It looks like Samsung has entered the ASIC manufacturing foray, which is a first for the company. For those who are wondering what the term means, it stands for application-specific integrated circuit which is basically a microchip that is custom-designed for one purpose, instead of being utilized for general-purpose usage. ASIC chips are widely used today for cryptocurrency mining purposes.
A Samsung spokesperson was quoted by folks at TechCrunch saying that it “is currently engaged in the manufacturing of cryptocurrency mining chips. However we are unable to disclose further details regarding our customers.” That said, recent rumors have mentioned that Samsung is currently receiving massive demand for its ASIC chips mostly from its customers in China.
What makes Samsung’s ASIC manufacturing announcement rather interesting is because it may likely affect the current situation with graphics card prices. Despite this, it has to be said that cryptocurrency miners may still find ASIC miners unattractive compared to graphics cards because the former cannot be used for any other purpose other than digital currency mining which means that their resell value is also quite low as compared to graphics cards which are able to serve more purposes.
Regardless, it remains to be seen just how big of an impact Samsung’s entry to the ASIC production scene will be. The company is already pretty confident that its new business venture will cause its Q1 2018 to grow significantly.
(Source: TechCrunch, Overclock3D, TechPowerUp)
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