US tech giant Intel has decided to discontinue its Blockscale 1000 chip series, a relatively new product line designed for Bitcoin mining. This comes approximately one year after the company unveiled its standalone crypto-mining chip, which was expected to outperform leading ASICs in terms of power and energy efficiency.
Intel discontinues Blockscale 1000 chip series amid focus on IDM 2.0 strategy
Intel explained its decision on Wednesday, stating, “As we prioritize our investments in IDM 2.0, we have ended the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC while we continue to support our Blockscale customers.” IDM 2.0 refers to Intel’s strategy of employing third-party foundries for manufacturing products, including graphics and chipsets.
Intel initially announced that its Blockscale ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) would ship in Q3 2022, with Argo Blockchain, Block (formerly Square), GRIID Infrastructure, and Hive Blockchain as its first customers. Hive Blockchain later praised Intel’s chips for significantly enhancing the efficiency of its ASIC fleet.
However, according to a document on Intel’s website, the company now expects to stop accepting orders for Blockscale in five months and discontinue chip shipments by April 20 next year.
Crypto winter and shift in company priorities impact Intel’s involvement in Bitcoin market
Declining bitcoin prices and the crypto winter have adversely affected Intel clients’ businesses, particularly those who took on high-interest debt during the bull market to scale up quickly.
In February 2022, Intel’s former graphics chief, Raja Koduri, announced the development of energy-efficient computing technology and the formation of a custom compute group within the company’s Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics business unit. In December, Intel divided the unit to concentrate on “critical growth engines,” and Koduri returned to his prior role as Intel’s chief architect. Shortly after, he left Intel to establish an AI-focused software company, as announced by CEO Pat Gelsinger on Twitter.
Intel has hinted that it has not entirely abandoned the Bitcoin market, stating, “We continue to monitor market opportunities.” Other chipmakers, such as Nvidia and AMD, have also been affected by the bear market to varying degrees. Their gaming graphics cards were popular among Ethereum miners before the network’s transition to proof of stake late last year.
