Bitmain Technologies, the world’s largest producer of mining chips, might be considering an IPO, Bloomberg reports.
The company, which is run by 32-year-old cryptocurrency billionaire Jihan Wu, has become a global force in the burgeoning cryptocurrency mining industry since it was founded five years ago. In June, Wu told Bloomberg that Bitmain made $2.5 billion in revenue in the year 2017 alone. Now, the company’s success might have Wu considering taking it public.
Recently, Bitmain has been tinkering with another kind of hardware beyond mining chips. The company has expressed interest in developing custom chips to compute in the field of artificial intelligence, called application-specific integrated circuits.
Wu suggested to Bloomberg that Bitmain’s interest in expanding into AI hardware might eventually lead to an initial public offering. The listing, Wu said, would most likely occur overseas; Hong Kong was mentioned as a possible option.
“Bitmain is trying very hard to maintain its advantage,” Wu told Bloomberg.
Read the full story over at Bloomberg here.