It is reported that Canaan Creative, one of the world’s largest bitcoin mining machine manufacturer, has already sent its application to the SEC. As the first Chinese bitcoin miner giant filed for U.S. IPO, it is not the first time for Canaan to filed IPO application.

This has previously led some crypto news outlets to proclaim that a “crypto IPO race” has started. Cryptocurrency miners faced some hard times during the past crypto winter. However, since the crypto market has rebounded, crypto mining companies have as well.

In 2018, Canaan let its application for a Hong Kong IPO of at least $400 million lapse. casting doubt on the prospects for other Chinese miner makers seeking for Hong Kong IPO. In the cold winter of cryptocurrency market in 2018, it is difficult to support Chinese miner makers to file Hong Kong IPO application with the profits brought by the mining machine business.

Compared with other Chinese bitcoin miner giants, Canaan never mine or operate mining business by themselves. Leaders of Canaan want to keep this state to realize IPO.

Chips determine the success of bitcoin miner manufacturers, so it is necessary for bitcoin miner manufacturers to take chips production into consideration as a part of their business.

As early as 2017, Bitmain announced its entry into the field of AI chips, and launched cloud-based AI chips. According to its official website, Bitmain boasts AI chips, AI cloud/edge products and AI terminal products.

From view of technique, Canaan is far from satisfactory. ASIC chips used in bitcoin miner are customized chips for specific fields with simple structure, and the computing power and efficiency are directly customized according to the demand of specific hashrate. Canaan is currently limited to the front-end design of chips, and then appoints TSMC to produce, unable to independently complete the mass production of chips.

Canaan’s rival in the Bitcoin mining space, Bitmain, also attempted to list on HKEX, Hong Kong’ stock exchange last year to no avail. It is not clear which firm is following the other’s playbook though.