The Intel Bonanza Mine (BM) or BMZ1 crypto mining chip was unveiled earlier this month as part of a presentation at IEEE’s International Solid-State Circuits Conference 2022. More information about the company’s new line of specialized Bitcoin mining processors has now been released.
According to Tom’s Hardware, each chip has a die measuring 4.14 x 3.42mm, 258 mining engines, and is based on TSMC’s 7nm process.
Intel claims that the system can fit 300 BMZ1 chips into a 3,600W ASIC miner with a peak performance of around 40THash/sec. According to Intel, the chips can operate in a variety of performance profiles. However, in order for the chip to function, it must be able to sustain 3,600W of power.
Currently, most high-end mining operations rely on ASIC systems, which use chips designed specifically to use the hashing algorithm SHA-256, which is also used for Bitcoin mining.
Bitmain and MicroBT are the market leaders for such machines. Intel’s specialized silicon chips could soon change the story.
The company announced that the second generation BMZ2 chips are now available to some customers, including BLOCK and Argo Blockchain.
For the time being, little is known about the company’s strategy for bringing the Bonanza Mine chips to market. Intel, on the other hand, is likely to distribute BM to companies that develop custom mining systems.
Furthermore, it is likely that the company intends to sell its Bonanza Mine-powered systems as a standalone product to consumers.
Intel’s mining chips are still shrouded in mystery for the time being. However, the existence of a special internal team for the research and development of Bonanza Mine chips suggests that more is on the way.
To read our blog on “Intel is developing customized blockchain chips,” click here.