Bitmain Launches Quantum Computer Miner, Obsoleting Every Miner Previously Manufactured
Bitmain has once again disrupted the mining industry by announcing the launch of their "Quantum Miner" at their conference this week in Hong Kong. This is the first miner that Bitmain has produced that is not an ASIC and computes on an entirely different platform. The company has been extremely quiet about how the technology works, but has shared some of the specs. The miner is reported to be able to achieve 1 Petahash/second at about 3000 watts of consumption. This makes it by far the most efficient Bitcoin miner ever made and is reminiscent of the jump from FPGAs to ASIC chips.
The ship date for the new miner is unknown, as well as the actual requirements to run and operate it. The size and form factor are unknown at this time, but it is rumored that there's potential that the machine will be a more traditional style that will allow it to fit into traditional server racking.
It’s about to go down!
— Marshall Long (@OGBTC) September 20, 2023
Sneak peak at s21 pic.twitter.com/FWux0EoziH
Marshall Long tweeted his excitement about the announcement. If the published specifications are accurate, it would mean that other manufacturers would be falling significantly behind. The new miner has the potential to send the entire mining industry into disarray as it obsoletes most existing miners.
Large miners like Riot Blockchain and Cleanspark already have contracts to purchase far less efficient machines. Who this move benefits is unknown at this time as even Bitmain is obsoleting much of the equipment they had recently produced.
What is likely to happen is the machine will not ship for a few years, giving miners the time to prepare for increased hashrate, as well as for Bitmain to covertly mine with their new hardware before releasing it publicly.
