Bitmain's 1.16 PH/s Bitcoin Miner: ASIC Arms Race Now Real

Bitcoin mining hardware has undergone a significant transformation over the past three years, from machines generating colossal terahashes to affordable rigs with efficiencies below 20 joules per terahash (J/TH). At the World Digital Mining Summit last month, Bitmain revealed details of a machine that produces over 1 petahash per second (PH/s) while consuming just 9.5 J/TH.

Since 2023, Bitcoin miners have made significant progress, now breaking the petahash threshold

These application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) continue to evolve. In 2023, Bitmain’s Antminer S19 XP Hyd took the lead with a water-cooled unit running at 255 terahash per second (TH/s). Soon after, Microbt’s Whatsminer M53S++ joined the race with a maximum hashrate of 320 TH/s and an efficiency of 22 J/TH.

The bar was raised again when Bitmain introduced its Antminer S21 line in late 2023 and early 2024. One standout model, the S21 XP+ Hydro, topped the bar with 500 TH/s and 11 J/TH. By late 2024, a new class of machines, still unavailable to the public, was coming, hinting at twice the performance of the S21 XP+ Hydro.

In September 2024, Bitmain partnered with Hut 8 to showcase a direct-to-chip liquid transfer ASIC miner that delivered 860 TH/s at 13 J/TH. Following this, competitors like Bitdeer, Microbt, and Auradine showed off devices with performance ranging from 424 TH/s to 600 TH/s. But Bitmain isn’t done yet — its S23 series, set to launch in 2026, is raising the bar once again.

Bitcoin.com News reporter Terence Zimwara reported on the Antminer S23 Hydro, which delivers 580 TH/s with an efficiency of 9.5 J/TH. However, Bitmain’s most ambitious achievement is the Antminer S23 Hydro 3U, which is scheduled to hit the market in January 2026 and will deliver over 1,000 TH/s of performance — or just over 1 PH/s of hash power.

Antminer S23 Hydro 3U from Bitmain with 1.16 PH/s computing power.

Specifically, the 3U model generates 1.16 PH/s while maintaining a high efficiency of 9.5 J/TH. It is equipped with state-of-the-art hydrocooling and operates at 11,020 watts. If this powerful machine were already available, it would be at the top of the profitability charts. At the moment, based on the current grid difficulty, hash rates, and an electricity tariff of $0.06 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), it is expected to generate $45.14 in daily profit.

The accelerating pace of innovation in Bitcoin mining hardware suggests that the industry is deep into a new arms race, where improvements in performance and efficiency are becoming exponential rather than incremental. As miners seek higher margins and compete for block rewards, machines exceeding 1 petahash could become the new standard rather than the exception, changing operational strategies across the sector.

Such leaps in computing power and energy efficiency could dramatically alter the balance of mining power on a global level. Operators with access to cutting-edge machines could gain a disproportionate advantage, potentially widening the gap between large farms and smaller players. If this trend continues, mining could become an arena where only the most technologically advanced survive.

Source: cryptonews.net