Samsung’s new 3nm chips will be the first to reach bitcoin miners
Image Source : Hackread
For some time now, South Korean phone company, Samsung, had been revealing initiatives in the blockchain world, but now we learn that it is also starting to produce 3-nanometer (3nm) chips for mining cryptocurrencies.
Samsung will begin testing the molding of 3 nanometer (nm) chips as early as this week. The first to ship will be MicroBT, one of the companies that makes ASIC equipment for bitcoin mining, according to local media reports.
The chips have already been revealed
These 3 nm GAA (Gate All Around) processors from Samsung will have gates on all four surfaces. A novelty given that the processor currently considered the most advanced would be FinFET, which uses three surfaces.
Therefore, Samsung’s model would allow more precise control of currents, but with a smaller size than its competitors, as explained by the source of the information, The Lec.
In fact, this news has been rumored for some time, since as early as the Q1 conference call, Samsung said that it would be the first in the world to produce 3nm GAAs.
As mentioned, this isn’t the first time the phone giant has launched products related to the cryptocurrency world.
In fact, back in February, Samsung decided to launch NFTs, offered as a gift to those who purchased the new Galaxy S22 model. Also in the world of non-fungible tokens (NFT), Samsung had decided to integrate an NFT platform into three TV models to allow digital art to be exchanged from the TV and, of course, easily displayed.
Less recently, Samsung had partnered with Stellar to create new blockchain-enabled apps for its store, the Keystore. And indeed, there was a lot of talk a few years ago about the infamous Keystore blockchain, a system that ensured that Samsung smartphone owners could safely handle blockchain and cryptocurrency related apps and dApps.
Brings Whatsminer ASICs to life
The first to ship will be MicroBT, one of the companies that makes ASIC equipment for bitcoin mining, according to local press reports.
It will be PanSemi, a Chinese company that produces ASICs, and also Qualcomm.
Qualcomm, Samsung’s biggest customer, had also booked the lawsuit, and both sides agreed that the U.S. company could request the lawsuit at any time, the sources said.
According to information from The Elec, which is a media outlet specializing in the South Korean technology industry, Samsung will sell the nano chips or semiconductors to PanSemi, which is a subsidiary of the company that brings Whatsminer ASICs to life.
It should be noted that a semiconductor is a circuit that processes energy to make an electronic device work.
Although it was mentioned earlier, the Elec removed the mining company’s name from its original publication. However, on Twitter, the Hashrate Index account echoed the announcement.
The first customer in the process will be China’s PanSemi, a company specializing in application-specific integrated circuits, which makes chips used in bitcoin mining, the post read before it was edited.
In any case, the arrival of 3nm microprocessors in the hands of MicroBT would allow the company to boost its mining equipment. In addition, a project that has been in the pipeline between the two companies since 2018 would be finalized.
If the chips have fewer nanometers, it is likely that energy efficiency and operating performance will be better, as the distance between the electrical transistors will decrease. As far as ASICs are concerned, this means a gain and an advantage, knowing that most of the hardware on the market operates with 5 nm semiconductors.
