Bitmain is Planning to Conquer the AI Industry

Although the Chinese government set off a sweeping set of bans that effectively ended cryptocurrency trading in the country near the end of last year, the Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned). In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data, making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tamp Read this Term industry within the country is still steadily growing - even thriving, by some accounts.

A Chinese company that has benefitted massively from the world’s crypto craze is Bitmain Technologies Ltd., a Beijing-based company that has raked in record profits for selling chips used in Crypto Mining Crypto Mining Cryptocurrency mining is defined as the process through which the transactions of a digital currency are authenticated then published to blockchain. For every crypto transaction conducted, a crypto miner is in charge of authenticating the information which, if approved, is then updated in the blockchain. Currently, the most popular cryptocurrencies being mined are Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Monero, and DASH. How is Cryptocurrency Mined?The process of crypto mining itself involves the s Cryptocurrency mining is defined as the process through which the transactions of a digital currency are authenticated then published to blockchain. For every crypto transaction conducted, a crypto miner is in charge of authenticating the information which, if approved, is then updated in the blockchain. Currently, the most popular cryptocurrencies being mined are Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Monero, and DASH. How is Cryptocurrency Mined?The process of crypto mining itself involves the s Read this Term. The company reported $3.5 billion in revenue in 2017, going toe-to-toe with Nvidia, its much larger rival company.

“We feel lucky,” said co-chief executive Jihan Wu in an interview with Bloomberg.

Xilinx Zynq #SoCs act as the master control system for @BITMAINtech's #Bitcoin mining machines, offering high performance at a low BOM cost. Watch: https://t.co/y1vhkjl3Jt #PoweredbyXilinx pic.twitter.com/7j7Ao06mdb

— Xilinx (@XilinxInc) May 15, 2018

”As a China Company, we Have to Be Prepared”

However, Wu is very aware of the possibility that the Chinese government could take further regulatory shots at the blockchain industry, particularly cryptocurrency mining--a possibility that could cripple Bitmain.

It’s for this reason that Bitmain has set its sights toward a new game: Artificial Intelligence.

“As a China company, we have to be prepared,” said Wu.

Wu and his team believe that the two industries are similar enough that the switch isn’t so far-fetched--Wu said that “Artificial intelligence requires lots of computations,” similar to cryptocurrency mining. Both AI and crypto mining use Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chips.

Bitmain’s efforts to expand into the AI industry began in October of 2017 when the company began the sale of the ‘Sophon BM1680’, an ASIC chip designed to speed up the process of machine learning. Bloomberg reported that while the Sophon chip is not as effective for certain processes as chips made by Nvidia and AMD, the chip is more effective for certain kinds of deep learning, and much less expensive.

If Bitmain’s successful history within the crypto mining industry is any indication of its future in AI, the company has much to gain.