[2018-01-30] Samsung Enters Crypto Mining Market, “Mass Producing” ASIC Chips

[cybersofts]

Samsung Enters Crypto Mining Market, “Mass Producing” ASIC Chips For China



Samsung announced a deal on Monday, Jan. 29 to manufacture ASIC mining hardware with Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC. “Mass production” of the ASIC chip has already begun in January, according to Korean news outlet The Bell.

An ASIC chip, which stands for Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, is a specialized piece of hardware designed to only mine cryptocurrencies based on a specific hashing algorithm, such as SHA256 or Scrypt (which Bitcoin and Litecoin run on, respectively). It makes up part of a crypto mining device.

TSMC supplies the ASIC chips needed for cryptocurrency mining to Bitmain, a China-based Bitcoin mining company. Bitmain also manufactures its own hardware, having released two ASIC-style products in September 2017 to relatively negative fanfare as well as an unexpected launch of a SiaCoin miner on Jan. 19.

In regards to the profitability of Samsung entering the crypto mining market, Hwang Min-seong, an analyst at Samsung Securities, told The Bell:

    “Samsung Electronics could increase its revenues through ASIC chip manufacturing but because the foundry only accounts for a small portion of the company’s semi-conductor manufacturing plant, it is difficult to predict that the firm’s mining venture will have a significant impact on the company’s revenues.”

South Korea-based Samsung’s deal with TSMC comes after a turbulent month in the crypto markets in Asia, with exchanges banned in China and accusations of insider trading and confusion over regulation in South Korea leading to losses across the board.


Source: https://www.coindesk.com/10k-exposed-bitcoin-bulls-fail-to-defend-price-floor/

[bbc.reporter]

Samsung's move really makes you think deeply about the longterm prospects of bitcoin. If the cryptospace was really certain to fail, then why would a large conglomerate invest in the manufacture of a cryptocoin's most basic need?

I am sure Samsung has already made a feasibility study and longterm projections on profitability.

[jamids]

Businessmen would always find ways to profit from the current trends and since cryptocurrency is a thing nowadays so Samsung made its move in mass producing those chips resulting to a more option for miners which would then make the chips' price in the market lower because they would have competitive prices. Few months ago, their phone has been use also as model for crypto mining and maybe that is just a test how the people will respond to it and now they have implemented it.

[Harlot]

I am curious of how they will do it as they are also well-known producers of other technologies outside their mobile phones. Some of these technologies are tvs and also they are the producers of Iphone X's OLED panel with the notorious notch. They are also not new to making chips as they produce their own microchip for their mobile lineup namely the Samsung Exynos series. If they proven that their Asic chips would be of high quality then for sure it will be a hit in the Crypto Mining Market.

[MMostaza]

It is a good sign that Samsung wants to take the "risk" and invest in these chips. If an experienced tech company have decided to manufacture ASIC chips, means that there is future and market for them, which is a good sign for the crypto world.

Plus I also read that they want to start to work soon with GPUs specifically for mining. Another sign that powerful companies believe crypto tech is here to stay.

Here the link with the news about GPUs and Samsung (in Spanish): https://hipertextual.com/2018/01/samsung-minado-criptomonedas

[CryptoBry]

Samsung's move really makes you think deeply about the longterm prospects of bitcoin. If the cryptospace was really certain to fail, then why would a large conglomerate invest in the manufacture of a cryptocoin's most basic need? I am sure Samsung has already made a feasibility study and longterm projections on profitability.

Actually, in my own opinion, they don't care too much about the long-term viability of Bitcoin, what they care is that the current demand for ASIC mining equipment is so great that orders are filing up. Even if they will operate for only 1 or 2 years, they can still  generate good amount of profit regardless if Bitcoin will completely die in let's say five years (which I personally hoped will not). And in case Bitcoin will not anymore be the top cryptocurrency and can just be thrashed to the background, they can easily change their strategy. Now, in case Bitcoin will go on as the top crypto, then the more they will rake in profits as the demand will continue from many who are planning to be Bitcoin miners especially that China is already issuing subtle message to their locators to move somewhere else.

[Kemarit]

Business wise this is a good move from Samsung. This is a low risk high reward on their end. If you would remember, they have been in the electronic components manufacturing for many years and I would say that its their expertise and mass producing ASIC Chips would just be another items in their ever growing flagship product. Maybe they can designed and manufacture their own ASICs as well. Who knows. They even challenge Apple in the world of smartphone and overtook them for quite sometime now. Let's see how it goes but I don't think that they have a positive impact to the price though. But still very welcoming to the future of crypto mining.

[Zicadis]

This is good news for the crypto world seeing a big company such as Samsung  entering the Crypto Mining Market but i also see this as a free adoption marketing for cryptocurrencies as more people around the world will get to know of this digital economy thanks to Samsungs dominance in the electronic industry. Well done and good luck samsung

[d57heinz]

As with any gold rush. Those that sell the shovels make the most profit.  Same goes with bitcoin mining. They see bitmain profit report and investors are prolly pissed at ceo for not using their heads sooner lmao

[Derek86]

wow, is this a great news? how would it effect bitcoin prices?

[ApocalypseNow]

As with any gold rush. Those that sell the shovels make the most profit.  Same goes with bitcoin mining. They see bitmain profit report and investors are prolly pissed at ceo for not using their heads sooner lmao

Of course because they are in the field of business.  When they see opportunity, then they seize it. Just look at the rising demand and I feel that it will increase more in this year.