Intel Signals End Of Bitcoin Mining Chip Business Amid Cost-Cutting Effort

Intel INTC will discontinue its Blockscale Bitcoin mining chip line, a year after it debuted the product.

Tom's Hardware reported that, per a spokesperson with the tech giant, Intel has "end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC while we continue to support our Blockscale customers."

When asked about what the move meant for the future of Intel's Bitcoin mining chip business altogether, the spokesperson reportedly said: "We continue to monitor market opportunities." 

The Blockscale chip line was unveiled last April. Companies like Block Inc. and Argo Blockchain were among Intel's initial customers. 

"The Intel Blockscale ASIC is going to play a major role in helping bitcoin mining companies achieve both sustainability and hash rate scaling objectives in the years ahead," Jose Rios, general manager of Blockchain and Business Solutions in the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group at Intel, said at the time.

Yet Intel's interest in bitcoin mining stretches back years, and despite the end of this specific product, Intel could in theory revive it in the future. In 2015, CoinDesk reported that Intel appeared to be providing mining chip technology to 21 Inc., a Bitcoin technology startup. Intel scored a U.S. patent for an energy-efficient cryptocurrency mining method in 2018.

Intel's shrinking costs

Intel has in recent months undertaken a cost-cutting effort that has seen its top executives take pay cuts. Intel said in February that it is seeking $3 billion in cost savings for 2023 and between $8 billion and $10 billion in annual savings by 2025. 

The tech giant's IDM 2.0 manufacturing plan, announced in 2021, was cited by Tom's Hardware as a factor in the Blockscale sunset decision, suggesting that Bitcoin mining is being deprioritized in a cost-cutting environment.

Still, Intel is among a number of technology companies positioned to receive billions of dollars in new federal subsidies intended to fuel growth in the U.S. computing chip sector. 

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