Major United States-based technology company Intel has reportedly announced plans to discontinue its line of Blockscale Bitcoin mining chips as part of efforts to cut costs.
According to an April 18 Reuters report, the semiconductor chip manufacturing company will stop taking orders for the Blockscale 1000 Series ASICs by Oct. 20 and end shipping roughly in April 2024. Intel reportedly said the move was aimed at a strategy of prioritizing the manufacturing of certain chips to outside customers, cutting overall costs.
Intel launched the Blockscale mining chips in April 2022, saying at the time the ASIC hardware would have a hash rate of up to 580 gigahash per second with each chip capable of being combined and merged into a single mining unit. Mining firms Argo Blockchain, Block, Hive Blockchain Technologies and GRIID Infrastructure were among the first companies to integrate the technology into its operations.
Related: The economics of cryptocurrency mining: Costs, revenues and market trends
Pat Gelsinger, chief executive officer at Intel, reportedly took a 25% pay cut in February, with the company projecting annual cost reductions of up to $10 billion due to cost-cutting initiatives and efficiency gains by 2026. Intel reportedly said it planned to continue monitoring “market opportunities" in the crypto space after discontinuing the mining chips.
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