Supply Chain
16/04/2026
Supply chain in the mining context refers to the flow of components, hardware, and logistics that deliver mining equipment from semiconductor fabs to end-user miners. The chain involves chip foundries, ASIC and GPU manufacturers, firmware and board assembly, wholesale distributors, and retail sellers.
Key links in the chain
- Silicon wafer production — dominated by TSMC (Taiwan) and Samsung (South Korea) for leading-edge nodes
- Chip design — Bitmain, MicroBT, Canaan (ASIC); NVIDIA, AMD, Intel (GPU)
- Assembly — hashboards, power supplies, cooling, enclosures
- Distribution — direct sales, regional distributors, secondary markets
- Deployment — mining farms, home miners
Why it matters for miners
Shortages raise prices and delay delivery. The 2020–2022 global semiconductor shortage drove GPU prices 2–3× above MSRP and created multi-month waitlists for new ASICs. When new-generation hardware is scarce, miners running older machines get a longer profitable life; when supply is abundant, older machines depreciate faster.
Geopolitics matters. Export controls, tariffs, and conflicts affecting Taiwan or China directly flow through to ASIC availability and pricing.
Counterfeits and scams. A long supply chain with many resellers means grey-market and fake units appear. Buying from authorized distributors or established second-hand dealers reduces risk.
