Beyond powering cryptomining rigs — Forays of Semiconductor players in the Blockchain space
Mention blockchain and semiconductor in the same breath and the first thought that comes to mind is usually crypto mining rigs. But these silicon chips and their accompanying firmware & hardware platforms have a stronger power play towards unlocking the full potential of this emerging technology.
A few examples here include
A. For running the blockchain network itself -
· Providing a trusted execution environment, a secure storage of crypto keys, execution of energy efficient consensus mechanisms
· Creating data blocks and storing the transactions’ history
· Hosting blockchain networks, running its nodes and executing smart contracts
B. Towards its various applications and usage -
· Processing large volumes of transactions
· Warehousing large volumes of data, Smart and resilient management of shared data
· Running the high speeds connectivity networks
· Embedding clients for device level authentication, validation and execution
· Securing logging of access permissions and events
· Supporting dynamic network structures, Securing scalability for machine networks
· …. And more
In the next 2–5 years, semiconductor chips will play a major role in spuring blockchain’s market adoption not only via mining but also by bringing in process and cost efficiencies as well as unleashing new market opportunities with innovative business models.
A few companies from the semiconductor ecosystem have come up with some interesting plays and are transforming industries — Infineon-XAIN, Samsung, Accelor, Skynet Core to name a few. I take a look at these as well as some of the investments and partnerships by silicon vendors in the blockchain space. And yes, I will do a piece on blockchain phones too.
Look out for the 1st of my multi posts series later this week on some of these interesting plays on the intersection of Semiconductor and Blockchain technologies.
About the author –
A technology evangelist, Meenu Sarin has an extensive experience working across a multitude of deep tech domains — Semiconductor, Robotics, Deep Learning and now Blockchain. She was pivotal in setting up STMicrolelectronics Design Centre in India as well as their semicustom ASIC business across Asia Pacific. As a Programme Consultant at Singapore government’s premier research agency, A*STAR, Meenu helped provide pointers for potential research areas via deep technology market intelligence gained by leveraging ecosystem research and deriving insights. As a core team member of hybrid blockchain technology startup XinFin, she is helping develop a vibrant Blockchain ecosystem in the Asian markets.
A strong industry advocate, Meenu was a founding member and an Executive Board Member of Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association and has also chaired a few annual sessions of Technology Innovation Forum for SEMI.
Contact details
Website www.vlsiconsultancy.com |Email meenu@vlsiconsultancy.com|
Twitter @meenusarin | LinkedIn http://sg.linkedin.com/in/meenusarin |