ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit)

An ASIC miner implements a single algorithm (SHA-256, Scrypt, kHeavyHash…) directly in silicon. The specialisation yields extreme performance — an Antminer S21 XP delivers 270 TH/s where a top GPU manages a few GH/s on the same algorithm — at the cost of total inflexibility: an algorithm change bricks the investment.

ASICs dominate every major PoW coin except deliberately resistant ones like Monero. Buying decisions revolve around efficiency (J/TH), price per terahash, and the credibility of the manufacturer's delivery schedule — Bitmain, MicroBT, Canaan and IceRiver are the established names in 2026.