New from Intel as the world’s main seller of chipsets, Samsung has affirmed that it has begun manufacturing ASIC chips which are used to mine Bitcoin, ether as well as also other cryptocurrencies.
“Samsung’s foundry business is currently engaged in the manufacturing of cryptocurrency mining chips. However we are unable to disclose further details regarding our customers,” a company spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Samsung declined to give more details when we asked.
The announcement follows reviews from Korea media that asserted the technology giant had compelled the movement in collaboration with the unnamed Chinese distribution companion. Samsung currently produces high memory chips for GPUs, which might be utilised to deal with images on computers however, may also be set up for mining goals.
The news attracts big name competition towards the ASIC space, that is dominated by China’s Bitmain and Canaan Creative, both that work with Taiwanese large TSMC. Indeed, the crypto explosion is said to have added $350-$400 million into TSMC’s (currently impressive) quarterly earnings.
Samsung fits right into this equation. In a bottom amount, it is going to rival TSMC — it knows from competing in other industry sections — to get the attention of companies that sell and build mining goods which are finished on the industry. However, if Samsung’s movement attracts fresh partners or even if it generates hardware itself, afterward it might enable competitors to Bitmain and company.
It’ll take some business for crypto to possess a noticeable effect on Samsung’s bottom line. The Korean business reserved an incredible $69 billion in chip sales in 2017 many thanks largely on the smartphone industry.
Note: The author owns a small amount of cryptocurrency. Enough to gain an understanding, not enough to change a life.