When I first started as a Silicon Series supplier six years ago, I never expected to get this exact question at least a dozen times a week: “Can your Silicon Series products be used for cryptocurrency mining?” For context, I’m not a PhD in semiconductor engineering—just a guy who’s spent half a decade fielding calls from crypto bros, small-scale miners, and curious hobbyists, alongside shipping orders to tech firms and manufacturing lines. The short answer I give people? It’s complicated, but only if you understand what the Silicon Series actually is, how crypto mining works, and why most miners are chasing something totally different from what we supply. Let’s break this down like I do over a post-shift beer with my old tech crew—no stuffy jargon, just real-world stuff I’ve seen go right and wrong. Silicon Series
First, let’s set the stage for anyone who’s new here. The Silicon Series our company sells isn’t a single product. It’s a line of high-performance, general-purpose silicon chips, designed specifically for two core use cases: edge computing and embedded processing. That means these chips are built to run consistent, variable workloads without overheating, handle real-time data from sensors or small servers, and pair well with low-power, compact devices—think smart factory robots, in-store inventory trackers, or portable medical monitors. Our bread and butter is the mid-range and high-end models in the series, which boast 16nm to 7nm process technology, 8 to 64 CPU cores, and integrated GPU cores that are good for parallel processing tasks.
Now, crypto mining, for those who’ve been living under a rock for the last decade, is the process of validating transactions on blockchains like Bitcoin, Ethereum (pre-merge, anyway), or lesser-known altcoins. Early mining relied on CPUs—regular computer processors—but miners quickly learned that GPUs gave a huge speed boost. Then ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) came along, and that’s where things shifted dramatically. ASICs are built for one job and one job only: mining a specific coin. A Bitcoin ASIC can’t run a word processor, and a Bitcoin mining GPU can’t touch the hash rate (the speed at which a miner solves cryptographic puzzles) of a $200 ASIC that’s purpose-built for the task.
So why do people ask about the Silicon Series for mining? Simple. The parallel processing capability of our chips’ integrated GPUs looks similar, in theory, to the discrete GPUs that early GPU miners used. For a brief period during the 2021 crypto boom, when GPU prices were sky-high and ASIC supply was limited, some hobbyists tried repurposing everything—old gaming PCs, even old washing machine controllers—to mine crypto. I got a call one night from a guy in Ohio who’d stacked 12 of our entry-level Silicon Series chips into a makeshift rig, running off a power strip in his garage. He’d mined about $15 worth of Ethereum over two weeks, but the chip throttled so hard from overheating that it took three months to earn back the $20 he’d spent on extra cooling fans. That’s not an isolated story; I’ve seen at least a dozen of those rigs end up in my company’s e-waste bin after the 2022 crypto crash.
But here’s where it gets nuanced—there’s more to it than “it doesn’t work.” Let’s talk about the constraints that make most Silicon Series models bad for mining, and a very narrow case where it might make sense. First, power efficiency. Mining is all about hash rate per watt of power consumed. ASICs can get 100+ TH/s per watt (I’ve seen specs from top manufacturers that hit 120 TH/s/watt for Bitcoin), while the best discrete gaming GPUs top out around 30 MH/s per watt (that’s 0.00003 TH/s, for anyone keeping track). Our Silicon Series integrated GPUs? The top-end model delivers roughly 8 MH/s per watt for common mining algorithms like Ethash. That’s 1/4000th the efficiency of a basic Bitcoin ASIC. For every dollar you spend on electricity, you’re making 4,000 times less than a proper miner.
Then there’s durability. Mining rigs run 24/7, 365 days a year, no breaks, no sleep. Our Silicon Series chips are rated for continuous operation, but at a maximum junction temperature of 95 degrees Celsius. Mining rigs run hot—like, 110+ degrees Celsius hot inside the case, and that’s if you have good cooling. I’ve had customers send back Silicon Series chips that died after three months of mining, because the constant heat caused the thermal paste to degrade and the cores to warp. Our warranty covers defects, not wear-and-tear from misapplication, so that’s a cost miners don’t account for when they’re just looking at hash rates.
Algorithm compatibility is another big one. The Silicon Series’ integrated GPU cores are optimized for general parallel workloads, not the specific cryptographic hashing algorithms that most crypto coins use. Bitcoin uses SHA-256, which is almost impossible to run efficiently on GPUs at all, let alone integrated ones. Ethereum used Ethash, which was designed to be ASIC-resistant—but that design meant even high-end GPUs could only get so much hash rate, and integrated GPUs like ours got crushed by discrete models. For newer coins, like Monero, that’s another algorithm entirely, and our chips fall even further behind.
Wait, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. There’s a tiny, specific use case where the Silicon Series could be repurposed for mining—if you’re mining very small, niche altcoins that use lightweight algorithms, and you’re only running a small rig (like 4-8 chips) in a low-power, well-ventilated space. Even then, it’s not profitable. I had a customer in Finland last year who was mining a local altcoin for a small decentralized charity project; they only needed enough to cover server costs, not turn a profit, so they used a handful of our entry-level Silicon Series chips alongside old gaming GPUs. They told me it worked, but it took six months to earn back the cost of the chips, and they had to replace the cooling system twice that winter. That’s not mining for money—that’s a side project for crypto enthusiasts with extra hardware.
What’s important to emphasize here is that the Silicon Series is built for general-purpose performance, not specialized, high-intensity workloads like mining. Our engineering team designs every chip to balance speed, power, and reliability for real-world, varied use cases—not to run one single task around the clock. That’s why ASICs exist: they’re the most efficient way to do that one task, but they’re useless for anything else. The Silicon Series is designed to do a hundred different tasks well, which means it doesn’t do any one single task perfectly.
Over the years, I’ve learned to answer this question honestly, not with a flat no. If a customer is a hobbyist who wants to experiment for fun, I’ll tell them what to expect: low hash rates, high power use, a high chance of chip failure, and no chance of turning a profit. If they’re a small business looking to set up a mining operation, I’ll tell them to walk away and buy ASICs from a reputable manufacturer. If they’re a company looking for high-performance chips for edge computing, IoT, or embedded devices, I’ll explain exactly how our Silicon Series can help them with that work.
I also think part of the confusion comes from misinformation online. A lot of YouTube videos and forum posts claim that “any GPU can mine crypto!” but they don’t mention that mining with an old gaming GPU will cost you more in electricity than you make. Multiply that by a low-performance integrated GPU and you’ve got a recipe for losing money. I’ve seen too many people drop their savings on mining rigs only to realize they’re not making enough to pay their electric bill, and then reach out to us to ask if there’s a way to repurpose the chips back to their intended use. Almost always, that works—those chips go back into smart cameras or industrial controllers, and the customer learns a hard lesson about specialized vs. general-purpose hardware.
At the end of the day, the question isn’t just “can the Silicon Series be used for mining?” It’s “should it be used for mining?” And the answer, for anyone looking to make money, is a resounding no. For hobbyists experimenting, it’s possible, but it’s not worth the time or cost. Our job as a supplier is to be honest about what our products can and can’t do, even when that means turning down a sale from someone who thinks mining will make them rich. That’s how we’ve stayed in business for six years—we don’t overpromise, and we stand behind our products no matter what use case they end up in.
If you’re here because you’re looking for high-performance, reliable silicon chips for edge computing, embedded systems, or any other general-purpose workload, we’re here to help. We’ve worked with startups, manufacturing firms, and research labs across the globe, and our team can walk you through which model in the Silicon Series fits your needs best. Whether you need a small batch of 10 chips for a prototype or a bulk order for a production line, we can get you the right product at a fair price. Reach out to our team to discuss your requirements, ask any questions about our line, and learn how the Silicon Series can power your next project.
Silicon Series References
- "Cryptocurrency Mining: A Review of Hardware and Efficiency Trends", IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing, 2022
- "Silicon Process Technology and Reliability for Continuous Operation in Edge Devices", Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science, 2021
- "Mining Algorithms and Their Impact on Hardware Performance", Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Transactions: Security, Privacy, and Control, 2023
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