Tech

Intel to Produce ‘Blockchain Accelerator’ Chips

It had been rumored for some time, but today Intel has made it official in a press release: Intel is investing in blockchain technology and will launch a chip specifically designed for the efficient management of this type of task. And it does not seem that we are talking about a specific action, if we look at the words of Raja M. Koduri, an Intel executive who signs said text, from which it is deduced that this is a much more ambitious plan:

«Today, we at Intel declare our intention to contribute to the development of blockchain technologies, with a roadmap of low-power accelerators. Intel will commit to and promote an open and secure blockchain ecosystem and help advance this technology in a responsible and sustainable manner.»

The statement is even more interesting because, unlike other components and other hardware specifically designed to optimize the hash ratein this case it is not intended as a solution specifically aimed at the cryptocurrency sectorbut rather points to the blockchain ecosystem in general, with everything that this technology can contribute in many fields, in which it can not only guarantee operations, but also reduce deadlines from weeks to minutes.

And another fundamental aspect of Intel’s statement is that puts the focus on efficiency, which personally seems to me a great success. One of the main criticisms that block chain technology receives (and again I clarify that I speak in general, I do not refer specifically to cryptocurrencies) is that the most common systems today, all those that are based on the ability to calculation. They are very demanding when it comes to energy consumption. Something that, without a doubt, complicates the use of this technology in a generalized way, thus weighing down its possibilities.

Intel will produce chips "blockchain accelerators"

Intel’s approach, as we can read in the statement, highly values ​​efficiency, so we can expect that the solutions that the company is already working on (although they are still in their initial phase), have taken this point into account since its inception and, therefore, we can expect them to provide improvements in this regard, with chips whose performance is adequate for the purposes for which it is used, but in a balanced way with their power consumption.

Although the cryptocurrency community is probably the first to welcome this new chip with open hands, which Koduri calls «blockchain accelerator“Intel appears to have invested in the technology as a whole and has big plans for it. We are not surprised, because as I mentioned at the beginning, the first time we heard about Intel being related to blockchain was in 2018.

Regarding the integrated one, Intel foresees its arrival at the end of 2022, will feature new hashing techniques and ultra low voltage circuitry. Koduri promises that this will result in up to a thousand times better performance per watt than current mining solutions. The chip will be presented during the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISCCC). The conference will take place from February 20 to 28, 2022, so we expect news about it before the end of this month.

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