TSMC
With the high prices reached by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, miners can justify even substantial investments in their hardware and companies that develop ASICs suitable for this purpose certainly won't waste time launching new models. Bitmain, a mining accelerator designer, has ordered TSMC to manufacture an ASIC using the latest 5nm foundry manufacturing process.According to DigiTimes, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will begin making Bitmain ASICs using its 5nm technology starting Q3 of this year, further increasing production in Q1 2022. It is unclear how high the demand for these ASICs will be, but their construction could reduce TSMC's ability to supply other designed chips. for its 5nm manufacturing process.
TSMC's N5 process has so far been used by Apple and Huawei, two companies that sell high-end smartphones, tablets and PCs. For them, SoC pricing isn't nearly as important as for companies selling chips (what they sell are products often priced at over $ 1,000), so they can afford to be early adopters of TSMC's advanced technologies. MediaTek, another company operating in the field of mobile SoCs (among other things), is expected to adopt N5 technology soon, albeit for its top-of-the-line processor for smartphones.
Apparently, Bitmain is another company that can afford to develop an N5 design and order its production from TSMC. There is no information on Bitmain's 5nm chip, but it is logical to expect the company to tangibly increase the hash rate over existing offerings. Recall that Bitmain's latest miner, the Antminer S19j, has a hash rate of 90 TH / s and a power consumption of 3,100W, while its price is $ 5,017.
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TSMC will reportedly help Bitmain boost crypto mining
ASICs are already incredibly powerful tools for crypto mining, but they could get to another level with tech built using TSMC's 5nm process.
© Provided by Windows CentralTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), one of the largest semiconductor manufacturers in the world, will reportedly make Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) for Bitmain. A report by Digititmes states that TSMC will produce an ASIC using its 5 nanometer fabrication process for BItmain (via Tom's Hardware).
It's expected that TSMC will start making the ASICs for Bitmain in Q3 2021. The company will then reportedly 'ramp up' its output of the ASICs for Bitmain in Q1 2022.
The hashrates for miners from Bitmain blow the best mining GPUs out of the water, but they cost significantly more. The Bitmain's Antminer S19j has a hashrate of 90 TH/s but costs over $5,000. It also has a power consumption of 3,100W. For comparison, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060's hashrate is 60 MH/s. 90 TH is equivalent to 90,000,000 MH.
TSMC's 5nm process could lead to increased hashrates for ASICs compared to current competing products. TSMC's 5nm process provides the highest transistor density and power efficiency in the industry, which makes ASICs built with it ideal for crypto mining.
Apple and Huawei have also made technology that utilizes TSMC's 5nm process, though those devices are for early adopters in an entirely different sector. Tom's Hardware points out that MediaTek is expected to adopt the 5nm process in the future, though for a high-end mobile processor.
There's a chance that TSMC producing the ASICs could affect its ability to ship other processors, but that's only speculation at this point.