Intel will contribute to the development of blockchain technologies with a roadmap of energy-efficient accelerators.
This is the word from Raja Koduri, senior vice-president and GM: Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group at Intel, who writes: “Exponential increases in compute performance, enabled by Moore’s Law, play a significant role in making these experiences seamless.
“Moore’s Law is also enabling us to democratise access to this enormous pool of processing power. Amazing things happen when a lot of compute is available to a lot of people without much friction.
“We are looking forward to the next set of amazing things.”
Koduri explains that blockchain is a technology that has the potential to enable everyone to own much of the digital content and services they create.
“Some even call it an inflection point in computing, fundamentally disrupting the way we store, process and transact our digital assets as we usher in the era of metaverse and Web 3.0.
“No matter how the future evolves, it is certain the availability of a lot more compute to everyone will play a central role.”
Intel has declared its intent to contribute to the development of blockchain technologies, with a roadmap of energy-efficient accelerators.
“Intel will engage and promote an open and secure blockchain ecosystem and will help advance this technology in a responsible and sustainable way,” Koduri says.
“We are mindful that some blockchains require an enormous amount of computing power, which unfortunately translates to an immense amount of energy.
“Our customers are asking for scalable and sustainable solutions, which is why we are focusing our efforts on realizing the full potential of blockchain by developing the most energy-efficient computing technologies at scale.”
Intel’s blockchain accelerator will ship later this year, and the company is engaging with customers that share its sustainability goals.
“Argo Blockchain, BLOCK (formerly known as Square) and GRIID Infrastructure are among our first customers for this upcoming product,” Koduri says. “This architecture is implemented on a tiny piece of silicon so that it has minimal impact to the supply of current products.
“Intel Labs has dedicated decades of research into reliable cryptography, hashing techniques and ultra-low voltage circuits,” he adds. “We expect that our circuit innovations will deliver a blockchain accelerator that has over 1 000-times better performance per watt than mainstream GPUs for SHA-256 based mining.”
To support this, and additional emerging technology, Intel has formed the new Custom Compute Group within its Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics business unit.
“The objective of this team is to build custom silicon platforms optimised for customers’ workloads, including blockchain and other custom accelerated supercomputing opportunities at the edge,” says Koduri.
“Onward, we aspire to leverage technologies from our zetta-scale computing initiative to deliver energy-efficient solutions that make our tomorrow better than our today.”