Month: April 2026

little by little, it is “nationalizing” AI

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The Manus case appears to have planted a seed in how China will manage its AI talent. And Beijing has given another touch of attention to another company of artificial intelligence, MiroMind, so that it does not move researchers or intellectual property outside its borders. While China does not prohibit the export of chips like the United States does, it does appear to be prohibiting the export of brains. And with this it is building, by force, its own AI ecosystem with large barricades. The Manus thing. In January 2025, the startup Manus, born in Wuhan, relocated to Singapore and sold to Meta for 2 billion dollars, it seemed to have made the perfect move: leave China, access Western capital and complete one of the operations that has given the most talk in the field of AI. After the mess, Beijing I act by vetoing him from leaving the country to its co-founders while they investigated whether the operation had violated any export regulations. For the rest of the startups, the message has resonated deeply. What has happened with MiroMind. According to has published The Washington Post, Chinese authorities directly warned MiroMind, a startup specializing in advanced reasoning with declared headquarters in Redwood City, California, and Singapore, not to move talent or research abroad. Much of the company’s early work had been done in China, and its chief scientist was until recently Jifeng Dai, a renowned researcher at Tsinghua University who had previously led projects at SenseTime, a partially state-owned AI software company. According to Dai himself, he left MiroMind precisely because the company asked him to relocate outside of China, something he was not willing to accept. As of today, MiroMind does not have employees in China, although the majority of its staff is still of Chinese nationality and works in that language from Singapore. The model that no longer works. For years, many Chinese startups have chosen to legally incorporate the company in Singapore, hire a handful of local employees, and continue operating from China. The very ‘Singapore washing’, which is how this operation is colloquially known in the sector. The Manus case has made it clear that this is no longer enough. Matthias Hendrichs, advisor to AI companies in Singapore, explained to CNBC that for the operation to be real and not a parapet, “the entire team has to relocate, the client base has to move and the first Chinese investors generally have to exit their positions.” “Where the product is developed is more important than where the parent company is registered,” explained also to the media Yuan Cao, lawyer. lBeijing’s strategy. What China is doing has no direct equivalent to what the United States is doing. Washington controls the export of chips and semiconductor manufacturing technology. Beijing, on the other hand, is controlling the export of talent and research. It does not prevent their companies from internationalizing (in fact, encourages them to expand globally) but it does draw a red line: you can’t take your technological DNA with you. The result is an attempt to build a self-sufficient AI ecosystem that does not bleed to the West. Whether this strengthens it through concentration or weakens it through isolation is still an open question. Singapore in the eye of the hurricane. The city-state, which has been acting as a bridge between East and West for years, is beginning to find itself caught in the crossfire. According to collect Reuters, more and more companies choose it not to connect with both blocks, but to distance themselves from both. But this gray zone role also has its risks. Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, explained to the media that if Singapore continues to be perceived as a space where technological transfers occur that neither of the two large blocs wants to occur, “it could end up with restrictions imposed on it.” And now what. Chinese startup founders face a dilemma with a growing shadow: either they build their company from day one outside China, giving up the advantages of the local ecosystem (subsidies, cheap engineers, domestic market), or they assume that Beijing can knock on the door and demand their work at any time. “The path of Manus is one that people will no longer travel,” counted Wayne Shiong, partner at Argo Venture Partners, told CNBC. The global technological fracture deepens. Two ‘internets’, two chip supply chains, two AI ecosystems. And now, too, two talent markets that Beijing and Washington are determined to keep separate. Cover image | Unsplash (aboodi vesakaran, Arif Riyanto) In Xataka | “70% of the work took three days”: Mercadona has created its own internal search engine with Claude Code after years thinking about how to do it

There is a product prepared so that we can stop taking our cell phone out of our pocket. The glasses: Crossover 1×44

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We have been wanting to find a replacement for our cell phone for years. We believed that smart watches could be a good alternative, but in reality they have ended up becoming a useful complement, without more. However with the smart and connected glasses things promise to change, especially because it is a product with a very striking formatfeatures that can be truly remarkable and a current state that promises a lot in the short term. The question is whether glasses can process everything that smartphones can do today. They may not be prepared for our current consumption of video or networks – there the mobile touch screen continues to win for the moment – but their possibilities in terms of voice and visual interaction with AI They are very interesting. There is here a first clear challenge with privacy. We already saw how Google Glass could not fight against that stigma, and suspicions have continued to appear with Ray-Ban Meta glasses. The other, that of miniaturization: can technology integrate everything necessary into these glasses that weigh just 50 grams to ensure that the experience and performance achieve their results? What we have seen seems to point to yes -the chinese manufacturers They are surprising a lot in this area—but we will have to see how it advances quickly. We talk about all this in this new episode of Crossover, so we hope you enjoy it and find it interesting. On YouTube | Crossover In Xataka | Going to an exam with AI glasses and passing it by cheating is now possible. And Valencia wants to avoid it

Today the series about a porn video club with which Amazon wants to establish its own ‘Alpha Males’ arrives on Prime Video

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Nines is a housewife, a conservative, and in 1998 she has just been left alone in charge of a bankrupt video store in Valladolid. The solution he finds, porn, is the starting point of ‘Pigs‘, the new original series of Prime Video what is premieres today on the platform and whose approach and style is reminiscent of the Netflix hit ‘Alpha Males’. The premise might sound like a provocative seasonal comedy, but the series has been talked about since it was presented at the Malaga Festival. The story begins when this woman played by Malena Alterio inherits from her husband in a coma a business that is in the red. To pay the bills, she decides to specialize in the only genre that makes money, porn, which changes her life and triggers a social earthquake among the neighbors in the neighborhood. With the help of the foul-mouthed video store employee and a regular customer and inveterate movie buff, he transforms the life of the city. Carlos del Hoyo, creator of the series, is also the creator along with Abril Zamora of ‘Señoras del Hampa’, where he began to experiment with black humor, situation comedy and female characters with character. ‘Cochinas’ will be released simultaneously in more than 240 countries, as part of Prime Video’s strategy to disseminate its Spanish fictions, since the figures are very promising: thanks to productions such as ‘Culpa mia’ or ‘Reina Roja’, three of the ten most viewed Spanish titles in 2023 They received 80% of their reproductions outside of Spain. The question with ‘Cochinas’ is whether a comedy so specifically rooted in the geography, language and taboos of deep Spain can work with that same export logic. We will have the answer in the coming weeks but for now, it is one more in Amazon’s extensive catalog: since Prime Video launched its first original Spanish series in 2018, ‘Little Coincidences’, the streamer has released more than thirty own productions of different genres. In Xataka | Today the animated spin-off of the platform’s only powerful franchise premieres on Netflix: ‘Stranger Things’

12 light years away, in a giant that humiliates Jupiter

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Although we have all complained at some point about the clouds when they have ruined us a sunny daywithout them the Earth would be much more inhospitable. Therefore, the discovery that the James Webb Space Telescope has just made on an exoplanet located 12 light years from us is really interesting. It’s not ammonia, it’s water. Epsilon Indi Ab is a gas giant even larger than Jupiter, located in a star system made up of two brown dwarfs and a K-type star. This planet is known to have clouds in its atmosphere, just like Jupiter. Given their similarity, one could expect that the clouds of both would have the same composition. Jupiter’s clouds are basically made up of ammonia. However, when some scientists have analyzed the composition of the clouds of Epsilon Indi Ab with the help of James Webb, they have discovered that there is hardly any ammonia in them. In reality they are composed mostly of frozen water, like what we have here on Earth. Hotter than expected. The exoplanet Epsilon Indi Ab is located at a distance from its star similar to that which separates Uranus from our Sun. Uranus is a very very cold planet for obvious reasons. However, Epsilon Indi Ab is much larger and younger, so it still retains much of the heat that came with its formation. Although there is no clear figure, it is believed that it may have an average temperature of 0ºC. That may seem cold to us if it catches us on Earth without shelter, but for a planet so far from its planet it is quite hot. That heat is emitted in the form of infrared radiation and this is where the good stuff begins. James Webb comes into play. The James Webb Space Telescope It has a great ability to detect and measure infrared light. Therefore, it has been with it that these clouds have been analyzed. To do this, the first step was to block the star’s light. If this were not done, it would interfere with the infrared radiation emitted by the planet and could not be analyzed properly. Once this was done, filters that capture 10.6 and 11.3 μm of light were used. Thus, the observation would focus on the planet’s radiation, right in the ranges of interest. Ammonia crystals are known to block 10.6 μm light when it passes through them. If the clouds of our exoplanet were like those of Jupiter, a large blockage would have been observed in this range. But it wasn’t like that. There must have been another substance in them. By studying the 11.3 μm filters and also observing a slight emission of light at 3 and 5 μm, it was concluded that this other substance must be water. The cloud crystals of Epsilon Indi Ab are frozen water, like on Earth. A companion in the rear. Since water clouds are very important for the habitability of a planet, this finding demonstrates James Webb’s ability to analyze one more factor when searching for terrestrial analogues beyond our solar system. The best thing is that, as NASA announced this weekthe Roman Space Telescope, which will be launched in September if all goes well, can join forces with those of the James Webb, providing even more precise results. Perhaps we are facing the perfect team to find that planet we have been searching for for so long. Image | EC Matthews, MPIA / T. Müller, HdA In Xataka | James Webb has been detecting red dots in the universe for years: the only problem is that we don’t know what they are

the strange atmosphere of the Mutua Madrid Open

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The Caja Mágica is, on paper, one of the best-conceived tennis venues on the circuit in Spain. Modern facilities, first-class slopes, careful organization. And yet, each edition of the Mutua Madrid Open sparks the same conversation: why are the stands so empty? Why is the atmosphere more like a corporate event than a Masters 1000? The answers are uncomfortable and point in very specific directions. What is the Madrid Open. The Mutua Madrid Open celebrates its 25th edition in 2026. Since 2009 it has been played in the Caja Mágica, the venue designed by Dominique Perrault in the Parque Lineal del Manzanares, and since 2019 it has been directed by Feliciano López, who combines that role with his last seasons as a professional player. It is a combined Masters 1000 tournament, which means it simultaneously hosts the ATP men’s draw and the WTA women’s draw: one of nine events of that category in the world, one step below the four Grand Slams. The prices. Tickets for the Manolo Santana Stadium, the center court of the tournament, with capacity for just under 10,000 spectators, oscillate between 10 euros in the first days and 176 euros in the semis and final. They are not scandalous numbers, but at Roland Garros, tickets for the main draw with assigned seating on the Philippe-Chatrier court (the equivalent of Manolo Santana, with capacity for more than 14,000 spectators) They start at 95 euros in day sessions. Tickets for the semifinals started at 120 euros, and the final at 220 euros. In other words: The semifinal of the most important clay Grand Slam in the world has a price similar to what Madrid asks for a final round match in a Masters 1000. And Paris is Paris. From here, prices skyrocket: a second week pass has a starting price of more than 850 euros, which places the Madrid Open in a league of exclusivity that its weight on the circuit does not fully justify. Furthermore, the sales model (separate sessions, stadiums with differentiated access, multiplication of premium categories) turns the purchase of a ticket into a labyrinth for deep pockets. When the VIP is empty. In May 2024, one of the most commented images on social networks was the image of the Manolo Santana VIP boxes during the women’s final, played between the two best tennis players in the world at that time, with dozens of empty seats. Complaints from fans were especially directed at that area, occupied largely by guests, with low attendance that was visible both in smaller matches and in meetings with the most popular figures of the tournament: tickets sell out quickly, resellers raise prices, and at the same time there are dozens of seats reserved for guests who end up not showing up. Image problems. Outside, the tournament projects an exclusive and aspirational image. But inside, the empty stands do not go unnoticed. When Feliciano López himself spoke this month about the controversies over the invitations, his explanation pointed directly to the structure that owns the event: “The owners of the tournament are not us; they are other companies, with other interests, clients who have to help.” Tennis and networking. The tournament’s own official website describes its premium spaces as ideal for combining “leisure, sports and networking with the idea of ​​satisfying the needs of the most demanding fans.” It is not an oversight in the writing, it is just that this is the business model: in a tournament with the relatively short tradition of the Madrid tournament, the imbalance between the space conceived as a social experience and as a sporting spectacle is even more evident. The result is an atmosphere that lifelong fans criticize with phrases like “I’m going to take a photo, I don’t care about tennis.” Attending the Open has become a social event where tennis is the decoration. Gamblers in the stands. Another type of networking: in the 2025 Madrid Challenger (a minor category tournament held at the Country Club) incidents related to bettors they marked the entire week. During the quarterfinals, comments such as “Gaubas is going to pay me” could be heard as attendees looked at their phones to check live betting apps. The Slovak tennis player Norbert Gombos even stopped the match to directly rebuke a group of young people in the stands. It was a semi-final, and a scene difficult to imagine at Roland Garros or Wimbledon. LaLiga’s Integrity Director warned that tennis and basketball are the sports where the pressure of bettors on the atmosphere in the stands becomes more evident, due to the pace of the game and the proliferation of micro-event markets (point-to-point betting, per game, per set). The public no longer cheers out of hobby: they are getting excited or angry depending on the money they win or lose. An attitude that degrades the atmosphere of a sport that requires concentration and silence. The drama. Neither the Madrid Open is a failure nor the Caja Mágica is a bad venue. But there are doubts about the tournament model that has been built: prices that leave out the average fan, stands that look like corporate meeting rooms, a poorly maintained invitation policy and results that give a bad image… an atmosphere that does not accompany the quality of the tennis played on the court. In Xataka | If Carlos Alcaraz is not allowed to wear a smart bracelet, Whoop has provided him with the solution: underwear with sensors

The Roomba Mini comes in because of its size, but the experience is not just about that

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My experience with him Roomba Mini It started in a rather unusual way for a robot vacuum cleaner: without that impression of being faced with something difficult to place. It may seem like a minor detail, but it is not. From the moment I picked up the box and took it with me on the Metro, it was clear to me that size was going to be an essential part of this story. Then, when I opened it, that intuition became certainty. The device is not only compact on paperit is also in the hand and in real space. It is light, easy to move and, above all, it feels like it was designed to fit effortlessly into everyday life. With the Roomba Mini, “the smallest cleaning robot in the world“, there is a second impression that comes right after that initial surprise, and it has less to do with the size and more to do with the way in which iRobot wanted to present the product. The mint finish, along with the other color options offered by the brand (black, white or pink), introduces a point of personality that is rare in this category, where almost everything tends to move in much more neutral codes. Added to this is a particularly easy installation: as soon as I take it out, I find a very guided, clear and fast process, one of those that allows you to go from the box at first power on in a flash. The Roomba Mini arrives with simple packaging Beyond what I found when I took it out of the box, the Roomba Mini also says a lot about the moment iRobot is going through. The brand, now in the hands of a Chinese companyhas chosen to respond to a market that is increasingly loaded with functions with a proposal that does not revolve around excessbut to containment. It doesn’t try to impress by size, but by fit. That is, in fact, the key to this launch. On paper, the idea sounds good: a 24.5 cm robot, a smaller self-emptying base and a set that is easy to integrate into a small home. In practice, however, this approach also requires resignations. A format designed to fit, with disclaimers included If I have been grateful for anything in this first contact, it is that iRobot has not complicated a phase that in many connected devices continues to cause more trouble than necessary. Here the implementation is quite direct. I download the app, connect the robot to the network, follow the steps that appear on the screen and, in a matter of a few minutes, everything is ready to start. The experience, at least at this point, is well resolved: there is a clear logic in the process and a constant feeling that the product is taking you by the hand without wasting your time. This helps a lot to ensure that the good initial flavor is not diluted just when it is time to really start using it. In my case, there is also an important nuance that should be made clear from the beginning: I have not tried it in a large home or in a house full of complicated rooms, but in a small spacejust the kind of environment this Roomba Mini seems to have been designed for. The map generated in the app makes it quite clear, with perfectly differentiated areas within a contained distribution. And that matters, because here it is not about asking it to perform miracles, but rather seeing if that promise of a compact robot makes sense when we put it to work in the scenario that, in theory, best fits it. The Roomba Mini incorporates a three-arm side brush for edges and corners, along with a central roller that is responsible for the main collection. From there comes one of the most important parts of the experience: seeing how the Roomba Mini reads the house. In my case, the mapping has been quick and, above all, quite precise when drawing the different areas of the house. Then I’m the one who decides how to label them in the app, but the basis on which the robot works is well built and makes a lot of sense. Here the ClearView LiDAR system plays an obvious role, because it does not give the sensation of improvising routes. And that matters a lot: because a well-resolved map is the foundation of this type of product. The Roomba Mini in action As soon as I put it to work, the feeling is quite clear: the Roomba Mini delivers. Its cleaning pattern makes sense, because it usually starts at the edges and then finishes the rest of the area. The power seemed enough to me for the daily maintenance of a small apartment like mine, but not for particularly demanding cleaning. It copes with dust, crumbs and light dirt, although it also exposes certain limitations fairly quickly. iRobot Roomba Mini Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Floor Mop with AutoEmpty Base (up to 90 days), LiDAR Navigation, 7000Pa Suction, Compact Design for Small Spaces, App, Scented Mops, Green The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Where I have noticed a clear advantage of this format is in the way the Roomba Mini moves through narrower or more obstacle-laden areas. Being smaller than other robot vacuum cleaners, it is easier to fit into gaps where a conventional model would fit more tightly, and this is noticeable on a daily basis. In my case, I have seen it maneuver quite easily between furniture and pass through areas where its small size clearly works in its favor. It does not make the robot a brilliant solution on its own, but it does give it an agility that fits well with the type of environment for which it has been designed. It is easier to slip into gaps where a conventional model would fit more tightly. That size reduction, of course, does not come … Read more

The new EU border system is leaving people without flights. Ryanair has a solution: close check-in early

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From 10 November, Ryanair check-in counters They will close one hour before of the scheduled departure, instead of the 40 minutes that is now allowed. The change implies that the traveler will have to coordinate the time better and go a little more in advance. All, according to the company, in order to avoid problems at security and passport controls. What exactly changes. Until now, Ryanair travelers who wanted to deliver their luggage at the airport had a limit of 40 minutes prior to the departure of their flight. With the new rule, that margin is extended to 60 minutes. In other words: you will have to arrive at the airport earlier and arrange your suitcase more in advance. The measure will apply to all airports where the Irish airline operates. Why does he do it? According to the company itselfthe goal is to reduce the number of passengers who miss their flight due to getting stuck in security or passport control queues. By bringing forward the closing of the counters, travelers with checked luggage would have more time to go through those checkpoints before boarding begins. Dara Brady, chief marketing officer at Ryanair, counted in the press release that the change is especially relevant “during peak periods, when some of these lines at the airport can be longer.” Milan was the best example. Queues at checkpoints are the common enemy that can cause us to end up missing our flight. And the last few weeks have been especially busy around it, because hundreds of passengers missed their flights due to Europe’s new Entry and Exit System (EES). This is the European Union’s new digital border control that forces non-EU citizens (including British citizens after Brexit) to register their biometric data, such as fingerprint and facial recognition, every time they cross a border in the Schengen area. The system was supposed to be fully operational on April 10, but it seems that no one thought that the system would end up being so chaotic. According to reported BBC, on April 16, a Ryanair flight from Bergamo airport in Milan left for Manchester, leaving behind a group of travelers who had been stuck in the border queue for an hour and a half without moving forward. That same day, another airline flight between Tenerife South and East Midlands also left many passengers on the ground. Mplus self-check-in kiosks. The measure comes accompanied by an expansion of self-check-in luggage kiosks, which will be available before October in more than 95% of the airports in its network. These terminals work integrated with the Ryanair application and allow the passenger to check in the suitcase and print the label without going through the traditional counter. The airline claims this will speed up the process and reduce waits. Who it affects and who it doesn’t. According to account airline, this change only affects 20% of Ryanair passengers who check baggage. The remaining 80%, who travel only with hand luggage, will not notice any difference. For this reason, if you travel with Ryanair and plan to check in a suitcase starting in November, take this margin into account and calculate that you will have to arrive a little earlier for your flights. Cover image | Marty Sakin In Xataka | The airlines had been warning for weeks and the consequences are already here: Volotea will charge 14 euros more for the Hormuz crisis

Spain has a very ugly bird that does not want it to become extinct. And all of Europe depends on you not doing it

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For the last decade, Villafranca de los Barros (in the heart of the province of Badajoz) was the European vulture capital. More than 600 black and griffon vultures They have left the AMUS wildlife hospital in Villafranqués to repopulate places in France, Sicily, Cyprus or Bulgaria. Now and this is the news, receives 15 specimens of Italian vultures. Are we running out of Egyptian vultures? Are there few in Spain? It depends on how we define “few.” It is true that the numbers continue to fall in Aragón, Andalusia and part of Castilla y León; However, it is no less true that around 82% of all Egyptian vultures in Europe. And then? Why do we want twelve birds? Essentially, because the Italian Egyptian Vultures are having a very bad time. The Cisalpine country has only a dozen wild breeding pairs and needs Spain to keep the genetics and breeding capacity alive. The idea is to use the Italian specimens to reinforce the European capacity to obtain chickens (something that, in this species, is especially difficult). And scavengers, despite the cultural disdain we have for them, are important. Only Iberian vultures They remove bodies from the field for a value of about 45 million a year and save about 77,000 tons of CO2 in the same period. But there are even much clearer cases: India, for example. Eyal Frank and Anant Sudarshan of the Harris School of Public Policy and the University of Warwick they did the math of the economic impact of the loss of vultures in the subcontinent. We talk about $69.4 billion annually derived from mortality and the economic costs associated with premature deaths. “The collapse of vultures in India provides a clear example of the kind of hard-to-reverse and unpredictable costs that the loss of a species can have on humans,” The great European hope. If it works, many of the first chickens will be released in Italy with the idea of ​​​​reinforcing the wild population of southern Italy. After that, they will be used to reinforce other weakened nuclei: first in Spain and then in the rest of the continent. In this sense, Spain has become the last great European reservoir. And that between poisoned baits (979 corpses between 2019 and 2023), power lines and wind turbines, it’s not that we treat vultures very well. Image | Nitish Patel In Xataka | Mia, the world’s first bionic vulture who has been able to land and walk again thanks to a titanium “suchi roll”

We have been using our pets to relieve our anxiety. And now the stress is on them

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When you come home after an exhausting day, those who have a pet at home, the truth is that they hope to be received by their unconditional affection, since for many it is the best therapy against anxiety. And this is where, for many years, we have thought that our dogs or cats act as a protective shield against external chaos, but the truth is that we are seeing that what is really happening is that absorb our stresssomething that, just like what happens to us, is not good at all. It is transmitted. Here are several scientific studies published in recent years that have begun to draw a clear picture of what ethologists call “interspecific emotional contagion”, making animals authentic mirrors of our mental state. One of the most important studies was published in 2019 in Scientific Reports and collected different measures of long-term stress. To do so, the researchers decided to analyze the concentration of cortisolwhich is the main stress hormone, in the hair of 58 dogs and in that of their respective owners for an entire year. The results. Here it was seen that cortisol levels were synchronized, meaning that when the human had cortisol peaks, because he was quite stressed, the dog also had it. In this way, the authors of the study concluded that it is dogs that “reflect” the stress level of their humans and not the other way around. Furthermore, recent research suggests that dogs are capable of perceiving subtle physiological changes in us, such as body odors associated with human stress, responding to them with greater anxiety or adopting more pessimistic postures and behaviors. And this is something that shows how they are true mirrors of what happens to us. The problems of work. If we thought that teleworking or mulling over a work problem only affects us humans, the truth is that we are very wrong. This is what science tells us in different articles that point out that work rumination, which is the habit of mulling over the same topic during our free time, takes a direct toll on our pets, as it is associated with significant increases in stress in dogs. And this is explained because, although we are physically next to our pets, the fact that we are thinking about a topic that obsesses and worries us causes us to not have a good interaction with our pet so that they feel completely safe. And this logically manifests itself with mental suffering. How do we know? We sometimes associate animal stress only with when they have to make a visit to the vet or when there is a big bang, like when a firecracker is thrown, but the reality is different. Here animals, when they live in an unstable environment, such as with a lot of noise, conflicts or many hours of solitude, trigger a series of changes that are often misinterpreted by their owners as “bad behavior.” But here the stress in animals can manifest with constant restlessness, the tendency to hide, excessive attachment, non-stop barking, furniture destructive behavior and much more. That is why, when faced with unusual behavior, we must begin to analyze the situation at home, since it can be contagious, as happens with younger children who also feel the stress at home. Images | lookstudio on Freepik In Xataka | We have stuffed the Gibraltar monkeys with Doritos. His solution has been to eat dirt as if it were omeprazole

I have seen the future of cars in Beijing and yes, it is electric (and very cool)

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I remember when I was in Dubai and I attended GITEXthe largest technology fair in the world with its 230,000 square meters of stands spread across several pavilions. That seemed absolutely unbearable to me, even having two or three days to visit it relatively calmly. It was something absolutely insane. Three years later I woke up not in Dubai, but in Beijing. And if the 230,000 square meters of GITEX were overwhelming, the 380,000 square meters of the Beijing Motor Showthe 1,451 cars on display, the 181 new cars, the 71 concept cars and the 200 press conferences are, directly, mission impossible. Chery Hall | Image: Xataka I would need a week to tour the two pavilions that shape this event, but I have only had a few hours. Not that I needed much more. Not only because 99% of the cars I have seen here will not arrive in Spain, that too, but because just take a look around the stands of Chery, Xiaomi, BYD, Geely, Changan, Nio, Xpeng and company to discover that the future of the automobile does not have a European sealbut a Chinese flag that is displayed with pride. AION i60 | Image: Xataka The clearest sign that something is changing and that the sector is evolving is expectation. I have attended countless technology events, from CES to IFA to MWC or GITEX. It had been years, many years, without seeing lines to enter a stand, to take photos of the latest product launched by a company. Here, well, this was the press conference of the Chery Group. Moments before the Chery press conference | Image: Xataka While consumer technology has become a commodity, as everyone has a cell phone, a laptop, a watch and headphones, the cars are transitioning. Talking about cars is, perhaps, an understatement, because what Beijing is teaching me is that the car is passing to be a gadget. It is no longer just a matter of consumption, finishes and bodywork. Here talking about a car means talking about connectivity, charging powers, ecosystem, infotainment. While technology is currently going through a period of relative stagnation, reducing innovation to incremental improvements in specific aspects, the driving force is quite the opposite. The sector is experiencing one of its best moments in terms of variety, capacity and technology. Jetour G700 | Image: Xataka The gasoline, or rather, the electricity that drives this evolution has a Chinese seal. I wonder, now that I see firsthand the power of companies like BYD, Chery, Nio and company, If no one thought of this when manufacturers sold their long-term capacity for short-term profits. Did no one think that China, which requires a partnership with a local partner and the transfer of intellectual property in exchange for being able to sell in its huge country, was going to hit the table one day? That, at some point, I would want to stop manufacturing for others to take what you have learned, improve it, optimize it and sell it herself? Arcfox S5, the premium range from Beijing’s BAIC | Image: Xataka Sure, outsourcing molding, part production, and engineering kept prices low and increased competitiveness in the past, but now the tables have turned. Now it is the Chinese brand that also accumulates years of expertise competing in a ultra aggressive market and electrified like the premises, which is capable of vertically integrating and controlling the entire manufacturing process, from the batteries to the last screw, and if it does not do so, it surely has a nearby company capable of providing every last cable. Because that is a huge competitive advantage.: If Europe or the United States wants a Chinese part, they have to wait for it to be shipped and it arrives. Days, at least. Those finishes? 🤤 | Image: Xataka If a Chinese brand needs it, I probably just have to cross the sidewalk or drive a few minutes to the manufacturer’s headquarters. That capacity, that good work, I see clearly as I walk through the infinite halls in the Hall. I see a BYD that fills an entire Hall 3 with its brands, showing off a 1,000 HP roadster like the Denza Z. Its finish has little to envy of any European car, although I doubt it will reach Europe. Denza Z | Image: Xataka Denza Z | Image: Xataka Denza Z | Image: Xataka I also see a spectacular supercar from their Fangchengbao brand capable of making anyone’s jaw drop. Anyway, what to say | Image: Xataka At his side, a Denza Z9 GT and a Fangchengbao frozen at -33 degrees serve the brand to boast of fast charging in extreme conditionsnailing to the millimeter the promise that the car, frozen, is fully charged in 9 minutes. I can think of few more risky demos. Yes, it’s frozen | Image: Xataka That is a live image of frozen car interior screen | Image: Xataka Then there is this car, also BYD, with a My Little Pony theme that I leave here for haha. Yes, it’s hair | Image: Xataka The tires, please | Image: Xataka Without words | Image: Xataka In the Chery hall, which has had the most crowded conference I have seen in years, the company’s executives explain their international vocation and their plans to continue extending their tentacles. And I must say that it is even dizzying. When a Chinese executive makes a presentation in English, it is not for pleasure. It is a declaration of intentions like the top of a pine tree. Chery has introduced the Omoda 4, the Lepas L6 EV and the Tiggo V (which can be transformed into a pick-up, convertible and SUV and which we will see here as an Omoda, Jaecoo or Ebro). The signature, furthermore, intends to bring its Lepas brands (more elegant cut) and Exeed (which will be Exlantix and will be sold as a premium brand) to Spain. Omoda 4 | Image: Xataka Lepas L6 EV | Image: Xataka Tiggo V … Read more

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