ASIC LTC miners

[nvandertill]

Regarding this article: http://www.coindesk.com/asic-miners-litecoin-soon/

With the company Alpha Technology beginning to produce LTC ASIC mining chips, how long will GPU mining continue to be profitable? My friends father is a hardware engineer and he says it is very difficult and VERY expensive (millions) to develop ASIC chips. I've read that scrypt is more ASIC resistant than SHA-256, but I am sure it can be done for the right amount of money. I am reading they are taking 'pre-orders' and have started development. Basically I guess I am asking does anyone have any predictions on timeframe until we see these on the market? I have had estimates that this could take a year or so until these things are well developed enough to produce high hash rates, but this is pure speculation.

Input is appreciated. Thanks

[hieroglyph]

Regarding this article: http://www.coindesk.com/asic-miners-litecoin-soon/

With the company Alpha Technology beginning to produce LTC ASIC mining chips, how long will GPU mining continue to be profitable? My friends father is a hardware engineer and he says it is very difficult and VERY expensive (millions) to develop ASIC chips. I've read that scrypt is more ASIC resistant than SHA-256, but I am sure it can be done for the right amount of money. I am reading they are taking 'pre-orders' and have started development. Basically I guess I am asking does anyone have any predictions on timeframe until we see these on the market? I have had estimates that this could take a year or so until these things are well developed enough to produce high hash rates, but this is pure speculation.

Input is appreciated. Thanks

I don't have any estimates on difficulty but I think it will have a big effect on GPU miners.  That is if the company comes out when they say they will and doesn't have a load of delays in orders being shipped.

[2Alpha]

ASIC for Scrypt coins will cause the gpu miners to become less then profitable but what is the time frame that will happen in is still unknown. If you look at the stages that SHA-256 mining went through to get to where it is currently it did take a little time. Personally if they do not have issues and can produce the quantity the market wants I see GPU mining for scrypt coins going out the door with in 6 months to a year after the first chip hits the market. (again if there are no delays and they can keep up with demand) but that is just my 2 cents.

[Open4lies]

Regarding this article: http://www.coindesk.com/asic-miners-litecoin-soon/

With the company Alpha Technology beginning to produce LTC ASIC mining chips, how long will GPU mining continue to be profitable? My friends father is a hardware engineer and he says it is very difficult and VERY expensive (millions) to develop ASIC chips. I've read that scrypt is more ASIC resistant than SHA-256, but I am sure it can be done for the right amount of money. I am reading they are taking 'pre-orders' and have started development. Basically I guess I am asking does anyone have any predictions on timeframe until we see these on the market? I have had estimates that this could take a year or so until these things are well developed enough to produce high hash rates, but this is pure speculation.

Input is appreciated. Thanks

The development can take between 6 and 12 months. After this only production capacity matters when GPU miners canot be profitable anymore. Probably next year

[Wickedr]

I would like to point out that after development has been finished, it will not be available to general public right away.
There is a huge private market before its released for general public.

[bumpk1nK]

I dont recommend preordering, migh be scam as well. I need to see working unit first 

[relb]

ASIC chips for scrypt won't be as huge of a gain margin as it was for bitcoin.  The biggest reason is how memory intensive scrypt mining is compared to sha. 

Also from what I've heard, no company making ASIC's has actually met their shipping dates as listed, for those who are considering pre-ordering.  The first company to accept pre-orders will obviously become rich overnight, so who really knows what offers will be legit or a scam.

[bumpk1nK]

ASIC chips for scrypt won't be as huge of a gain margin as it was for bitcoin.  The biggest reason is how memory intensive scrypt mining is compared to sha. 

Also from what I've heard, no company making ASIC's has actually met their shipping dates as listed, for those who are considering pre-ordering. The first company to accept pre-orders will obviously become rich overnight, so who really knows what offers will be legit or a scam.

Hopefully it does not work this way, or the scam is almost sure (even if only delaying development + production)