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Nvidia has just presented the definitive chip against Intel and AMD. There is a problem: Windows

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The Nvidia processor for PC is the “the wolf is coming” of consumer technology. The company has been the reference for years in GPUs for gamers and flirted with SoCs thanks to the Tegra chips (which are what give life to both nintendo switch like to nintendo switch 2), but for computers they still couldn’t find a way to get equipment with 100% Nvidia guts. That just changed with the presentation of RTX Spark chips. It is a SoC that directly attacks the binomial Windows PC = Intel or AMD CPUone that is positioned as the alternative to those traditional options and that is specifically designed to compete for the heart of the consumer PC. Specifically, for laptops. Now, although Microsoft and Nvidia have been generating excitement for a few days and pointing out that it is the new era of the PC, there is a problem. Windows. The brake is no longer silicon, it could be Windows The theory is very interesting. RTX Spark combines a CPU Grace up to 20 cores that it has developed together with MediaTek (this is curious) with an RTX Blackwell GPU with 6,144 cores. TSMC (how could it not be otherwise) has given life to chip in a 3 nanometer lithography. Not only is it powerful, but it has up to 128 GB of unified memory (the same design that we see in Apple Silicon) and an interface NVLink which allows communication between RAM, CPU and GPU to be very, very fast. Nvidia talks about rendering heavy 3D scenes on laptops, running models with 120 billion parameters, and at the same time running games at 1,440p above 100 FPS with DLSS and ray tracing. The best? That Jensen Huang stood out at the Computex conference showing this in very thin and light laptops. It is the same strategy that Qualcomm follows. own Microsoft has already presented a Surface with RTX Spark and it is an architecture that makes a lot of sense in the universe of current light but powerful laptops… and also in desktop computers like a mac mini or of a mac studio. And, compared to the more traditional PC industry, the GPU is estimated to be in the range of a RTX 5070 for laptops. In the absence of testing it, it is undeniable that it looks good and that, although there are data that are not so favorable (such as bandwidth when compared to the most powerful Apple), it is a good addition to a segment in which, if we left the Intel/AMD duo, the only one that was trying was Qualcomm with devices like the Snapdragon X Elite. And there is the key: RTX Spark, like Qualcomm chips, is focused on being the heart of a Windows that is at its brightest. Because RTX Spark is a chip with ARM architecture and, although in office tasks Windows ARM It moves well, under more demanding tasks is when it begins to not be up to par. Microsoft’s system, which they themselves know is not at its best level of popularity due to the whole issue of AI features, has many shortcomings in its ARM version when it comes to gaming, precisely what Nvidia is promoting. It is also not the best optimized on laptop computers, something that is being seen with type machines. Steam Deck. The heart of the new Surface We are seeing it in recent years with PC-console asus, MSI either Lenovo: The hardware is good, but Windows drags down the experience significantly. The paradox is that the Steam Deck, being the least capable on paper, is usually more recommended precisely because it avoids Windows and relies on a system much more fine-tuned for that format. With RTX Spark, the two companies say they have been working for a long time to solve those problems and make this time, Windows on an ARM chip feel different with support for games with anticheat and native for personal agents. We will see in practice what ends up arriving, but two things are clear here. The first is that Microsoft gains aggressive hardware to compete face to face against Apple in the field of very powerful laptops with long battery life. The second is that Qualcomm is no longer alone in that corral and now it will be very interesting to see what hardware it responds with. Because Nvidia already has the chip, the CUDA ecosystem and agreements with all manufacturers, as well as the support of the giant TSMC. The “weak” link, therefore, is not silicon, it is a Windows on ARM that has improved a lot in recent yearsbut that is the element that will have the most to prove. In Xataka | Graphic muscle for Windows and a slam of the door on Android: the exclusivity toll that Nvidia demands with its new ARM architecture

“It’s probably not your mother.” Google has set out to end deepfakes in calls once and for all

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Google has just given a twist to its system for detecting possible fraudulent calls, focusing on one of the most current problems related to them: identity theft using deepfakes. Through an update to the Phone app, all devices with Android 12 and above will be safer than ever starting this month. The problem. Despite the efforts of both operators and the Government itself, in Spain More than 135 million calls were blocked and five million SMS with fraudulent intentions. Globally, about 30% of these calls have fraudulent intent They were deepfakes. According to data from the March 2026 Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment According to Interpol, the impersonation fraud led to more than 400 billion losses. How they achieve it. The scammers, as Google explains on its blogare able to spoof the phone number by routing calls through software. In other words, it is relatively easy to impersonate another person’s phone number and, when they call us, it appears as a sender that we have saved. If they manage to clone the voice using artificial intelligence, the result can be disastrous, since it is practically indistinguishable from reality. The new. Starting this month, the Google Phone app will be updated with automatic spoofing detection. It is an addition to the detection of SPAM which we already had, capable of detecting deepfakes in an advanced way. When a contact calls us and the Phone app is being used, the sending mobile phone sends a signal to our phone via RCS. So that? To verify that the call is coming from that contact’s legitimate device, and not from a scammer who has spoofed the phone number. That is to say: even if someone manages to copy a number and impersonate it, the additional authentication that Google requires when making the call cannot be replicated. How will we know. The feature will arrive globally in the Google Phone app and, in the event that a fraudulent call is detected, we will see a “it may not be X person” notice. If we decide to take it, it will be our responsibility. The curious thing is that, on the call screen, the impersonated contact will continue to appear. The main limitation of this function is that it depends on whether we use, yes or no, the Google Phone app. In other words, if they call us from iOS or using another application, this additional verification system is not required. In Xataka | Record spam calls to report: what the Spanish Data Protection Agency allows and how to do it

There is a division of Xiaomi that no one pays attention to. It is exactly the one that is paying for the party of mobile phones, AI and cars

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Xiaomi is no longer just a smartphone company; It is a conglomerate of four large divisions that support and feed each other to compete in an increasingly aggressive market. The surprise is that financially the division that generates the least attention is the one that is paying for the other three. The results for the first quarter of 2026 They make it clear: boring business is pure profit. Four companies in oneto. Xiaomi’s current structure settles in four large pillars that are also notably different from each other. Smartphones with the brand that ended up becoming popular globally remain critical to preserving the user base. Then there are internet services (advertising, Mi Cloud), which complete the Apple-style mobile ecosystem. The electric car and AI make up another pillar that fascinates and demonstrates the firm’s ambition in these new areas. And finally there is the IoT division, which a priori seems the least notable, but is much more so than anyone would think. Services, services, services. As we said, mobile phones are Xiaomi’s hallmark, but its profitability comes hand in hand with internet services, which operate with an astonishing gross profit margin of 76.1%. As with Apple, here Xiaomi takes advantage of its almost 750 million active users with advertising, subscriptions and cloud services integrated into its HyperOS mobile operating system. It is a profitable vicious circle: IoT and mobile phones are Trojan horses that manage to put the user into a digital ecosystem in which they end up spending money. Blessed IoT. And despite the fact that it receives less media attention, the gross margin of the IoT division reached a spectacular 25.2% in the first quarter of 2026 according to the company’s financial results. This number is much higher than the 10.1% generated by smartphones, which have logically been punished by the memory crisis. In fact, the gross profit of the IoT division has been 6.2 billion RMB, much higher than the 4.5 billion of the mobile division. The latter bills much more, but it does not shine as much in those gross profits. Refrigerators triumph. The president of Xiaomi’s IoT division, Lu Weibing, explained that the role of this business is key in the Xiaomi group, because it is “a very important balancer” against the impact of the increase in memory costs in the rest of the divisions. Company officials expect this “cost supercycle” (or in other words, the memory crisis) to last until 2028, and that will continue to complicate the mobile division’s margins. Sell ​​less, but more expensive. The escalation of component costs has made Xiaomi make a drastic decision: sell less, but more expensive. The distributed smartphone units they fell 19.2%, but its average selling price reached a record figure of 1,310 RMB, 8% more than in the same quarter of 2025. Xiaomi has a 23.5% share of premium smartphones in mainland China, and makes it clear that the focus is now on super high-end mobile phones. “Premiumization” of the home. The strategy of selling more expensive is also being applied notably in the IoT division, which includes household appliancesand which has also adopted a “premiumization” strategy. Instead of just distributing third-party products, the company is developing its own high-end air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines. This has allowed IoT gross margin to rise 5.1 percentage points in just one quarter. AI price war. The launch of its own AI model, MiMoit was already a surprise, but these days the firm has announced that cut the prices of its API by up to 99% (there are technical arguments) in order to compete with rivals like DeepSeek. This model is at the level of the best Chinese open models, but the company itself has not yet achieved the objectives they seek. As with other AI startups, the costs are massive, so this division of Xiaomi depends on the cash flow generated by the rest of the businesses. Cars impress, but they lose money. The division that brings together electric cars and AI did not have a good quarter and lost 3.1 billion RMB. The new Xiaomi Su 7 has been a success in number of reservations (80,000), but operating expenses for this part of the business have risen 45.8%, too much to be offset by the revenue growth of this division. Xiaomi is the new Samsung. Xiaomi He was born looking very similar (or aspiring to be very similar) to Apple, but currently its structure and strategy are much more similar to that of Samsung. Its advantage is that it currently has an ecosystem with more than 1.1 billion IoT devices that allow it to grow and invest in cars, AI or mobile phones. The problem is what happens if the cushion provided by the benefits of the IoT division deflates. In Xataka | Leica is teaching Xiaomi everything it knows: when the student no longer needs the teacher, the agreement will have fulfilled its function

We will run out of space on dry land one day. So Spain is already putting solar panels into the sea

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Filling the field with solar panels has a physical limit. It is very likely that, while reading this, you have heard the debate that in our landscapes there are beginning to be more panels than crops. Faced with this growing land saturation, the alternative is already floating in the water: The San Enrique de Vigo Shipyard has just launched the first floating marine solar platform with purely Spanish technology. Named “Paiporta”—a tribute to the victims of the deadly DANA in Valencia in October 2024—this pioneering modular structure marks an industrial milestone. Its destiny is not to stay in the Galician estuary, but to be towed in the coming weeks to the Valencian coast to undergo its final test: validate its operability and generate electricity in the open sea. The sea as a technological ally. The saline and hostile environment of the sea offers conditions that multiply the efficiency of the panels. Traditional solar panels lose efficiency when they reach high temperatures. However, in these floating installations, seawater acts as a powerful natural coolant. By heating up less, the panels perform more and are capable of producing more electricity than their twins installed on the ground or on roofs. Added to this cooling effect is an intelligent design decision. Those responsible for the project They detail that the panels installed on the platform they use bifacial technology. This means that the installation not only absorbs direct solar radiation falling from the sky, but is also capable of capturing and generating energy from light bouncing off the sea surface. In the near future, they are expected to operate jointly with offshore wind farms (offshore), sharing evacuation infrastructure and maximizing the amount of clean energy that can be extracted from the same ocean coordinate. Mass-produced photovoltaic catamarans. The “how” is as important as the “what.” PV-bos (PhotoVoltaic-BlueNewables Offshore Solutions) technology has not been conceived to create unique and artisanal prototypes, but to revolutionize the assembly line. The project – called Renovar – pursues the development of platforms manufactured through industrialized and modular processes, directly inspired by mass manufacturing models. The objective is clear: reduce costs, cut production times and make photovoltaics offshore be competitive at a global level. To achieve this, the technological solution is based on an innovative catamaran-type design, specifically optimized to withstand harsh ocean conditions. This format allows the plates to be raised to a safe height above sea level, which not only improves energy performance, but also greatly facilitates maintenance work. The overall project contemplates a floating system of one megawatt of total power, divided into two PV-bos units of five hundred kilowatts each. Bringing this steel and silicon giant to the water was no easy task. From BlueNewables They explain that the launching It required a complex tandem lifting maneuver, using the emblematic and colossal cranes of the Vigo shipyard to place the structure with millimeter precision on the estuary. The industrial muscle. Behind this technological advance there is a powerful business and institutional alliance. The initiative combines the vast experience in marine structures of Astilleros San Enrique (belonging to the Meridional Group), the technological specialization of the Canarian engineering BlueNewables, and the technical collaboration of Soermar (Society for the Study of Maritime Resources). In addition, the project has the strong financial support of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, and the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) through its RENMARINAS program. On the other hand, it is a breath of fresh air and an opportunity for reinvention for the naval industry. José Luis Torres, general director of the San Enrique Shipyard, emphasizes that this success demonstrates the capacity of the traditional Spanish naval sector to lead cutting-edge developments. Far from remaining anchored in the construction of conventional ships, shipyards demonstrate that they can compete at the highest international level in the new markets opened by the energy transition. Next station: open sea. With the “Paiporta” now afloat, the Spanish industry sends a clear message to the world. In the words of Bernardino Couñagoco-founder and CEO of BlueNewables, this launch places his company “among the world leaders in the marine floating solar sector” and clearly demonstrates the enormous “industrial and technological capabilities that exist in Galicia and Spain to lead innovative energy solutions at an international level.” But the work is not finished. This successful maneuver in Vigo is just a decisive step. Now, the platform leaves behind the safety of the manufacturing phase in the shipyard to head towards the final stages: commissioning, connection and monitoring. When the “Paiporta” reaches the coasts of Valencia, it will have to demonstrate that the engineers’ mathematics can withstand the onslaught of waves and salt. The limit of the earth has already been surpassed; Now it’s time to conquer the horizon. Image | Bluenewables Xataka | Many towns oppose wind farms. In Euskadi they want to solve it the hard way: giving them 7% of their profits

Someone has created the website “is AI profitable anymore?” to answer the question of our time in real time

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There is a website called “Is AI Profitable Yet?” whose sole mission is to answer one of the most important—and most uncomfortable—questions of today’s technology industry: does artificial intelligence make money anymore? The visual response It is absolutely forceful: The short answer is a priori a big NO, but be careful, because that answer is in a certain sense misleading. The graph effectively shows how the companies that are building frontier models are burning money like there’s no tomorrowand they all spend much more than they earn. The four that appear with long red bars (expenses) and very short green bars (income) are precisely the companies that are betting almost everything on the future of AI. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta They have not stopped increasing their capex (capital expenditures) in recent years, and that logically means that their accounts are in the red. In fact, the announcements of these “hyperscalers” in their latest financial results have not only failed to soften that capex, but have driven it even further. The combined capex of these technology companies by 2026 is expected to amount to $725 billion, 25% of all world military spending. But the message of “everyone is losing money” is dangerous, because what all these companies are doing is investing in your future although when doing so they are running out of cash flow. There are two clear examples that can alert us. Companies are spending so much on AI infrastructure that they are running out of cash flow. It’s a dangerous bet. Source: Financial Times. The first is Amazon, which did not stop losing (investing) money for years and then became the giant it is today. The second, Uber, a company to which the same thing happened: it lost (invested) money for a decade, and although it does not have the size or success of Amazon, today it is an absolute world leader in its segment. That leaves us with a clear message: Not being profitable by investing in your future is not the same as not being clear about the economic model.. And all these companies are very clear about the economic model of AI: it is to invest today to earn (a lot) tomorrow. Nvidia is the big winner, but not the only one The great irony of AI is that for now the big business does not seem to be in AI, but in selling infrastructure to those who try to do business with it. It is the same thing that happened during the gold rush in the mid-19th century in California: Those who amassed stable fortunes were not the miners who searched for goldbut those who provided them with services and tools. There are several well-known examples: Levi Strauss saw the need of tough clothing, Samuel Brannan bought all the shovels, picks and pans he could in the area, and Henry Wells and William Fargo founded the famous postal and financial services company that allowed money and supplies to be sent safely to gold seekers. Nvidia is basically doing that: (making and) selling shovels. This has caused absolutely extraordinary growth in the stock market, and in the last three years it has become the most valuable company in the world and has not stopped breaking market capitalization records. Here it must be clarified that the estimates on that website are striking, but they do not mean that these companies are in any way bankrupt. Google/Alphabet continues to make billions of dollars every quarter, and the same goes for its rivals. All those red bars don’t mean that AI is smoke: just that we’re footing the bill for the experiment. One that could go wrong, of course, but one that could also go really, really right. The phrase that best sums up this “AI fever” is what Mark Zuckerberg said a few months ago: “We’re going to invest aggressively. Even if we lost a couple hundred billion dollars it would be a bummer, but it’s better than being left behind in the race for superintelligence.” Neither Zuckerberg nor his rivals seem upset about losing $200 billion right off the bat. They certainly do not seem to wrinkle despite the fact that at the moment there is a reality on the market: AI already works technically, but What it doesn’t do is function economically. for those who invest in frontier models. Here, however, there are a couple of notable notes. The first, the fact of Anthropic apparently expects to end the quarter making moneysomething unusual and promising. The second, that this website only shows Nvidia as the winner of this AI race, but that company is by no means the only one that has managed to make gold with this technological fever. The growth of stock market memory manufacturers is extraordinary. In just one year they have multiplied their market capitalizations by up to 11. Source: Reuters. In fact, we are seeing how a large number of technology companies have grown extraordinary in recent months thanks to the demand for hardware and components such as memories. Micron. SK Hynix and Samsung are the big beneficiaries of this situation, but they are not the only ones either. These days we have seen how PC manufacturers barely grow in income from those PCs, but they are doing it with the servers. There are more winners. There are photolithography equipment manufacturers such as ASML or Applied Materials, but also electrical, liquid cooling, networking, storage companies, and of course companies specialized in data center construction. This website answers the question in a very limited way, because the AI ​​segment is not only the one in which OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, xAI or Google operate. What is happening is simply that the big business of AI is currently not where everyone thinks. AI is being very profitable. The problem is that perhaps we are looking in the wrong place. In Xataka | The problem is not spending a lot of tokens, it’s that most of them are being wasted

This ice cream, sorbet or slushie maker is perfect for small kitchens. And it doesn’t reach 100 euros

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I don’t know about your community, but here in Andalusia it is already terribly hot. Fighting it with water or any cold soft drink is fine, but much better with an ice cream or slushy. If you are one of those who prefers to make it at home and not have to go buy it on the street, you can have it much easier with this refrigerator that our TikTok colleagues have found on AliExpress: it remains in just 98.35 euros with the coupon ‘XATAKAES10‘. Teendow KF-2501U1 Ice Cream Maker with 8 Preset Programs, Self-Cleaning Function, Blend and Swirl Functions, Countertop Model for Home The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A refrigerator with 8 different functions and easy to clean @xataka.seleccion I’m already an adult and I can buy the refrigerator I always wanted 😭 Taking advantage of the AliExpress Summer Sale (until June 10), I found this: 🍦 Teendow Refrigerator 👉🏼 8 programs to make: ice cream, sorbets, frozen yogurt, slushies and more 📲 Super easy-to-use front panel (with drawings included 😌) ✨ Function for creamier textures 🧼 dishwasher-safe pieces 📖 includes recipe book 💸 Price: €108 👉🏼 with the code XATAKAES10 it stays at €95 💥 And be careful, because there are MANY more offers in the Summer Sale 🔗 Links in bio #Aliexpress #Bargains #Summer #Ice Cream #Offers ♬ original sound – Xataka Selección Being able to make ice cream, slushies or sorbets at home is not only convenient and healthier, but it also allows you choose the flavor (or flavors) that you most fancy at that moment. Almost certainly at some point in your childhood you have dreamed of being able to do this yourself and with a refrigerator like this one from the Tendow brand you can do it (without spending too much, too). This refrigerator, called Teendow KF-2501U1, is a fairly compact appliance that will not take up much space in the kitchen. It has 8 different functions and, also, very intuitive to use: each one has a small drawing of its usefulness. In addition, it has another different function for cleaning and its parts are dishwasher safe, which is always very useful. It comes with three different ice cream cups, which is very useful for storing our desserts. And, by the way, includes a recipe book that will help us get ideas to prepare drinks or ice creams this summer. 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 | Aliexpress, American Heritage Chocolate In Xataka | American refrigerator or 70 cm Combi? Be careful with making mistakes when buying liters that you may not be able to use In Xataka | 1200 vs. 1400/1600 RPM in washing machines: is it worth paying extra to spin faster?

China is very clear about how to win the technology race over the rest of the world: with tons of public money

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China has insisted on be the first world power. This declaration of intentions can be as empty as every January 1st when I say that this year I will begin to wake up at six in the morning to go out for a run, or the opposite can happen: they put all the means at their disposal to achieve it. In the case of the Asian giant, what is happening is the second. The Five-Year Plan is the roadmap that the Government sets every five years and that indicates the direction they should follow both public institutions and private companies to achieve the country’s objective. And with a defined objective, there is only one pending issue: the question of financing. And, in the case of China, that translates into a government impulse that other countries do not have. A competition at two speeds OECD stands for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It is made up of 38 States, including North Americans, some South Americans, many Europeans, Australia and Japan.

The US had a ship with 2,000 marines ready to invade Iran. Now he has sent it right to the place where China worries the most

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An image that is still studied in military academies occurred in 1942, when during the call Battle of Midway The Americans managed to sink four Japanese aircraft carriers in just a few hours. That battle showed that, in the Pacific, moving a handful of ships to the right place could upset the strategic balance of an entire region, a lesson that continues to influence American naval planning more than eight decades later. A movement and what it reveals. For weeks there was speculation that the United States would expand its confrontation with Iran through more aggressive operations on the ground in the Persian Gulf. However, one of the most significant military moves has occurred far from the Middle East. He USS Boxeran amphibious assault ship capable of landing troops, vehicles and combat aircraft has abandoned any potential role in a ground operation against Iran and has set course to the South China Sea. On board is the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, some 2,000 troops specialized in rapid interventions and amphibious assaults. The decision suggests that Washington considers that the main strategic challenge today is not in Tehran, but in the growing rivalry with China. From the Gulf to the China Sea. When the Boxer left San Diego In March, in the midst of the crisis with Iran, many interpreted its deployment as a way to keep open the option of carrying out limited landings or capturing strategic objectives if the conflict escalated. However, after a logistics stopover in Singapore and a transit through the Andaman Sea, the ship has reappeared in the South China Sea integrated into the Indo-Pacific Command structure. It is a platform comparable in concept to the Juan Carlos I Spanish, capable of operating landing craft, amphibious vehicles, helicopters and F-35 fighters, allowing it to act as both a light aircraft carrier and a ground intervention force. What changes for Iran. The boxer exit It further reduces the chances of a US amphibious operation against Iranian targets. While the USS Tripoli continues in the region performing functions focused on air strikes and naval support, Washington seems to be betting on a strategy based on blockades, precision bombings and economic pressure, avoiding committing troops on the ground. The decision can be interpreted as a partial military de-escalation, although it also reflects a simpler reality: the United States believes it can contain Iran without deploying significant amphibious forces, while competition with China requires a constant presence and visible in Asia. The concern of Asian allies. Reuters counted that the issue was very present in the Singapore Shangri-La Dialoguewhere numerous Asian defense officials expressed doubts about whether the United States will be able to simultaneously maintain its focus on the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. Although Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth insisted in which Washington can manage both scenarios at the same time, countries such as the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand they are reinforcing their military capabilities and deepening their mutual ties to complement the American security umbrella. The goal is to build a stronger regional network in the face of growing pressure from Beijing. Japan and the new security architecture. Japan is becoming one of the pillars of that strategy. Tokyo has made more flexible historically its arms export rules and aspires to act as a connection point between the different partners in the region. The idea is that deterrence against China do not depend exclusively of the United States, but of an increasingly integrated network of countries capable of sharing equipment, training and military cooperation. This shift reflects the extent to which the perception of China’s military rise is transforming Asian security policy. The center of gravity of global competition. The arrival of the Boxer coincides with intense military activity in the Indo-Pacific. The USS George Washington aircraft carrier has started new patrols from Japan, while the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning operates in the Western Pacific under surveillance of neighboring countries. In this context, the deployment of a US amphibious force in the South China Sea has a strong symbolic and operational value. Because beyond the crisis with Iran, the Boxer’s journey summarizes an increasingly evident trend: although the Middle East continues to generate immediate conflicts, the great strategic competition that defines Washington’s priorities is being fought in Asia and, especially, in the face of the rise of China. Image | US Navy In Xataka | China has resurrected the strangest concept of the Cold War: a plane, a ship and a missile launcher in one machine In Xataka | Something is happening over the skies of Chile: the US and China are fighting their particular “cold war” in silence

university courses dedicated to rare earths

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The West is clear about breaking China’s dominance over the rare earth. But the challenge is not only that, but that Beijing has been cultivating a pool of specialists for decades trained since university. And according to a Reuters investigationthe country has built an entire educational ecosystem dedicated to these critical minerals. What is happening. Every year, several hundred young Chinese study university degrees focused specifically on rare earths, the 17 elements that power many of the advanced devices and technology of our time, from jet engines to electric cars to wind turbines and much more. Reuters identified at least 11 universities and technical centers that offer these degrees, with more than 500 students enrolled per year, in addition to more than 40 specialized laboratories spread throughout the country. Outside of China, according to the same media, there is no center that offers a specific university degree in rare earths. Why it is important. China processes more than 90% of rare earths refined and of the magnets of the world. And apart from mines and factories, people are also needed who know how to extract and separate elements of almost identical chemistry, a technically complex and expensive process. And the advantage of Beijing, in addition to geological and industrial, is that it also has the talent. In detail. Just like details In the middle, a good part of these schools and laboratories are concentrated near the large mines. An example is Baotou, in Inner Mongolia, about 150 kilometers from the largest rare earth deposit in the world. There, the Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology trains students who receive more than 100 hours of classes in subjects such as rare earth chemistry and materials science, some taught directly in the facilities of companies in the sector. The industry is so tied to these schools that it is normal for students to start working immediately. “In China, I hired kids straight out of college and they were instantly productive; anywhere else I needed to train them for three years,” explained to Reuters Constantine Karayannopoulos, former CEO of the companies Neo Performance Materials and Molycorp. Between the lines. Some universities openly acknowledge that they are forming geopolitical assets. Li Chaozhong, dean of the rare earth program at Jiangxi University of Science and Technology (JXUST), counted told state television CCTV that these minerals are “essential bargaining chips” in global politics, and that his university’s new program also seeks to ensure that China maintains its global leadership in the sector. JXUST students learn the entire supply chain, from processing and metallurgy to magnets, and work on research projects with companies before graduating. ccontrast with the West. Although the refining of rare earths It was Western dominion. Until the end of the 20th century, the industry practically disappeared from Europe and the United States, and with it specialized training. As the media highlights, mining has never attracted much attention to American students, who often see it as a dirty and old-fashioned sector. In 2023, US institutions They awarded just over 200 titles mining engineering and metallurgy generalists. There are specific exceptions, such as the Colorado School of Mines, which is preparing new research centers with the Department of Energy, but little else. Why is it so difficult to close the gap? China has tightened in recent years export restrictions of technology and equipment for rare earths, and according to sources cited by Reuterswould have limited contact between its technicians and foreigners, going so far as to withdraw passports from some of them. Control was intensified following the “Liberation Day” tariffs announced by Donald Trump in April 2025. And now what. The United States has begun to move, with billions of dollars allocated from 2024 to rebuild their experience in mining and legislative proposals to cooperate with allies in formation. The complicated thing is to build a pool of specialists like the one in China. That is something that is not achieved overnight. Cover image | Dominic Vanyi and Arthur Wang In Xataka | The treasure that Europe was looking for in China is in Jaén: rare earth concentrates of 19.4%

exit Google search

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Europe has proposed let depend on the US in technology and now is taking real action to get the desired digital sovereignty. According to Politicalone of these measures will come into force tomorrow and consists of something very specific: saying goodbye to the Google search engine. what’s happening. According to an internal email to which Politico has had access, as of Thursday, June 4, “Qwant will replace Google as the default search engine on the European Parliament’s computers.” The reason for this change is to continue “Parliament’s commitment to digital sovereignty and the protection of users’ personal data.” Why is it important. The European Union has realized (too late) that The US is not the reliable partner I thoughtand that depending on their technology is a problem. Changing the search engine on parliament’s computers is a symbolic measure, in the sense that it is one of the easiest to execute and will not have a real impact on technological independence, but it is important to send a message: it is possible. Qwant. It is a search engine that focuses on privacy protection, in fact its slogan is “the browser that knows nothing about you.” Qwant does not store search history or resell browsing data, has an extension for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari and comes with built-in AI to summarize web pages. And most importantly, it is European, specifically French. Yes, but. When an MEP searches from the address bar in the browser of one of the parliament’s computers, Qwant will be the default search engine. However, they will be able to both access Google to search and change the settings to make it the default search engine. That is, there is no prohibition or block to use Google or any other search engine. More measurements. A few days ago we learned that the European Union is preparing a “technological sovereignty package” with four key measures to reduce its dependence on the United States. These measures focus on four critical areas: Cloud: audits and stress tests for suppliers. Chips: the European Commission will review the Chips Act to be able to cancel contracts and centralize emergency purchases. Software: creation of a strategy to promote European free software. Data centers: 200 billion for the construction of data centers and 20 billion for digitalization and AI in energy. It’s going to be complicated. The EU’s dependence on US technology is enormous. According to Synergy data70% of the European cloud market is owned by just three American companies (AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud) and only 15% is controlled by European companies. In the field of chips, although there is ASML, the external dependency is enormous as evidenced with the case of Nexperia and China. Not only is Europe late, its ability to compete in these critical sectors is negligible compared to that of the United States or China. Image | Guillaume Perigois and Alex Dudar on Unsplash In Xataka | The CEO of Mistral sends a message to Europe: the end of being the technological vassal of the United States

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