Samsung is likely manufacturing cryptocurrency mining chips

Samsung appears to be the latest company in the industry to jump on the bandwagon of blockchain, the leading platform for digital assets. The company likely debuts manufacturing ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) hardware that is meant for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining. Samsung is said to supply the necessary hardware to an unnamed Chinese mining equipment provider starting from this month.

As per a report by the Korean publication The Bell via The Next Web, the China-based partner will distribute the chips those are developed by Samsung. The report goes on stating that the company is all set to start the mass production this month. Basically, Samsung will be a foundry operator in this collaboration.

This move might be unexpected but Samsung has expressed its interest in entering the blockchain hardware segment previously. The company showcased a concept for an experimental upcycling mining rig made using 40 old Galaxy S5 smartphones in October 2017. Late last year, the company is alleged to have signed an agreement with a Bitcoin mining hardware firm, Baikal based in Russia to supply them with the ASIC chips.

The development of the ASIC chips from Samsung has the potential to stir up the mining hardware segment and encourage rivals such as Bitmain and Canaan Creative those got their chips from TSMC based in Taiwan to step up their efforts.

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We should mention that Samsung is not the online company that is interested in foraying into the cryptocurrency mining hardware industry. Earlier this month at the CES 2018 tech show, Kodak also revealed its mining contraption but the reception to this announcement was mixed. The KodakOne blockchain platform is meant for the photographers to secure digital rights management payments. KodakCoin is an all new cryptocurrency that the snappers will make use of instead of the traditional currencies.

Lately, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have witnessed a huge spike in interest. The cryptocurrency market is seeing huge investments due to the exponential returns on these investments. Though Bitcoin is popular, there are other cryptocurrencies for quick returns as well. This increase in the interest has resulted in a huge demand for high-end cryptocurrency mining hardware and customized mining rigs.