ASIC
Major ASIC Manufacturers and Flagship Models
Bitmain Technologies Ltd
MicroBT
Canaan
Video Cards
Major GPU Manufacturers
NVIDIA Corporation
AMD
Central Processing Unit

ASIC
(Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) is a specialized integrated circuit specifically designed to perform a specific task - cryptocurrency mining. They are a device that usually consists of several ASIC boards with multiple microprocessors (chips), one control board responsible for the operation of the device, a power supply and a cooling system (air, immersion or water).

Unlike general-purpose CPUs and GPUs, which can perform a wide range of tasks, an ASIC is configured to perform a specific task using a single hashing algorithm. Different coins are mined using different algorithms, so an ASIC that mines Bitcoin using the SHA-256 algorithm will not be able to mine Litecoin using the Scrypt algorithm, and vice versa. ASICs continuously make many attempts to generate a suitable hash (answer), and one of the most important characteristics of the device is the speed of this selection - the hashing speed or hashrate. When the device manages to find the correct hash, it is considered a solution to the cryptographic problem, and the miner who owns this ASIC can add a new block to the blockchain and earn a reward.

The advantage of ASIC over CPU or GPU is that the hash rate of this device is significantly higher, and this increases the likelihood of receiving a reward.

Among the disadvantages of ASIC, one can note its narrow specialization: the ability to mine only the cryptocurrency whose algorithm was embedded in the production. In addition, changes in the mining algorithm or the release of more modern ASIC models can make the old device ineffective or useless.

ASIC models have such characteristics as mining algorithm, hash rate, power consumption, energy efficiency and cooling type.

 

<<Main ASIC Manufacturers and Flagship Models

Bitmain Technologies Ltd

Bitmain is the world's largest mining equipment manufacturer, headquartered in Beijing, China. The company was founded by Micree Zhang and Jihan Wu in 2013. It also operates one of the largest mining pools, Antpool, as well as the online platform BTC.com. Bitmain's most famous ASIC brand is Antminer.

MicroBT
MicroBT is a Chinese technology company founded in 2016 by Zuoxing Yang. The company is headquartered in Shenzhen. MicroBT specializes in the development and sale of high-performance ASIC miners, known under the Whatsminer brand. They have earned wide recognition and respect in the crypto community due to their reliability, performance, and stability.