Bitmain has officially released two new 7nm (nanometer) “Antminer” crypto mining machines, according to an official tweet. Bitmain indicated in September that it would be equipping its new Antminer models with next-generation Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) chips.
ASIC chips are geared to compute optimally for a specific hashing algorithm and, as Bitmain’s tweet confirms, these latest “acceleration” chips use an SHA256 algorithm, which is based on 7nm Finfet semiconductor manufacturing technology.
We are officially announcing the release of our new 7nm miners which possess industry-leading hash rates designed to mine with the SHA256 algorithm. Two models will be offered, the Antminer S15 and T15. Available for purchase on 11/8. pic.twitter.com/m6HbWGZS1O
— BITMAIN [Not giving away ETH] (@BITMAINtech) November 6, 2018
In Bitmain CEO and co-founder Jihan Wu’s keynote lecture in September, he outlined that the new chip integrates “more than a billion transistors,” using a special circuit structure and low power-intensive technology to optimize efficiency. Wu claimed that tests have shown the chip “can achieve a ratio of energy consumption to the mining capacity that is as low as 42J/T.”