Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have seen a huge spike in interest in the last couple of years. With exponential returns on investment, the cryptocurrency market has seen huge investments recently. While some prefer to just buy Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies for quick returns, the more tech-savvy ones opt for mining coins using high-end mining hardware. This has resulted in huge demand for high-end graphics cards and customized mining rigs.
A few months back Samsung made its first move in the cryptocurrency space when it built a Bitcoin mining rig out of old Galaxy S5s. While it was a fun and an experimental project, it seems Samsung is now reportedly interested in manufacturing commercial cryptocurrency mining hardware to tap into the market demand.
Samsung's commercial foray into cryptocurrency market
According to a report from the South Korean outlet The Bell, Samsung has reportedly started manufacturing ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chips specialized for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining. Samsung will be supplying these ASIC chips to an unnamed Chinese mining equipment provider starting from this month. The report further states that Samsung’s involvement in this collaboration will be primarily as a foundry operator and that the mass production of chips will begin by the end of this month.
To be clear, Samsung won't be selling chips to the public that are capable of mining cryptocurrencies. It's only going to provide these chips to a manufacturer of bitcoin mining equipment based in China that it partnered with last year.
A couple of months back, there were also reports about Samsung signing a deal with Baikal, a Russian Bitcoin mining hardware firm, to supply them with ASIC chips. Last year, Samsung emerged as the world’s largest semiconductor company, ending Intel’s 24-year reign at the top. So, considering Samsung’s aggressive expansion of its semiconductor business, it’s not entirely surprising to see Samsung entering the cryptocurrency mining market in search of new opportunities.
