Block, the fintech-payments company founded by Jack Dorsey, has purchased a significant number of bitcoin mining chips from Intel. The acquisition will accelerate Block's plans to enter the mining hardware market, coinciding with Intel's discontinuation of production. This purchase allows Block to focus on developing its cutting-edge 3-nanometer chips and bring mining machines to the market. In February, Intel declared that the final production date for its bitcoin mining application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) would be April 2024. Block took advantage of the opportunity to purchase a large quantity of these ASICs from Intel, as it planned to finalize its design of a 5-nanometer chip for bitcoin mining this quarter. The team can now focus exclusively on the 3-nanometer design, as the purchase has facilitated Block's entry into the mining hardware market. In chip design, the size of each transistor is measured in nanometers. The smaller the transistors, the more that can fit on a chip, resulting in a more powerful chip that can run more calculations.
According to Thomas Templeton, Block's hardware lead, the company's first-party products are set to launch early next year, as revealed in an interview with CoinDesk. Templeton also stated that Block purchased sufficient chips to bridge the gap until it can design and produce its own 3-nanometer chips. Block's goal is to enhance the decentralization of the Bitcoin network by addressing the issue of manufacturing and supply chain diversity, which Templeton referred to as "the main problem" in mining. The company aims to provide more tools for people to build and use, with the ASIC being central to mining.
Currently, the mining manufacturing industry is largely controlled by Bitmain and MicroBT. However, in March, Block revealed its plans to develop a mining kit that will enable other engineers to utilize Block's chips to create new products. The kit will offer a range of tools for developers to drive innovation in bitcoin mining hardware, as per the company's announcement. Block is open sourcing this technology and encouraging community involvement in its development. Thomas Templeton stated that the announcement of the kit is aimed at eliciting contributions from the community.