Intel will launch its first blockchain accelerator later this year

[Shawn Knight]

What just happened? Intel is pulling up at seat at the blockchain table, and aims to mingle amongst other hardware players in the emerging category. The chipmaker on Friday declared its intent to contribute to the development of blockchain technologies through the creation of an efficient blockchain accelerator.

Raja M. Koduri, SVP and GM of the accelerated computing systems and graphics group at Intel, said the architecture will be implemented on a tiny piece of silicon as to have a minimal impact on the supply chain.

Koduri hinted at Intel's blockchain ambitions late last year, but this is the first true confirmation we've heard on the matter with supporting details.

What’s more, Koduri said Intel expects its circuit innovations to deliver an accelerator that has over 1,000 times better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining.

“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. “ – Intel’s Raja M. Koduri.

The company has formed a new custom compute group within Intel’s accelerated computing systems and graphics business unit to support the initiative. Among its first customers will be Argo Blockchain, Block (formerly Square) and GRIID Infrastructure, a Bitcoin mining company.

With Apple's new Tap to Pay on iPhone feature encroaching on Block's turf and CEO Jack Dorsey's interest in crypto, it's not a surprise to see them among the first in line for Intel's new hardware.

Intel expects to ship its blockchain accelerator later this year and will share more information on the project at the International Solid State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) later this month.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93370-intel-launch-first-blockchain-accelerator-later-year.html

 

[psycros]

About time. This will do more to save the GPU market than any graphics card intel could release. Its going to be funny when all those digital coins have finally been mined and are just sitting in some virtual wallet, with all the holders afraid to make a move.

 

[Achaios]

I want Miners to suffer, I want them to repent in sackcloth and ashes, I want them financially ruined and peniless.


P.S.: If Intel manage to take out Miners mining on gaming GPUs, then God bless Intel. I am noting here, AMD has done jack-sheet regarding.

 

[Nobina]

Everyone being able to buy these things to mine crypto just smells bad, there's gotta be a caveat to it.

 

[WhoCaresAnymore]

I want the IRS to crack down on them. And I think they are starting too.

 

[wiyosaya]

sIntel should be ashamed. IMO, they are just trying to make themselves look good.

 

[cuerdc]

One card per household policy and 300% over rrp please intel would only be fair.

 

[BadThad]

This is a good move, it might help a lot with the video card problem. However, Intel could get greedy and price it out of the market like they did with Optane. The dummies had a gold mine for the consumer market and intentionally priced it too high and with small capacities. They would have sold MILLIONS if the price differential was small compared to the standard SSD's. Most of us would have paid a little more over a regular SSD for Optane.

 

[winjer]

If this helps getting miners lose interest in GPUs, CPUs and SSDs, then it's a good thing.
But it's still going to spend waffer production at TSMC or at Intel's fabs, that could have better uses.

 

[Dimitrios]

I knew this would happen. INTEL knows they are horrible at making drivers for gamers and it's too much effort while they can sit back and sellout loads of GPU's in seconds. Once mining hits that point maybe then with more money and confidence they will try and be a serious competitor in the gaming sector.

Why aren't you guys reporting about "Intel's Pay-As-You-Go CPU Feature"?
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-software-defined-cpu-support-coming-to-linux-518

 

[ZedRM]

This thing from Intel can't happen soon enough!!

 

[emmzo]

Idk why these things start to pop up when nobody cares anymore. Crypto is limping atm and the whole 2022 looks bleak. GPU mining will be pretty much dead or on life support very soon. And then all this huge amount of used cards will be selling for pennies, forcing AMD and NVIDIA to drop prices and beg us to buy it for less than MSRP. Yes, I know it still sounds far-fetched, but give it half a year more or less.

 

[umbala]

This is a good move, it might help a lot with the video card problem. However, Intel could get greedy and price it out of the market like they did with Optane. The dummies had a gold mine for the consumer market and intentionally priced it too high and with small capacities. They would have sold MILLIONS if the price differential was small compared to the standard SSD's. Most of us would have paid a little more over a regular SSD for Optane.

Sorry, but you have no clue what you're talking about regarding Optane. It was great technology, but it was too costly to produce. Intel didn't price themselves out of the market. The problem was that they could not produce them cheaply enough to actually make a profit.

You think they had a gold mine, but what kind of business would Intel be if they sold off a gold mine? It makes absolutely no sense. Also, Micron bought the technology from Intel, so why are we not seeing them flood the market with Optane drives? See above for the answer.

Most likely Micron will start producing them in small quantities to sell to corporate customers who can afford it. Maybe the price in the future will come down, but don't expected it to compete with SSDs any time soon, and it's not because everyone's "greedy" to take advantage of a gold mine, as you put it.

 

[Mister_K]

Idk why these things start to pop up when nobody cares anymore. Crypto is limping atm and the whole 2022 looks bleak. GPU mining will be pretty much dead or on life support very soon. And then all this huge amount of used cards will be selling for pennies, forcing AMD and NVIDIA to drop prices and beg us to buy it for less than MSRP. Yes, I know it still sounds far-fetched, but give it half a year more or less.

We can only hope

 

[Freddie159]

We can only hope

And all those people holding crypto money are hoping just as much that the market takes off into the stratosphere.

 

[8600M GT]

100 times as efficient per watt... if that's true, Intel could keep the hardware themselves, use it to corner the mining market, sell some off along the way to pay for the manufacturing costs, and one they have 51% of the market crypto would be broken. Destroy the entire market, and remind any would-be upstarts that they could take it over again if they wanted to.

Probably not going to happen, but I wouldn't be sad if it did. I'll settle for reducing the energy consumption of the crypto scourge by 99% and reducing silicon consumption considerably so 20% of the GPU market isn't going into crypto anymore.

 

[Freddie159]

If Intel did that they would destroy the crypto price as well making their device useless, not destroying the market would involve a very close management style that most companies just can't manage.

 

[timljh]

You can see how clueless the one who wrote the topic and readers are when they think a SHA-256 based "accelerator" can help eases GPU market. No one uses GPU to mine SHA-256 coins because there are ASICs out there already.

 

[OortCloud]

Anything that causes nVidia some pain right now gets my vote.

 

[Gregtombstone]

I do hope Intel destroy the bitcoin market. Its the biggest scam of the 21st century so far not to mention a shocking waste of energy. Any one who invests in bitcoin will eventually lose all their money. I laugh at all the bit coin experts extolling its virtues when the reality is they are ponzi scheme operators looking for suckers . It's like the stock markets which are now gambling operations designed to take money from little people and give it to the already filthy rich

 

[terzaerian]

As for Intel, I hope they manage it. My 6800 is only half as effective at mining now as when I bought it, sadly. Ethereum mining has only gotten much more competitive in the last six months.