South Korea based Samsung Electronics (LSEIOB: SMSN.LSEIOB) entered the Bitcoin mining market earlier this year and already saw benefits of this move with a substantial rise in its profits.
Company began producing ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit)this January. High demand for Bitcoin mining in the market returned to thecompany 58% higher profits (approximately $9,2 billion) in the first quarter ofthis year compared to 2017 earnings of the same period.
"Demand for the semiconductordivision increased due to sales of system LSIs [ASICs] for flagship smartphonesand demand for virtual currency mining chips."
Mining Rig manufacturer Halong Mining revealed earlier that their main product the Dragonmint T1 Miner is using Samsung 10nm T1558 mining chips, which are the world's first 10nm bitcoin mining chips.
Samsung competes in this market with a few other manufacturers such as Taiwan's TSMC which has also reported record profits this quarter. Nevertheless, the company expects to see growing profits during the rest of the year.
By Nadya Astam