An official tweet from Bitcoin (BTC) mining giant Bitmain indicates the release of two new 7nm (nanometer) “Antminer” crypto mining machines. Bitmain mentioned in September that it would be preparing its modern Antminer models with next-generation Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chips.
ASIC chips are adapted to compute ideally for a particular hashing algorithm and, as Bitmain’s tweet affirms, these most recent “acceleration” chips utilize an SHA256 algorithm, which is based on 7nm Finfet semiconductor fabricating technology.
In Bitmain CEO and co-founder Jihan Wu’s keynote address in September, he laid out that the modern chip incorporates “more than a billion transistors,” employing an unique circuit structure and low energy-intensive innovation to optimize effectiveness. Wu further said that tests have proven that the chip “can accomplish a ratio of energy utilization to the mining capacity that’s as low as 42J/T.”
Bitmain has moreover made it to the spot light this week by declaring it would be introducing a firmware upgrade for commonly-called ‘Overt AsicBoost’ to every Antminer model. Bitmain has mentioned that it will boost mining “effectiveness” on the machines.
We are officially announcing the release of our new 7nm miners which possess industry-leading hash rates designed to mine with the SHA256 algorithm. Two models will be offered, the Antminer S15 and T15. Available for purchase on 11/8. pic.twitter.com/m6HbWGZS1O
— BITMAIN [Not giving away ETH] (@BITMAINtech) November 6, 2018
Crypto mining giants have been competing with each other for the lead in state-of-the-art mining equipment. A day before Bitmain in September, Bitfury Group divulged its 14nm ASIC chip, named Bitfury Clarke, which is tailor made for SHA256 Bitcoin mining. Bitfury’s chip can allegedly “execute a hashrate up to 120 gigahashes per second (GH/s) and a power efficiency rate as low as 55 millijoules per gigahash (mJ/GH).”
Bitfury also informed that it had received $80 million in funding led by European venture capital fund Korelya Capital. Other partakers included South Korean internet giant Naver Group, Asian institutions Macquarie Capital and Dentsu Japan, in addition to Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital.
Yesterday, a week after disclosing that crypto-mining related business were “negligible” in Q3 2018, US-based semiconductor manufacturer AMD entered into a partnership with seven major tech firms to manufacture eight new cryptocurrency mining rigs, which is being marketed as “blockchain compute solutions.”
