Samsung is making crypotcurrency mining chips

SEOUL – South-Korean tech giant Samsung is going to manufacture ASIC chips which are used to mine bitcoin, ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies.

The giant announced a deal on Monday to manufacturer ASIC mining hardware with Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC.

An ASIC chip, (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) is a specialized piece of hardware designed to only mine cryptocurrencies based on a specific hashing algorithm, such as SHA256 or Scrypt (which  Bitcoin and Litecoin run on, respectively). It makes up part of a crypto mining device.

“Samsung’s foundry business is currently engaged in the manufacturing of cryptocurrency mining chips. However we are unable to disclose further details regarding our customers,” a company spokesperson told TechCrunch.

In regards to the profitability of Samsung entering the crypto mining market, Hwang Min-seong, an analyst at Samsung Securities,

“Samsung Electronics could increase its revenues through ASIC chip manufacturing but because the foundry only accounts for a small portion of the company’s semiconductor manufacturing plant, it is difficult to predict that the firm’s mining venture will have a significant impact on the company’s revenues.”

South Korea-based Samsung’s deal with TSMC comes after a turbulent month in the crypto markets in Asia, with exchanges banned in China and accusations of insider trading and confusion over regulation in South Korea leading to losses across the board.