Samsung is to Optimise Energy Consumption in Cryptocurrency Mining by 45% with New Chips

On June 30, South Korean tech giant Samsung announced new semiconductor chips that can potentially be employed for mining cryptocurrencies. According to the announcement, the new 3-nanometer process technology will enable 45% optimization of power usage.

Currently, the cryptocurrency mining industry is experiencing a slump due to growing complexity and energy consumption. The need for optimization is obvious. In addition to consumption, the new chip will improve overall performance by 23% compared to the 5-nanometer chip that is currently in use.

Improving things

New semiconductor chips will use Samsung's Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor architecture, which enables a reduction in supply voltage and an increase in drive current capability. This provides the ability to adjust the channel width of the nanosheet to optimise energy efficiency. In addition, the flexibility of the new GAA technology offers significant potential for overall boost in PPA (Power, Performance, Area).

Trial production is scheduled to begin this week. According to TheElec news outlet, Samsung's largest customer, Qualcomm, has already made reservations for the new semiconductor chips. Another customer is a China-based company IC.

If the tests and implementation of the first-generation chip are successful, Samsung plans to start working on the second generation immediately. Reportedly, the second-generation chip will enable optimization of energy consumption by over 50%. In addition, the giant plans to gradually extend the technology to mobile processors.