Question to Bitmain, Dogie or whoever is in the know:
Will Bitmain sell their next gen 14/16nm Finfet machines or solely mine themselves? Any time frame?
Bitmain says s7 late july.
idk if this is 14 nm though....
i reckon Bitmain will always sell miners to anyone who buys them and pays the electric bill.
much easier profit for Bitmain that way.
Considering the heavy delays for 14/16nm production sites as well as the increased demand from large manufacturers (samsung, apple, et al) I really doubt we'll see anything in the 14/16 space this year actually released.
The noise we've heard earlier from TSMC and Global Foundries was that Bitcoin ASIC manufacturers are ideal for first runs of new production processes due to low price sensitivity and high tolerance for low yield. Samsung and Apple et al. have much tighter margins and prefer mature processes. But, as you say, there have been heavy delays. Plus, Bitcoin mining gear manufacturers are not in excellent shape nowadays.
That's a good point, I hadn't considered that really.
It just seems so weird that NO ONE has announced a product or even teased one. I expected to hear something from the Austin meeting last month and nothing came out of it.
TBH it worries me. It's hard to make investment plans when the mining landscape is like this. Buying 0.4-0.6w/gh gear when actors like KnC are pumping out sub 0.1w/gh gear is risky when the price is either flat or falling. If we get a 5x/10x BTC price jump, the sheer amount of gear and electricity needed to pump the hashrate, even to make S3s unprofitable, would make it much easier. But if we can't get next gen gear, the hashrate will catch up with us eventually. You'd think there'd be a market for bleeding edge gear for smaller or home miners, but the string of Bitcoin ASIC bankruptcies of late isn't encouraging.
I know KnC says they've rolled out their 16nm but KnC says a lot of things, some not true after their shipping delays and being sued over it.
Fact is, if they're producing 0.7w/gh gear, everything else will be obsolete, unless Bitmain also has 16/14nm taped out and ready in mass quantities. I've just finished a deal for a space with cheap power in WA state, but at this point, I'm loathe to purchase any miners to put in the space.
If KnC really are done selling HW, then there is a limit to how much hashing power they can pump into the network without being accused of enabling a 51% attack. Even if they spread their hashing power over onto other pools, they would be foolish to risk damaging BTC by sparking a debate regarding one actor having control over more than 51% of the hashing power. This should limit network growth until someone else gets 14/16nm going. However, it's hard trust KnC to act responsibly.
I have been very impressed with Bitmain, and hope to buy from them again. However, I have been impressed with them for the wrong reasons. They build products that work and they ship them when they are supposed to. It kind of says a lot about Bitcoin that this is seen as generous. Reminds me of a Chris Rock bit: "Quit bragging about stuff you're supposed to do!
"I take care of my kids!", you're supposed to take care of your kids!
"I have never been to jail!", well, you're not supposed to go to jail!".