On April 28, Bitmain, the world’s leading bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer, launched its latest mining model, the Antminer T17, which promises high-cost performance among its Antminer 17 series.

We are proud to announce the all-new Antminer T17! The T17 utilizes the renowned 2nd Gen 7nm chip, 40 TH/s hashrate, and has a power efficiency of 55 J/TH. Order here (https://t.co/5AR6W9GJNA) and establish your mining presence. #AntminerT17 #antminer #BitcoinCash #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/uv8EAsDDL7 — Antminer_main (@Antminer_main) April 28, 2019

According to the company’s official website, the Antminer T17 can mine SHA256-BASED cryptocurrencies and offer a maximum hash rate of 40TH/second.

It boasts power consumption efficiency as its biggest improvement over previous T models. Equipped with the BM1397 chip adopting 7nm semiconductor manufacturing process, it promises more income for users at its advertised 55J/TH energy efficiency ratio.

Priced at $1,270, it is categorized as the entry model in the Antminer 17 series, though its hash rate and power efficiency fall short of the S17 Pro and S17 machines, while it offers similar features in stability and heat dissipation.

The ASIC miner is currently available for purchase on Bitmain’s official website, with its shipping time from May 5 to 20, 2019, the same as S17 and S17 Pro.

As the crypto market seems to be springing back to life after a long winter, a bunch of newly improved mining rigs have been released by various manufacturers this year. Bitmain has released S17 Pro and S17, T17 is the mining giant’s third next-gen mining rig rolled out this month; Canaan rolled out its Avalonminer 10 series with 31-33 TH/s; MicroBT claims its latest Whatsminer M20S could process a maximum hashrate of 72 TH/s; Small player StrongU’s 46TH/s miner Strongu Mining’s STU-8 (known as the U8) is also in the pre-sale…

With the recent price uptick the hashrate has not yet responded, resulting in increased ASIC revenue. Possibly indicates that the mining economy not investing in new facilities or simply new ASIC's are displacing older hardware (most likely). S9's still decent. pic.twitter.com/nr9AxsjmcF — Steve Barbour ⛏ (@SGBarbour) April 28, 2019

While the bitcoin hashrate seems to have not yet responded to the recent bitcoin price rally, which has led to the increase of ASIC miners’ revenue these days. According to BitInfoCharts, the bitcoin hashrate has hovered around 45E without much surge since the start of 2018, while mining difficulty has seen small rise month by month from 5.6T in January to the recent 6.37T in April. With these next-gen mining rigs to be shipped out and put into use, will the bitcoin hashrate and difficulty surge? Leave your comment below.