Bitcoin Mining Firm HIVE Blockchain to Buy Intel ASIC Chips

Key Insights:

• Bitcoin mining firm HIVE Blockchain announced plans to buy Intel’s new ASIC chip – ‘Bonanza Mine.’
• The deal is expected to increase the firm’s aggregate BTC mining hashrate by up to 95%.
• HIVE also plans to host 100 megawatts of mining capacity in Texas.

On March 7, the Canada-based HIVE Blockchain Technologies announced plans to buy Intel’s new ASIC chip to go ‘greener.’

Going, Greener

HIVE Blockchain is a publicly-traded crypto mining company that owns green energy-powered data center facilities in Canada, Sweden, and Iceland.

The firm recently announced a deal to buy ASIC chips from semiconductor manufacturer Intel. HIVE would use the ASIC chips in the firm’s new custom mining devices to offer ‘greener’ mining to customers.

According to a statement issued by the company, the recent deal, alongside a manufacturing agreement with an original design manufacturer (ODM), is expected to increase Hive’s aggregate Bitcoin mining hashrate by up to 95%.

HIVE anticipates that the new devices could almost double its aggregate BTC mining hash rate from 1.9 to 3.8 Exahashes per second (Eh/s). For now, the firm expects the devices to be ready for use in the second half of 2022.

The Canadian company has arranged for a third-party custom design manufacturer to integrate Intel chips into new air-cooled BTC mining devices.

The American multinational corporation and technology company, Intel, stated in its patent that the chips are called ‘Bonanza Mine.’ These chips could reduce the power consumption of mining operations by 15%.

Notably, the reduction in power usage could let HIVE deploy more devices, helping it increase its hash rate contribution even more in the future.

HIVE’s Growth

Apart from the green mining initiative, HIVE also laid out its plans to host 100 megawatts of mining capacity in one of Compute North’s Texas renewable energy data center facilities.

As per reports, the Texas operation would mark the company’s first foray into the US market.

In August 2021, Hive ordered 4,000 machines from Canaan, a China-based publicly-listed Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer. In February, HIVE announced record quarterly revenue of $68 Million, up by 397% from the same quarter last year.

HIVE’s facilities are already operational in Canada, Iceland, and Sweden, where the company mines BTC, Ethereum (ETH), and Ethereum Classic (ETC).