April 2026 - Page 37 of 93

They say things get worse before they get better. The RAM crisis teaches us that they can always get worse

April 20, 2026 by usatoday24

The current situation in which hyperscalers have made all the hardware manufacturers produce almost exclusively for them is leading us to a curious scenario. Apart from the huge RAM and SSD crisis that affects everything –and everyone– Changing from one technology to a newer one no longer depends so much on the needs of a company but on what is barely available on the market. AND The Elec points to a movement by Samsung that represents a new thrust for mobile phones, computers and everything that has soldered RAM. No more LPDDR4 modules. LPDDR4 LPDDR5. They stand for Low-Power Double Data Rate, the low-power version of the RAM tablets that we can buy when building a PC, for example. Unlike conventional RAM pickups, LPDDR memory is soldered to the boardachieving very high speeds with a minuscule energy cost. That is why it is the preferred one for smartphones, tablets and ultrabooks, but it is also ideal for some miniPCs that have become popular in recent months. The downside is that it cannot be expanded or replaced, but its features make it the only option for certain devices. The most powerful versions mount LPDDR5 and LPDDR5Xbut there are still many devices that have the fourth generation versions for cost savings reasons. The turn comes when, according to the South Korean media The Elec, Samsung has begun to cut off the supply of LPDDR4 and LPDDR4X modules to its customers. Translation. Although they are memories with a decade behind them, mid-range and entry-level mobile phones, as well as many other devices, continue to have these versions to keep prices low. At a time when the market is more volatile than evermaintaining those competitive prices by mounting memories that are still interesting in certain ranges was a strategy that made a lot of sense. However, as the media points out, Samsung seems to want to focus on the production of LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X memories. By converting the output lines of the LPDDR4 memories, they will be able to manufacture more new generation RAM, but the price to pay will be that mobile manufacturers will have to switch to that LPDDR5. Mid-range and entry-level smartphones will be faster, but also more expensive. The price to pay. A few weeks ago we already said that the impact was evident. memory represented 20% of the bill of manufacturing an entry-level mobile phone, being one of the most expensive components. And, at that time, the figure was expected to reach 40% by the middle of this year. With this reconversion of Samsung’s lines, we will see where the percentage increase is in a year in which it is already estimating a drop of more than 10% in mobile shipments. The calculations They are tremendous: In the entry range – increments of 30 dollars per unit. In the middle range – from 60 to 80 dollars per unit. In the premium – from 100 and 150 dollars per unit. Samsung itself is not spared. Here you can think that Samsung has a lever to eat the mobile market. That is to say, if it is one of the three that controls the memory production segment and, in addition, has its line of mobile phones and tablets, it can give preferential treatment to its ‘brothers’ to maintain the price in the midst of the crisis. Well no. They already commented that this was not going to happen and, furthermore, it is already flirting with the idea thats Galaxy A17 be an example of this movement. The company’s entry-level mobile has the Exynos 1330 SoC that supports both LPDDR4X and LPDDR5 memories. When the supply of LPDDR4X runs out, they will move to the new generation, which will mean that there will be two different A17s, one of them being one with 50% faster memory than the other. They go direct with HBM. But, as two pieces of news are better understood together, at the same time that the abandonment of the LPDDR4 production lines is pointed out, we have confirmation that Samsung is going to press ahead with the development of HBM memories. These are high-bandwidth memories that are packaged in AI training and inference platforms, and have been reported that Samsung has managed to reduce the HBM memory development cycle from two years to one. It’s a necessary boost to continue being both NVIDIA and AMD’s preferred choice for AI hyperscalers. Shortage. Putting all this together, the result is that there is a RAM crisis for a while. The bottleneck of the industry is enormous and that only three companies –SK Hynix, Micron and Samsung– are the ones who call the shots, and all have opted to satisfy the demands of AI, does not help the situation return to normal. Although there is Chinese companies that may have their opportunity In this scenario, the reality is that the estimate is that all the production of the large It will barely cover 60% of the memory demand until 2027. These companies, of course, are doing great. An example is that, in three months of 2026, Samsung earned more than in all of 2025. But for users and the consumer industry itself, the reality is different. And the worst thing is that there is no realistic date when we will start to see a recovery. NVIDIA has taken the lead, AMD tooand it is no longer just the US and China that need memory: Europe also wants its share of the pie. There are voices that They aim for 2028 as the year of recoverybut other forecasts they go above 2030. What is clear is that there is a crisis ahead In Xataka | TSMC’s only problem was that it was in Taiwan. So the United States has decided to get her out of there

From printing drones to looking at lasers. 300 reports have revealed that Iran’s battle manual has one name: Ukraine

April 20, 2026 by usatoday24

Barely a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, groups of volunteers began to assemble drones fighting in improvised workshops using parts purchased online and open manuals, managing to put operating systems on the air in a matter of days. The scene, closer to a technological garage than a military factory, reflected the extent to which modern warfare was about to change without making almost noise. Ukraine as a war manual. I told it a few hours ago in exclusive to the Financial Times. The war in Ukraine has become a central reference for Iranian military thinking, to the point that much of its current doctrine is being built on what is happening there. That has now been known through more than 300 reports prepared in military centers that analyze everything from industrial production in conflict to tactical adaptation in the face of a superior enemy. This effort is not theoretical, but applied: there is great number of manualstraining and planning that have been updated to incorporate direct lessons from the battlefield in a process that reveals a clear idea, that the future of war is already written in Ukraine and that, possibly, those who do not study it will be late. From cheap drones to doctrine. One of the most decisive learnings we have been counting these years: the role of low cost dronescapable of changing the balance of forces with a completely different logic from the traditional one, where volume and price weigh as much as precision. Iran has understood that cheap systems, produced even with commercial components and accessible techniques such as 3D printing, can overwhelm advanced defenses and exploit structural weaknesses of technologically superior armies, replicating a model that has already proven effective in both Ukraine and in their own confrontations recent. The problem of the West. Not only that. The expansion of these drones has exposed a critical gap in Western defenses, designed to intercept expensive and sophisticated threatsbut not massive waves of cheap systems, which has generated an obvious economic imbalance. While a drone can cost tens of thousands of dollars, intercepting it is the opposite and can involve missiles in the equation. extremely more expensivecreating financial and logistical wear and tear that has already become visible in recent conflicts, where spending skyrockets and arsenals begin to become dangerously strained. Beyond the present: AI and emerging weapons. Featured in an interactive special The New York Times that, however, Iranian learning has not stopped in the immediate present, but rather projects the conflict into the future, incorporating into its planning technologies such as artificial intelligence, cyber warfare or even emerging systems such as directed energy weapons. The own internal analysis They point to the need to integrate these advances in decision making, weapons guidance and combat management, in a transition that seeks not only to adapt, but to anticipate the next phase of the technological conflict. An evolving doctrine. There is no doubt, this change is also doctrinal, with a commitment to more units agile, decentralized and capable to operate with greater autonomy, inspired by the way in which Ukraine has managed to resist and adapt to a more powerful adversary such as Russia. If you like, what the combination of operational flexibility and accessible technology is doing is redefining the concept of superiority military, moving it away from large platforms and towards distributed and resilient systems that can evolve quickly, and there the massive use of FPV drones appears with its own name. From Ukraine to Iran. Ultimately, all of this results in a profound transformation in the way in which Iran conceives warone where Ukraine acts as a real reference manual of battle that guides from the manufacture of cheap drones to the ambition of integrating artificial intelligence and more advanced systems such as lasers. From that perspective, it is not just about copying each Ukrainian step, but about adapting, scaling and combining solutions to build our own strategy that turns kyiv’s experience into future advantage, in a scenario where we are already seeing that rapid innovation and low cost can outweigh the most sophisticated technology from the United States. Image | RawPixelWild Hornets In Xataka | China was the power that launched drones. Now he has realized his danger with a decision: close the sky to them In Xataka | While everyone was looking at the Middle East, North Korea has had time to do what Iran has not been able to: go nuclear.

Last year, almost no robots finished the Beijing half marathon. This year one has broken the human world record by seven minutes

April 20, 2026 by usatoday24

The half marathon world record is held by Jacob Kiplimo with a time of 57:20 achieved just a month ago in Lisbon. This Sunday a humanoid robot called Lightning ran that distance in 50:26achieving for the first time a milestone that had never been achieved. Robots seemed clumsy and unable to outrun humans, but that is no longer true. And it’s just the beginning. Robots are already faster than humans. In the half marathon held on Sunday, April 19, 2026 in Beijing, the absolute dominators were the humanoid robots. Lightning not only broke the human world record by almost seven minutes: he managed to arrive 17 minutes before the first human runner to cross the finish line. The first three classified They were also Lightning models developed by Honor. From disaster to excellence. The first edition of this same event, the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, It was an absolute disaster for humanoid robots. Only a third of those who ran it managed to finish the race, they were controlled remotely and ran at a pace much lower than that of human runners. This year things were very different: more than 100 robots were presented and most finished the test, but also almost half ran autonomously and several managed to surpass even the best human runners in the world. This is Lightning. The winning robot measures 169 centimeters, weighs 45 kg and was specifically designed to adapt to complex terrain and move at high speed. Its legs measure about 95 cm and its proportions are designed to imitate the stride of elite human runners. It has a liquid cooling system which curiously has been adapted from the one found on Honor smartphones. Du Xiaodi, engineer in charge of this project at Honor, explained that “Running faster may not seem significant at first glance, but it allows technological transfer, for example in structural reliability and cooling, and eventually in industrial applications“. Not everything went well. The race, however, also had moments in which the robots failed. One of them collided with a nearby vehicle although he managed to stabilize himself and continue walking. The H1 model from Unitree, the most famous humanoid robot manufacturer in China, collapsed as it approached the finish line and had to be removed from the road. One of the Lightning models hit a barrier after crossing the finish line, and some other robots they had difficulties with the curves and unevenness of the route. The event also served as a test bed for batteries, joints, motors and algorithms that control these machines. Industrial applications. Xiaodi mentioned it but also Liu Xiangquan, professor of robotics at the University of Science and Information in Beijing. According to him, these long-distance races allow the resistance and behavior of these robots to be evaluated, something essential for their application in industrial environments. Here not only speed is evaluated, but also the aforementioned resistance, stability or the capacity for autonomous navigation in uncontrolled environments. But a key component is missing. Although the demonstration and milestone is fascinating, what this field needs most is other things. For example, advance manual dexterityperceive the real environment in unforeseen situations and be able to perform varied tasks and not focus so much on repetitive movements. Industrial robots are already good at that, but here we are looking for much more versatility because at the moment these robots They are not able to fold clothes or put the plates and cutlery in the dishwasher with sufficient speed and dexterity. China continues to set the robotic pace. The Asian country has completely devoted itself to the world of robotics. Dominate this segment and its companies They manufacture 80% of global production. In recent months we have seen spectacular demonstrations such as the one Unitree carried out with a dozen humanoid robots at a martial arts show. Sunday’s half marathon is one more element of that narrative and that message that China is leaving to the world: robots are our thing. And in a year, what? Breaking the world record is very striking, but this event tells another story: that of how in just one year Chinese manufacturers have managed to improve their models in an amazing way. If everything continues to improve at this rate, it is difficult to predict what the robots that run the next marathon will be capable of, but it seems logical to think that at this point the athletic ability of robots will be absolutely amazing. Image | CGTN In Xataka | In China they are not satisfied with creating advanced robots: a company has developed a head that gestures like a human

Clint Eastwood filmed in Spain for the first time in 1964 and the impact was lifelong

April 20, 2026 by usatoday24

In 1964, Clint Eastwood agreed to travel to Spain to shoot a low-budget film that, in his own diagnosis, “was probably going to be a total failure.” What he found when he arrived (an international team in perpetual chaos, actors and director unable to understand each other without an interpreter, a tree stolen through deception and a crane obtained thanks to a bishop) only confirmed his worst suspicions. Several decades later, he still remembered it. For a handful of pesetas. ‘A Fistful of Dollars was not a high-risk project, but quite the opposite: it cost around $200,000, co-financed by Italy, Germany and Spain, and Eastwood (then a television actor with no relevant film credits) was paid $15,000. Sergio Leone did not even sign his name: in the credits he appears as “Bob Robertson.” Ennio Morricone, as “Dan Savio.” Why Spain. The choice of Spain was not an aesthetic whim. The Franco regime had been facilitating the presence of foreign productions in Spanish territorypartly because of the economic benefits and partly because the presence of international stars served to soften the external image of the dictatorship. And for the production companies it was a bargain: the costs were much lower than those in the United States, the army provided extras when necessary and the landscape of Almería (one of the poorest provinces in the country, with very high unemployment) functioned as a perfect substitute for the American West. A single hat. Conditions on the set were, to put it mildly, spartan. There was no electricity or trailers with basic services and Leone and Eastwood did not speak the same language (one Italian, the other English), so they communicated through specialist Benito Stefanelli. Filming was done completely without sound: this was added in post-production, and Eastwood did not dub his own voice into English until the film was released in the United States in 1967. Your own clothes. Eastwood himself explained in 2007 who arrived with his own wardrobe to the filming: the black jeans he had bought on Hollywood Boulevard, the boots he brought from the series ‘Rawhide’ and the hat he got in Santa Monica. They bought the poncho in Spain. And that hat, unique and irreplaceable, sums up the project’s production philosophy well: “If I lost it, it was finished. There was no way to replace it.” They don’t shut up, they don’t shut up. What caught the most attention, however, was not the material precariousness but the atmosphere: off-screen people were playing frisbeetold jokes, talked non-stop. “They were not used to the silence of a shoot, where sound is important,” he recalled. He ended up using the need to play his part in the middle of that revelry as an exercise in concentration. There is no tree. Decades after filming wrapped, Eastwood still remembered two anecdotes as if they had happened weeks before. The first happened when they needed a specific tree for a hanging scene, they couldn’t find a suitable one and the only one available was on private property. Leone counted that the technicians convinced the owner that the tree was dangerous. In the version that Eastwood told in 2007, the alibi was different: they introduced themselves as highway department workers. There is no crane. The second anecdote that Eastwood remembers is from the filming of another film, ‘Death Had a Price’. The team needed a crane that they couldn’t afford. A company near the filming location had one, but it was a religious holiday and that company could not work. Leone went to see the local bishop and explained that his company was Jewish and therefore not subject to the Catholic holiday, so the bishop gave him permission to work. With that permit in hand, he went to the company with the crane: they couldn’t use it that day, but the Italians could, and they lent them the material. In Xataka | The 25 best movies on HBO Max: a selection of masterpieces and modern classics brimming with the best cinema

With the discount of the MediaMarkt app we have several bargains

April 20, 2026 by usatoday24

New week, new MediaMarkt promo. Last week we had A very juicy Day without VATbut today is a bit different. On this occasion, in addition to offers for many devices, what we have is an additional 15% discount if we make the purchase through the MediaMarkt app, available in both Android as in iOS. Galaxy S25 Ultra (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links We have bargains on practically anything we can think of: phones, laptops, TVs, appliances and much more. We have made a selection of five specific offers that we find very interesting: Galaxy S25 Ultra by 1,138.15 eurosa device that is still highly recommended in 2026. ‘Pokémon Pokopia‘ by 57.79 eurosone of the best games of this year and exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2. Xiaomi TV Max 85 by 849.15 eurosan 85-inch QLED TV from the Chinese manufacturer. Dyson V12 Detect Slim Absolute by 424.15 eurosa great option if you are looking for a new upright vacuum cleaner. LG F4X1009NWK washing machine by 339.15 euroswith 9 kg capacity and 1,400 RPM. Galaxy S25 Ultra He Galaxy S25 Ultra It is still a very interesting phone in 2026, even though the Galaxy S26 Ultra. It has a 6.9-inch screen with QHD+ resolution, a Snapdragon 8 Elite that gives it top performance and a very versatile camera system that performs well in practically any scenario. We can get it for 1,138.15 euros if we make the purchase from the MediaMarkt app. Galaxy S25 Ultra (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Pokémon Pokopia One of the names in the world of video games this 2026 is ‘Pokémon Pokopia’, an exclusive title for Nintendo Switch 2. It is a title that moves away from other titles in this franchise and offers a different experience, more oriented towards adventure and puzzles. If you have this console, it cannot be missing from your collection (especially for 57.79 euros). The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi TV Max 85 Large televisions are becoming more and more fashionable and this one from Xiaomi currently presents a very good quality-price ratio. This is the Xiaomi TV Max in its 85-inch version, a QLED TV that, by using this technology, shows more vivid colors than conventional LED televisions. Plus, it supports Dolby Vision, HDR 10+, and has 144Hz, which is perfect for gaming. comes out for 849.15 euros. QLED TV 85″ – Xiaomi TV Max 85, QLED 4K, Smart TV with Google, 120-240Hz, Dolby Vision – Atmos, Dark Gray The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Dyson V12 Detect Slim Absolute One of Dyson’s best-selling vacuum cleaners, the V12 Detect Slim Absolute, is also included in this MediaMarkt promo. It has a suction power of up to 150 AW in its Boost mode and comes with a lot of different accessories, including a head with laser technology so that we can see the dirt on the floor well. comes out for 424.15 euros. Stick vacuum cleaner – Dyson V12 Detect™ Slim Absolute, 150 AW suction power, Smart and Lightweight, 60 min, LCD screen, Laser Technology The price could vary. We earn commission from these links LG F4X1009NWK washing machine We also have a very good option with this LG washing machine, model F4X1009NWK. It has a 9 kg capacity and is capable of spinning at 1,400 RPM, an option that is great to have so that our clothes come out drier from the washing machine. In addition, it has A energy efficiency, something that we will be grateful for on our electricity bill all year round. Costs 339.15 euros. Front loading washing machine – LG F4X1009NWK, 9 kg, 1400 rpm, 10 programs, AI Direct Drive™, ThinQ™, Ivory White The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Other offers from this MediaMarkt promo In addition to all the offers that we have left you above, we are going to do a very quick review of others that are also worth it: Western Digital 5TB External Hard Drive: 118.15 euros. SanDisk Extreme 1TB External SSD: 140.24 euros. JBL Tune 777 NC Wireless Headphones: 67.15 euros. JBL Bar 800 Sound Bar: 594.99 euros. Sony Bravia Theater Bar 8 Sound Bar: 645.15 euros. Haier 3D 60 Series 5 Refrigerator: 594.15 euros. Balay 3EB865ERS induction hob: 251.60 euros. Canon EOS R5 Camera: 2,787.15 euros. Nikon Z f camera: 1,869.15 euros. HP OmniBook 3 Laptop: 449.65 euros. Asus Vivobook 15 laptop: 492.15 euros. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 laptop: 509.15 euros. smartGyro K1 electric scooter: 390.15 euros. Segway ZT3 Pro E electric scooter: 551.65 euros. De’Longhi Rivelia super-automatic coffee machine: 602.65 euros. Cosori Iconic Single Chef Edition Air Fryer: 254.15 euros. Galaxy Watch7: 152.15 euros. Garmin vívoactive 6: 254.15 euros. Google Pixel 9a: 339.15 euros. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro: 254.15 euros. 100-inch Neo QLED QN8F: 2,379.15 euros. QNED LG 100 inch: 2,124.15 euros. ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder’ for Nintendo Switch 2: 62.89 euros. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | MediaMarkt, Samsung, Nintendo, Xiaomi, Dyson, LG In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes

We have been terrified of superbugs for decades. The real silent danger is “superfungi”

April 20, 2026 by usatoday24

When we talk about the antibiotic resistancemany people are already aware of the great problem that not having medications against superbacteria poses for public health, since today there are many antibiotics that have no effect on bacteria. But the WHO launch an alert very important to expand our field of vision also to the “super mushrooms“. Growing danger. If there is a protagonist in this new threat, it is Candida auris, precisely because, unlike other fungi that have been with us for centuries, this one has recently emerged as a global public health problem by causing serious infections, especially in people who are admitted to hospitals or nursing homes, who already have other associated diseases. A genomic macro-study in which the Carlos III Health Institute has participated analyzing more than 300 isolates from patients in 19 countries, has drawn the map of the evolution of this multi-resistant fungus. And the reality we face is that it is capable of spreading rapidly among fragile patients, and worst of all, it is very resistant to the anti-fungal drugs that we use on a daily basis. It is very complete. As experts point out, the enormous expansion of C. Auris is not only focused on the ability to evade the first-line antifungals that we have, but also on its ability to form biofilms on hospital surfaces or medical devices. This causes an object used by several patients to become ‘infected’ and spread the infection among them. It was suddenly. The reality is that today there are many fungi from the Candida family that coexist with us by being on our skin naturally, and without causing problems. The trigger comes when our defenses fall because we are sick, immunosuppressed due to a transplant or naturally because we are older. And this is where this fungus goes from being a being that lives with us ‘in peace’ to completely invading us and causing disease. The culprit. Paradoxically, our efforts to kill bacteria have part of the blamesince here the experts point to a structural problem of abuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics that “sweeps away” the natural bacterial flora of our body. In this way, if bacteria that colonize our digestive system are destroyed, for example, it creates free ‘holes’ that can be used by fungi without control. Added to this is a serious pharmacological problem, since right now we do not have many medications to fight fungi. And the problem is that its structure is quite similar to the surfaces of our own cells as it contains cholesterol in many cases. This means that drugs that destroy the fungus without producing a toxic effect on the patient are not very abundant. There is more. Although we focus on C. auris, there are other threats in this same kingdom, such as Scedosporium prolificansa multiresistant fungus that, through unique evasion mechanisms, causes very high mortality rates in immunosuppressed patients. The solution. Right now, science indicates that we cannot address the crisis of superfungi and superbacteria with patches, but rather we must create a unitary strategy that encompasses human, animal and ecosystem health. And right now the massive use of fungicides in agriculture causes the fungi in the environment to resist our medications that we use in the most serious patients. Images | Adrian Lange In Xataka | Faced with the need to look for weapons against superbacteria, science has opted to send viruses into space

The world will run out of memory for AI chips until 2027. And cell phones and cars are already paying the price

April 20, 2026 by usatoday24

The big bottleneck in the artificial intelligence industry has nothing to do with AI models, GPUs, or data centers. It has to do with memory, and for months we are immersed in a crisis of which now the manufacturers give us more information. Three companies—Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron—control 90% of global production, but current estimates indicate that between the three They can only cover about 60% of expected demand through 2027. That’s terrible news not only for AI, but also for everything non-AI. The era of memory scarcity. These three manufacturers have prioritized HBM production for AI accelerators because these memories leave better margins. The direct consequence is the shortage of DRAM memories, which are used in PCs and mobile phones, and since October 2025 we have seen how this market has skyrocketed in price. Betting everything on one segment has left the other dangerously neglected. Samsung will have new factories. According to indicate In Nikkei, Samsung plans to launch its fourth memory manufacturing plant in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in 2026, although mass production will not begin until 2027 or later. Furthermore, not only memories will be manufactured in that plant. There is a fifth plant under construction on that same technology campus, but it will be dedicated to HBM chips and will not begin operating until at least 2028. The South Korean giant has another ace up its sleeve: the United States. HBM to power. SK Hynix is the only one of the three that has a concrete supply improvement for 2026, because it has already started manufacturing HBM chips at its Cheongju plant in February. It is also accelerating construction of a plant in Yongin, near Seoul, with the goal of completing it by February 2027. Micron also asks for patience. Meanwhile, Micron, the American company, has the goal of starting production of HBM chips in Idaho and Singapore in 2027, and will build a factory in Hiroshima that will theoretically come into operation in 2028. It has also just purchased a plant in Taiwan from Powechip, but the chips that come out of it will not be available before the second half of 2027. This is not enough. The consulting firm Counterpoint Reserach estimates that in order to resolve the current DRAM crisis, an industry-wide production increase of 12% annually until 2027 would be required. However, current plans add up to a growth of 7.5%, which makes it clear that these expansions by these three manufacturers are not enough. For Counterpoint analysts, the consequence is clear: the balance between supply and demand will not be normalized until 2028. SK Hynix is already talking about supply limitations for AI chips could last until 2030, and the truth is that all the forecasts only confirm that this problem will still last for years. We consumers pay the price. Memory is an absolutely transversal product that is everywhere. 80-90% of current memory chips go to computers, mobile phones and servers, and the rest to cars and industrial equipment. The most direct impact is already in the mobile market entry-level: memory already represented 20% of the manufacturing bill for one of these smartphones, but that figure is expected to reach 40% by mid-2026. That gives manufacturers few (or no) options, which will impact that cost on the price of these devices. And so with everything. IDC esteem that mobile sales will fall by 13% in 2026 due to this circumstance. The danger of cycles. The memory industry has a history of cycles in which the rise and fall of memory prices is traditional. In 2023 there was a collapse in prices after post-pandemic demand for PCs faded. Several manufacturers recorded historic losses, and learned the lesson of overproducing to meet demand. Now that we need more production, manufacturers are being much more cautious when it comes to increasing their production or investing in new factories. For them, by the way, the crisis is going great: Samsung has earned in three months of 2026 what it earned in all of 2025. China to the rescue. Although South Korea and the United States dominate global memory production, there are several Chinese manufacturers that are gradually gaining relevance. YMTC and CXMT They have been growing significantly in production for some time and that is making now have a golden opportunity to gain market share over competitors that they seemed unattainable. Image | Liam Briese In Xataka | The situation with RAM prices is so desperate that there are already those who build their own memory at home

They prefer to quadruple loans to their suppliers

April 20, 2026 by usatoday24

Juan Roig has been climbing steps in the list of greatest fortunes in Spain. However, he has been earning exactly the same amount as executive president of Mercadona for three years. Specifically, 12 million gross euros per year. A figure that, on paper, sounds stratospheric, but is more modest than it seems when compared to what they charge. other great businessmen in charge of companies from the likes of Mercadona. What has changed this year are the movements he has made with that money. Because beyond the salary, the Mercadona accounts reveal a striking decision regarding their suppliers. A stable salary, brutal taxation. The 12 million gross euros that Roig received in 2025 are divided into two tranches: 11 million as sole administrator of Inmo-Alameda, your patrimonial company which controls 50.6% of Mercadona, and the remaining million as responsible for the chain itself. Once withholding is applied Personal income tax of 54%, That remuneration remains at 5.5 million net. However, it is not common for a CEO or president to receive this compensation in full as an annual salary and not broken down into different bonuses that could reduce their tax bill. The comparison with other large shareholders and founders is revealing. Marta Ortega, president of Inditex, received one million euros as a salary in 2025, complemented by company shares. Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander, received a salary of 3.43 million euros in 2025, to which are added a short-term variable of 3.09 million and another long-term variable of 1.77 million. In addition, it is complemented with contributions to his pension plan and bonus in the form of shares of the entity he presides over. In total, some 18.5 million euros. If we go to the other side of the Atlantic, Mark Zuckerberg at Meta and Elon Musk at Tesla are assigned a symbolic salary of one dollar and articulate their real compensation through millionaire stock option bonuseswhose taxation is lower than that of an ordinary salary. The key difference between these CEOs and Juan Roig is that Mercadona is not listed on the stock market, which prevents it from resorting to that mechanism: the money comes directly from salary and dividend. More loans must be given: the cost of Store 9. Mercadona is transforming your supermarkets with a new model called Store 9that rearrange the fresco sections and completely redefines how the fishmonger works. Traditional counters they will lose space in favor of tray lines, and the entire section will be centralized in a single point in the establishment. The problem is that this change is not only faced by Mercadona, but its suppliers also need to industrialize their processes to be able to serve the product under the new conditions. And that costs money. That’s where the financing comes in. The loans that Mercadona grants to its suppliers They went from 41 to 171 million euros between 2024 and 2025, quadrupling their volume in a single year. The chain itself has recognized that this increase responds to financial support lent to its suppliers specialized in fish so that they can face the conversion and keep up with Mercadona towards its new supermarket concept. The Roig Arena: 400 million at a time. According to published The EconomistInmo-Alameda’s accounts closed 2025 with a consolidated result of 1,277 million euros, 4% less than the previous year. The main cause is in the decision to account for the 400 million invested in the Roig Arena in a single exercise, which generated a negative result of equivalent magnitude. The logic behind the movement is to take the hit once and for all so that the pavilion can operate from scratch, without carrying the debt of its construction. The venue, inaugurated in September 2025, generated 11 million euros in its first months of activity, and estimates point to an annual economic impact of 150 million thanks to concerts, sporting and cultural events. Outside the Arena, Roig allocated a total of 220 million in 2025 from his net salary and dividends to initiatives such as the business school Navy CompaniesValencia Basket and the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, within the Legacy Project which has been promoted since 2012 by Juan Roig and Hortensia Herrero. In Xataka | The average salary of Ibex 35 managers has grown by 172% in two decades: the purchasing power of its employees, not so much Image | Mercadona

The flying experience has changed. Airbus thinks it can take it much further with a double bed, bathroom and bar

April 20, 2026 by usatoday24

For years, flying has been an experience increasingly split in two. While the economy class has been adjusting space and services, the highest part of the plane has become the terrain where airlines and manufacturers try to mark distances with increasingly exclusive proposals. What we have seen now fits squarely into that logic: Airbus has taken advantage of the Aircraft Interiors Expo 2026 to show how far you think you can stretch that idea in your A350-1000the model with which he wants to take first class to an even more ambitious level. The European manufacturer has set the direction of its cabins for the coming years quite clearly. In the center there is a “Master Suite” for two passengers, located between the two corridors at the front and designed as the most exclusive space of the entire complex. According to Airbus, there would be access to its own bathroom, a changing area, a bar and a double bed. A series of elements and comforts of a much higher level. Of course, it is important not to lose sight of the important nuance: we are not facing an already closed cabin for an airline, but rather a concept whose development has just started. How Airbus wants to remake the A350-1000 first class To make room for this new first class, Airbus has not limited itself to drawing a larger suite within the already existing space. What it proposes is a deeper reorganization of the area located between doors 1 and 2, making the most of that part of the plane to dedicate more surface area for higher category passengers. According to the company, elements that previously took up space in the main cabin, such as sinks or storage areas, would move to a new central module placed just behind door 1, in front of the cockpit door. Access to the crew rest area would also be moved there, with the idea of reducing inconvenience and gaining privacy. That Airbus has chosen this model to develop the idea does not seem coincidental. We are talking about the largest member of the A350 family, a version that, according to the company itself, is seven meters longer than the -900 variant and can accommodate up to 40 more passengers. In its commercial sheet, Airbus presents it as its reference model in the large fuselage market and ensures that it offers 40% more surface area for premium category seats. Added to this is another argument that fits well with this proposal: high ceilings, a spacious cabin and interior proportions with which the manufacturer believes it can further reinforce the feeling of space. Behind all this there is also a fairly clear commercial reading. Airbus maintains that it already there are 10 clients that have chosen first class cabins for their A350s and adds that around five airlines are currently in the customization phase, so they could study incorporating parts of this concept. So everything seems to indicate that the calendar is moving in the long term: Airbus places the possible entry into service of the first elements around 2030. What Airbus wanted to do here goes beyond showing a striking suite or a conceptual fair image. It also lets us see where the company believes the most exclusive part of the cabin can evolve, with more space, more privacy and an even more differentiated service offering. Still, between that vision and a plane operating passengers there is quite a way to go. For now we are dealing with an idea in development, but an idea that helps understand how Airbus wants to strengthen its more premium proposal in the coming years. Images | Airbus In Xataka | Commercial aviation is based on very old aircraft. The Iran war is going to make it even worse

is turning old mines into lakes

April 19, 2026 by usatoday24

The energy transition has a hidden side that often remains in the background: it is not only saying goodbye to fossil fuels but also thinking about what to do with these degraded lands after years of extractive activity. The mines. Leaving these exploited lands to their fate is a waste in every sense. Germany knows this and has promoted the largest landscape intervention in Europe: the Lusatian Lake District. You can see it better in the photo that illustrates this article: the before and after: what began as a network of huge open-pit coal mines is being transformed into a complex system of more than 20 interconnected artificial lakes, a true vacation paradise for sailing or taking a bike ride. In fact, You can now book a getaway over there. The project. Between Berlin and Dresden, Germany is transforming one of the most degraded landscapes in Europe into the largest system of artificial lakes on the continent: Lausitzer Seenland. This is a conversion project of old open pit lignite mines in a network of 23 lakes that occupy 13,600 hectaresten of them connected by navigable canals forming a continuous area of 7,000 hectares. The state-owned company LMBV Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbau-Verwaltungsgesellschaft) oversees the technical execution, which includes the creation of tourism infrastructure, such as beaches, ports, cycling and camping areas, along with state-of-the-art facilities. The process is long and need a lot of money: Going from a mine to a long-term safe lake costs between 200 and 600 million euros and in Lusatia alone it has already cost 7 billion euros. Why is it important. This project represents the largest environmental restoration effort of post-mining landscapes in Europe and constitutes a relevant case study for the rehabilitation of degraded areas. As collect this analysis from the German Federal Environment Agency, 19 of these lakes have already achieved good/high ecological potential. That is, recovery is possible. Beyond ecological recovery, the lakes also fulfill water management functions: during 2018, more than 62 million cubic meters were released from the lakes to raise low levels of the Spree and Schwarze Elster rivers during drought, such as collect the local media Niederlausitz Aktuell. The project also has significant socioeconomic implications: the government has destined 40,000 million euros to promote this transition from mining in the eastern coal regions towards other vectors such as sustainable tourism. Context. At the time of the German Democratic Republic were extracted more than 2,000 million tons of lignite from depths greater than 60 meters, leaving enormous craters in the landscape. Lusatia was the country’s gasoline: in 1989, lignite production there reached 195.1 million tons. In total, open pit mining of lignite has devastated 179,490 hectares in Germany. German reunification in 1990 marked a before and after. The fall in energy demand and that the Federal Environment Agency will classify it Since lignite is the most polluting fossil fuel, it brought about a progressive dismantling of its mining. During the 1990s the LMBV was tasked with restoring 19 open pit mining areas in Lusatia. As explains Dr. Uwe Steinhuber of LMBV, it will take at least two generations to complete it. How they do it. The rehabilitation of Lusatia is supported by geotechnical stabilization and active hydrological control, such as collects LMBV in this report. To transform mining craters into safe lakes, it applies deep vibration compaction techniques that prevent liquefaction of sandy soil, while accelerating filling through controlled diversion of flows from the Spree River. The process is monitored by the Copernicus satellite, which detects ground movements. Water chemistry is the other great technical challenge in that the oxidation of pyrite causes extreme acidification such as documents the Canadian Journal of Soil Science. To neutralize it, they use treatment plants and ships, which allows them to reach the quality standards of the Federal Environment Agency. Yes, but. We have already seen that the calendar is long and the budget astronomical, but LMBV warns that still remains: at the moment they have invested 7,000 million euros, but the total cost of the project (which includes other regions) amounts to 13,800 million. The entire process will end in this decade, but it will be necessary to apply surveillance in the coming generations, both for contaminants and the geological stability of the area. Despite all efforts, rehabilitation is far from ideal: of the 36 lakes assessed by the Federal Environment Agency (which includes other lakes outside the tourist district), 12 they got “moderate” classification due to mercury or endocrine disrupting compounds such as tributyltin and one presented “poor” status due to excess nutrients. There is scientific evidence which support that mining soils present severe physical, chemical and biological limitations that make complete ecological restoration difficult. In Xataka | Germany has had a crazy idea to solve one of the problems of renewables: covering a lake with solar panels In Xataka | A mining company believes that under the soil of La Mancha there is a “Gold” of rare earths. And at the moment they won’t let him take it out Cover | Tourismusverband Lausitzer Seenland (Steffen Rasche)

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