After ‘Negligible’ Mining-Related Sales, AMD Launches 8 New ‘Blockchain Compute Solutions’

AMD, a California-based semiconductor manufacturer, has evidently partnered with seven major tech companies to produce eight new cryptocurrency mining rigs, according to AMD’s official website as of today, Nov. 5.

As per the list of newly-released miners on AMD’s site under the title “AMD and Blockchain Technology,” the firm has partnered with Sapphire, ASROCK, ASUS, MSI, Biostar, TUL and Rajintek to issue eight different rigs boasting “Ultimate stability,” “24/7 performance” and “Enterprise-level quality.” The price for the equipment has not yet been specified at press time.

On their website, AMD stresses that the partnership will bring new “blockchain compute solutions” to the market, designed to meet the various aspirations of “innovative blockchain platforms.” Cryptocurrencies are mentioned only twice on the page, referred to as “the most well-known use case” of blockchain technology, and as a title of the section “Blockchain Beyond Cryptocurrency.”

Evidently as part of the firm’s promotion for the new line of hardware, on Oct. 31 AMD released a video on blockchain, explaining core features of the technology, listing trust, integrity and security as its key advantages.

The move comes just a week after AMD released its third quarter 2018 financial report, where the company stated that the “blockchain-related GPU sales in the third quarter were negligible.” Moreover, the  report added that the average selling price of GPUs was also reduced due to lower sales.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, as a company, AMD has not always expressed a positive view of blockchain. In April its CEO, Lisa Su, said blockchain was “a very important technology” with high potential in terms of transactions. Nonetheless, according to the AMD CEO, in the short term, the tech caused “a bit of distraction.”