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Intel Launches Second-Generation Bonanza Mine Chip for Bitcoin Mining

2022-01-01

Computer chip manufacturing giant Intel Corp has shared details of a new mining chip that will be combined with a high-performance 3,600-watt miner, with the ultimate goal of improving Bitcoin (BTC) mining efficiency.

Intel showcased its second-generation BTC mining setup at the 2022 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), a conference dedicated to electronics and chip manufacturing.

According to the company, Bonanza Mine (BMZ2) is an ultra-low voltage energy-efficient Bitcoin mining ASIC that delivers 40 terahertz per second (TH/s).

Intel's Bonanza settings. Source: 2022 IEEE

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Intel`s patent related to [high-performance bitcoin mining" dating back to November 2018 proposes to reduce overall power consumption by about 15%. Intel representatives at the time expressed confidence in competing with established players including Bitmain, MicroBT and Nvidia:

"Intel has been designing around SHA 256-optimized ASICs for years, starting with the pathfinding work done in Intel Labs."
The BMZ2 chip is expected to follow a similar architecture to its first-generation mining chip, the BMZ1, where more than 300 chips powered by a 3,600W miner work together to deliver speeds of up to 40 TH/s in a balanced environment.

Intel's next-generation BTC miner will be able to deliver a balanced performance of 40.4 TH/s by consuming 2,293W of power - a record low power consumption of 56.97 joules per terahertz (J/TH). Compared to Bitmain's hardware, the Antminer S19j ASIC Bitcoin Miner consumes 3,100W at room temperature to deliver up to 90 TH/s with an efficiency of 34.5 J/TH.

In addition, the hardware can optionally operate in high-performance and power-saving modes to optimize the energy-to-cost ratio at different levels of mining efficiency.

Intel has yet to announce a date for its official launch and technical requirements for the second-gen mining setup.

Related: Bitcoin Difficulty Hits All-Time High, Hash Rate Jumps 45% in 6 Months

The Bitcoin network mining difficulty remains on an upward trend, strongly indicating an increasing ability to defend against cyber attacks.

At its peak, Bitcoin recorded a hash rate of 248.11 exahashes per second (EH/s) on February 13 after jumping 31.69% from 188.40 EH/s in just one day.

Bitcoin hash rate over the past year. Source: YCharts

As hash rate increases, BTC mining rigs need to evolve to provide higher performance while consuming the same amount of energy.

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