Avalon Gen2 Launch, design your own device

Avalon today announced that they are back in the game and will start to release information on their generation 2 chips to open source developers.

It  seems that Avalon will be going ahead with their plans not to make bitcoin mining devices but to focus solely on building the ASIC processors and supplying them to anyone wanting to build their own mining device.

They have gone as far as to create a competition where 50 open source hardware developers will receive a small amount of Avalon Gen2  55nm ASIC chips.  The prize for the best design/designs (they have not made it clear how the prize will be awarded) will receive 5000 Avalon Gen2 chips.

The rules seem simple enough (from the announcement);-

1. there are 50 available slots, if picked contestants will be given 10 chips each.
2. all design submitted for this contest will be released back to the community when contest ends.
3. must be original design, not a modified version of our reference design for example.
4. application are accepted now until the 10th of Oct.
5. chips will ship out soon as candidates are screened and accepted.
6. contestants will have 1 month to complete and submit the design.

If you wish to enter you will need to head over to Avalon and fill out a simple form.

It is unclear what the specifications of these new Avalon 55nm Gen2 chips will be but with competitors already working on 28nm chips they will certainly have their work cutout for them.