The world's three best-selling makers of bitcoin mining machines — 
Bitmain, Canaan and MicroBT — are setting up manufacturing footholds in the US. The trio build over 90% of global mining rigs.
Bitmain, the biggest of the three by sales, started US production of mining rigs in December.
Canaan started trial production in the US with the aim of avoiding tariffs. The initiative is exploratory as the volatile tariff situation precludes heavy investment.
Third-ranked MicroBT says it is actively implementing a localization strategy in the US to avoid the impact of tariffs.
The trio dominate a sector estimated to be worth $12 billion by 2028. It is the upstream of a business chain that extends through the energy-intensive process of mining bitcoin, the supporting IT infrastructure and the trading platforms.
US rival Auradine — backed by top bitcoin miner by market value, MARA Holdings — has been lobbying to restrict Chinese supplies to stimulate competition in hardware.
"While over 30% of global bitcoin mining occurs in North America, more than 90% of mining hardware originates from China representing a major imbalance of geographic demand and supply.”
The top three held an estimated 95.4% of the hardware market in terms of computing power sold as of Dec 2023.
Bitmain's AI affiliate, Sophgo, has been blacklisted by the US government on security grounds.
China once dominated the entire bitcoin value chain — from rig-making through mining to trading — until its government banned cryptocurrency activity on the Chinese mainland in 2021 citing risk to financial stability. As technology manufacturers, Bitmain, Canaan and MicroBT continued to dominate in hardware. They fended off Western rivals partly due to first-mover advantage in developing high-performance chips tailor-made for mining.
Canaan has since moved its headquarters to Singapore from China — though it still has Chinese operations — and set up a pilot production line in the US, a market that contributed 40% of revenue last year.
China's hardware dominance "creates a choke point for U.S. miners.”
"If China restricts exports or manipulates supply ... it could disrupt bitcoin's network stability and affect US users and investors.”
The biggest miners by market value — MARA, Core Scientific, CleanSpark and Riot Platforms — are all US-based, so over-reliance on hardware of Chinese origin “is potentially problematic”.
reuters.com/world/china/do
Bitmain, Canaan and MicroBT — are setting up manufacturing footholds in the US. The trio build over 90% of global mining rigs.
Bitmain, the biggest of the three by sales, started US production of mining rigs in December.
Canaan started trial production in the US with the aim of avoiding tariffs. The initiative is exploratory as the volatile tariff situation precludes heavy investment.
Third-ranked MicroBT says it is actively implementing a localization strategy in the US to avoid the impact of tariffs.
The trio dominate a sector estimated to be worth $12 billion by 2028. It is the upstream of a business chain that extends through the energy-intensive process of mining bitcoin, the supporting IT infrastructure and the trading platforms.
US rival Auradine — backed by top bitcoin miner by market value, MARA Holdings — has been lobbying to restrict Chinese supplies to stimulate competition in hardware.
"While over 30% of global bitcoin mining occurs in North America, more than 90% of mining hardware originates from China representing a major imbalance of geographic demand and supply.”
The top three held an estimated 95.4% of the hardware market in terms of computing power sold as of Dec 2023.
Bitmain's AI affiliate, Sophgo, has been blacklisted by the US government on security grounds.
China once dominated the entire bitcoin value chain — from rig-making through mining to trading — until its government banned cryptocurrency activity on the Chinese mainland in 2021 citing risk to financial stability. As technology manufacturers, Bitmain, Canaan and MicroBT continued to dominate in hardware. They fended off Western rivals partly due to first-mover advantage in developing high-performance chips tailor-made for mining.
Canaan has since moved its headquarters to Singapore from China — though it still has Chinese operations — and set up a pilot production line in the US, a market that contributed 40% of revenue last year.
China's hardware dominance "creates a choke point for U.S. miners.”
"If China restricts exports or manipulates supply ... it could disrupt bitcoin's network stability and affect US users and investors.”
The biggest miners by market value — MARA, Core Scientific, CleanSpark and Riot Platforms — are all US-based, so over-reliance on hardware of Chinese origin “is potentially problematic”.
reuters.com/world/china/do