Hive Blockchain Deploys First Intel-Powered Bitcoin Mining Machines

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Bitcoin mining company Hive Blockchain (HIVE) has deployed its first machines based on Intel’s Blockscale (INTC) chips, the miner announced on Friday.

The new chips not only have the potential to break the effective duopoly of Bitmain and MicroBT in the mining machine market, but also allow mining companies to design computers to their specifications, a major departure from models from these other manufacturers.

Hive’s first 5,800 machines, delivered in late 2022 and dubbed BuzzMiners, can together produce computing power of between 638 petahash/second (PH/s) and 754 PH/s, or 110 terahash/second (TH/s) at 130 TH/s per machine, said Aydin Kilic, the company’s president and chief operating officer. This lags behind some of Bitmain’s latest models such as the Antminer S19 XP or the S19 Pro+ Hydro.

However, Hive has not released data on the machines’ energy efficiency, a key metric in an environment that has brought miners to their knees due to energy costs. Intel touted an efficiency of 26 joules/terahash (J/T) for the chips in April, which wouldn’t beat Bitmain’s S19 XP series, but is on par with or better than other models currently on the market.

More than 1,500 of the Intel-powered machines have already been installed at the miner’s facilities in Canada and Sweden and they have met performance targets, the miner said. Hive originally ordered 13,000 machines to be made in 2022, but scaled back the order “to methodically scale the business during the crypto bear market,” according to Friday’s press release.

Jack Dorsey’s Block (SQ), struggling Argo Blockchain (ARBK) and Griid Infrastructure are expected to be among the first customers for Intel’s Blocksale ICs.

Read more: Intel doubles down on ESG with the launch of second-generation Bitcoin mining chips

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