Αυτή η νέα παγκόσμια κατάσταση που προσπαθούμε να εξηγήσουμε ακόμη έφερε και φέρνει ‘προσαρμογές’. Η παγκόσμια τρέλα με τα cryptoνομίσματα και το farming που βασίζεται σε GPU ίσως…
…πλησιάσει στο τέλος της. Και καθώς οι GPUs είναι δυσεύρετες, voila, η μεγάλη ‘κυρία’ η Intel αποκαλύπτει ένα crypto mining blockchain chip που ονομάζει “blockchain accelerator”.
Αν και λίγα είναι για την ώρα γνωστά, ο Intel SVP General Manager, Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group Raja Koduri υπόσχεται πως θα είναι hardware πολύ πιο αποδοτικό σε ενέργεια: “We are mindful that some blockchains require an enormous amount of computing power, which unfortunately translates to an immense amount of energy. Our customers are asking for scalable and sustainable solutions, which is why we are focusing our efforts on realizing the full potential of blockchain by developing the most energy-efficient computing technologies at scale. We expect that our circuit innovations will deliver a blockchain accelerator that has over 1000x better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining,” λέει.
Η Intel έχει κλειδώσει και δύο πελάτες ήδη, τις εταιρίες GRIID και Block:
“Our blockchain accelerator will ship later this year. We are engaged directly with customers that share our sustainability goals. Argo Blockchain, BLOCK (formerly known as Square) and GRIID Infrastructure are among our first customers for this upcoming product. This architecture is implemented on a tiny piece of silicon so that it has minimal impact to the supply of current products.
Intel Labs has dedicated decades of research into reliable cryptography, hashing techniques and ultra-low voltage circuits. We expect that our circuit innovations will deliver a blockchain accelerator that has over 1000x better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining. You will be able to learn more about our circuit innovations at the International Solid State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) this month.
To support this, and additional emerging technology, we have formed the new Custom Compute Group within Intel’s Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics business unit. The objective of this team is to build custom silicon platforms optimized for customers’ workloads, including blockchain and other custom accelerated supercomputing opportunities at the edge.
Onward, we aspire to leverage technologies from our zetta-scale computing initiative to deliver energy-efficient solutions that make our tomorrow better than our today.”