate scaling objectives in the years ahead." The chip had a Dedicated Secure Hash Algorithm-256 (SHA-256) ASIC processor, along with support for "up to 580 GH/s hash rate operating". It could use up to 256 integrated circuits per chain.
Shipments of the Blockscale ASIC were scheduled to happen in the third quarter of 2022. Intel has not revealed the sales or unit shipment numbers for those chips, but we can assume they did not meet expectations. Intel would not comment to Tom's Hardware if it had any more Bitcoin-themed ASIC products planned, stating only. "We continue to monitor market opportunities."
Intel launched its own Custom Compute Group to help develop the Blockscale chips, but there's no word about the fate of that division or its team members. The Custom Compute Group was part of Intel's overall AXG graphics chip division. That group recently saw the departure of its leader, Raja Koduri.
4 Comments - Add comment