Samsung confirms it\u2019s building ASIC chips designed for cryptocurrency mining.<\/b>
\nThanks to the cryptocurrency craze, the cost of graphics cards has inflated up to three-times their retail price whiles reducing inventories to all time lows month over month. But relief for PC gamers could be coming soon as Samsung aims to build new chips specifically for mining.
Samsung confirmed that its foundry business is \u2018engaged the manufacturing of cryptocurrency mining chips‘ with TechCrunch. Aside from the scant confirmation, a separate Korean news report from The Bell suggest that the company will produce application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) designed for single computational tasks.
Among the many unknowns of Samsung\u2019s new confirmed mining chips is how this form of ASIC will be able to readily chip at Ethereum, which has classically been ASIC-resistant. Ethereum isn\u2019t necessarily invulnerable to ASIC, but it\u2019s a problem that Samsung will need to solve.
The Korean electronics firm\u2019s move into the cryptocurrency world might seem like a curious one, but the company is already deeply involved in mining. A majority of the graphics cards used in mining feature Samsung\u2019s high-capacity memory chips.
And, while Samsung is largely known for its smartphones and QLED 4K TVs, the company recently toppled Intel as the world\u2019s largest chipmaker. So, this latest initiative could help solidify its position in the silicon arena.
Hopefully, Samsung\u2019s move into ASIC chips can help take some of stress of the world\u2019s stockpile of GPUs. But we can also easily see the company\u2019s burgeoning focus in the mining world cut into the memory supply meant for graphics cards as well.<\/p>\n

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