Canaan releases new next-gen ASIC miner

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As the block reward mining sector surges and its spending spree continues, Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ: CAN) has chosen not to sit idly by and miss out on money being generated. Hoping to win more bulk hardware purchase orders, the China-based and Nasdaq-listed firm revealed on Monday the release of its latest ASIC miner that incorporates its new immersion cooling system.  

The hardware manufacturer designed the Avalon Immersion Cooling Miner A1066I to be noiseless and eco-friendly. Unlike the current generation of air-cooled ASIC miners, this new device is liquid-cooled. The device’s price tag remains unknown. Canaan’s social media team steered interested buyers to the company sales department. 

#AvalonMade

Leveraging a mechatronics hardware design, the Avalon Immersion Cooling Miner offers a high degree of integration within single mining modules, running 90 mining module deployments simultaneously. With an overclocked mining ratio of 45%~ #Bitcoin #mining pic.twitter.com/qXPy97aD3k

— Canaan Inc. (@canaanio) January 4, 2021

The A1066I’s electrical components are submerged in a unique dielectric fluid that carries heat directly away from the boards. This approach is novel, even from the standard methods of liquid cooling for PCs.  

Canaan uniquely engineered the dielectric fluids to insulate the device’s components and avoid the corrosion damage and short-circuiting that would occur with water or other types of liquid. This technique is also unique from the liquid cooling method based on water blocks, where a special heat exchanger insulates the water from the device’s components.

According to Canaan’s website, the A1066I can hold up to 90 immersion-cooled units. Each unit produces 50Th/s maxing the power consumption at 3,400 watts. The container can reach a total hash rate of 4500~7200Th/s with a power efficiency of 64J. 

The company details that the ICM can run 90 mining module deployments simultaneously. Compared to Canaan’s Avalonminer A1246 series, which is air/fan-cooled, the immersion cooling miner has an increase of up to 78% in power efficiency.

The A1066I’s native liquid cooling feature could appeal to block reward miners in warmer regions. The increased efficiency in cooling allows for more aggressive overclocking, potentially enabling a higher hashing performance. 

Canaan is not the first ASIC manufacturer to develop a water-cooled blockchain mining rig. Its chief competitor Bitmain Technologies Ltd has the Antminer S9 Hydro. Canaan’s management told online Spanish-language website CriptoNoticias that they want to promote liquid cooling in the mining industry, highlighting that this could become standard practice within the ecosystem.

See also: TAAL’s Jerry Chan presentation at CoinGeek Live, The Shift from Bitcoin “Miners” to “Transaction Processors”