In April 2022, Intel first announced plans to launch Blockscale ASIC chips, dubbed “Bonanza Mine”. These products were produced specifically for the blockchain and Bitcoin mining market. Now, Intel has announced that it has put an “end of life” label for the Blockscale 1000 series and has announced that it does not plan to release future versions of these chips.
A spokesperson for Intel said in a statement: “As we prioritize our investments in IDM 2.0, we have concluded the end-of-life of the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC while continuing to support our Blockscale customers.”
When these chips were first announced a year ago, Intel said that Blockscale ASIC “will play an important role in helping bitcoin mining companies achieve both sustainability and hash rate scaling goals in the years to come.” The chip featured the Custom Secure Hash Algorithm-256 (SHA-256) ASIC processor with support for “running hash rate up to 580 GH/s”. It could use up to 256 integrated circuits per chain.
The shipment of Blockscale ASIC was scheduled for the 3rd quarter of 2022. Intel hasn’t released sales or unit shipment figures for these chips, but we can assume they didn’t meet expectations. Intel did not comment on whether there were other Bitcoin-themed ASIC products, but simply said: “We continue to monitor market opportunities.”
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