Chipmaking heavyweight Intel (INTC) is ending production of its bitcoin mining chip series, the company said in a statement to CoinDesk on Tuesday.
“As we prioritize our investments in IDM 2.0, we have end-of-lifed the Intel Blockscale 1000 Series ASIC [application specific integrated circuit] while we continue to support our Blockscale customers,” an Intel spokesperson said.
No orders will be taken after Oct. 20 and the last product will be shipped no later than April 20, 2024, according to a document on Intel’s website.
The company announced its foray into bitcoin mining about a year ago, with its first customers for the chips, dubbed Blocksale, being Argo Blockchain (ARBK), Block (SQ), Griid Infrastructure and Hive Blockchain (HIVE).
Intel’s chips could have broken an effective duopoly in the market dominated by Bitmain and MicroBT. The firm continues to “monitor market opportunities,” the spokesperson said, when asked whether Intel might come up with a new project.
