Japan’s GMO Internet Group has provided a fresh update on its bitcoin mining strategy, outlining a more detailed timeline for its long-awaited 7nm bitcoin mining chips. According to the company’s latest earnings presentation for the first quarter of fiscal 2018, the chips are being developed not only for GMO’s own mining operations, but also for public sales and for use in its cloud mining business.
The update is significant because GMO has been positioning itself as a full-spectrum cryptocurrency player, with ambitions spanning exchange services, mining, mining hardware, and crypto payments. The 7nm chip program is therefore more than a hardware announcement—it is a central part of the company’s broader effort to build scale in the digital asset sector.
Two Chip Versions in Development
GMO said it is developing two versions of its 7nm mining chip, identified as V1 and V2. The V1 version is described as the initial prototype, while V2 is intended for mass production. The company said V2 is currently in the design phase and is scheduled to enter mass production in the fourth quarter of the year.
Once ready, the mass-produced chips are expected to serve three major purposes. First, GMO will deploy them in its own internal mining operations. Second, the company plans to sell them to outside buyers. Third, the chips will also be integrated into GMO’s cloud mining service, allowing the firm to monetize its hardware platform through multiple channels.
This three-pronged strategy shows that GMO is not simply trying to mine bitcoin more efficiently for itself. Instead, it is attempting to establish a broader mining ecosystem in which semiconductor design, machine deployment, and cloud-based access to mining capacity all reinforce one another.
Reservations to Start in Q2, Sales From Q4
One of the most closely watched elements of the announcement is the commercial rollout timeline. GMO’s spokesperson said the company can disclose, at this stage, that it will begin accepting reservations from the second quarter onward, while actual product launches will begin from the fourth quarter onward.
The company did not provide exact sale dates, leaving some uncertainty around shipment schedules and broader market availability. Even so, the new guidance gives the clearest indication yet that GMO is moving from development into commercialization.
GMO also revised its mining business timeline compared with the plan it had outlined in the fourth quarter of the previous year. In the updated version, the company said its mining operations are initially based on store-bought mining computers. It expects the 7nm V1 operation to begin around June, followed by the 7nm V2 operation around October.
That sequencing suggests GMO is taking a phased approach: starting with existing mining equipment, then gradually incorporating its internally developed semiconductor technology as prototypes mature and mass production becomes feasible.
Cloud Mining Launch Also Expected in June
Alongside the chip reservation and production timeline, GMO said its cloud mining service is expected to launch in June. This adds another layer to the company’s mining business model.
Cloud mining allows users to access mining exposure without directly owning or managing physical machines. For a company like GMO, combining chip design, self-mining, and cloud mining creates multiple revenue streams tied to the same underlying infrastructure. If executed well, this can help diversify risk and improve capital efficiency across the mining business.
While the company did not disclose detailed economics for the cloud mining launch, its inclusion in the rollout plan indicates that GMO sees this segment as strategically important rather than peripheral.
Mining Expansion Targets Remain Aggressive
GMO’s mining business officially began on December 20 through the group’s European legal entity. The company said the operation covers three segments: in-house mining, development, manufacturing, and sale of mining machines, and cloud mining.
In the earnings presentation, GMO stated that its hash rate is increasing as planned and that the amount of mined bitcoin is rising as expected. The company also said it has established related new business operations across multiple locations in two countries, indicating that its mining footprint is already geographically distributed to some extent.
As for current scale, GMO disclosed that its hash rate in April reached 241 PH/s. More notably, it said it remains confident in achieving a year-end target of 3,000 PH/s. That is an ambitious expansion goal and would represent a substantial increase in mining capacity if met.
The commitment to such a target underlines how central mining is to GMO’s crypto strategy. It also means the company’s progress will likely be judged not only by whether it can ship its 7nm chips, but also by whether those chips can help support rapid hash rate growth in practice.
A Broader Push Across the Crypto Sector
Mining is only one part of GMO’s cryptocurrency ambitions. The company also operates GMO Coin, a cryptocurrency exchange, and has said it plans to roll out a crypto payment service. In its presentation, GMO stated its goal is to become “No. 1 in the field of cryptocurrency.”
That ambition helps explain why the 7nm chip program matters beyond the mining niche. By building capabilities in exchange services, payments, mining operations, hardware manufacturing, and cloud mining, GMO is attempting to create an integrated crypto business stack. Each part of that stack can potentially support the others—trading activity can drive user growth, payments can expand use cases, and mining plus hardware can strengthen infrastructure ownership.
For market observers, the key questions now are practical rather than conceptual. Investors and potential customers will want to see whether GMO can maintain its production schedule, whether reservation demand materializes, and how competitive its 7nm chips prove to be once they reach broader deployment.
For now, the latest update shows clear forward movement: reservations from Q2, launch from Q4, V1 operations around June, V2 operations around October, cloud mining in June, and a year-end hash rate target of 3,000 PH/s. Taken together, those milestones position GMO as one of the more aggressive corporate entrants in the bitcoin mining hardware race.