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The five best technology offers available during Cyber ​​Monday, today December 1

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After a Black Friday full of discounts, Cyber ​​Monday has arrived with a huge number of offers. Some have remained from the previous campaign, but others have arrived today. Therefore, in this article we are going to review the best deals in technology that are available during Cyber ​​Monday. Kindle Colorsoft by 199.18 eurosan Amazon eReader pack that includes a case and a charger. Nintendo Switch 2 + ‘Mario Kart World’ by 449 eurosa pack that costs the same as the console without a game. Google Pixel 10 Pro XL by 854.25 euros with coupon, a very reasonable price for being Google’s top mobile phone. Fire TV Stick 4K Select by 19.99 eurosan Amazon device with a greatly reduced price. Roborock QV 35A by 329.99 euros with coupon, a very practical robot vacuum cleaner for everything it offers. Kindle Colorsoft One of the offers that have arrived on Amazon today is the Kindle Colorsoftbut this time it comes in a pack with a cloth case and a charger. All this for 199.18 euros. The eReader or electronic book reader stands out mainly for its six inch color screenbut also for performance, for its autonomy of up to eight weeks or because it has 32 GB of internal storage. Kindle Colorsoft + Case + Charger The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Nintendo Switch 2 + ‘Mario Kart World’ If we talk about packs, nothing like the one in the nintendo switch 2 along with the ‘Mario Kart World‘, which costs the same as if you bought the console without a game. That is, right now it is on sale for 449 euros. It is the latest console launched by Nintendo that incorporates a 7.9-inch screen and that is receiving more and more titles to take advantage of its specifications. Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 Pro XL If you want to buy a cell phone but you didn’t get to take advantage of Black Friday, the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL It’s on sale right now on Amazon for 854.25 euros. To buy it at this price you must first use the selectable coupon before processing the purchase in the “payment method” section. You have to press the “buttonuse a gift card, voucher or promotional code“. It is an all-terrain mobile that incorporates a 6.8-inch screen. It has 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storageits software will be updated for 7 years and its cameras offer excellent photographic results. Google Pixel 10 Pro XL (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Fire TV Stick 4K Select He Fire TV Stick 4K Select has had the best offer in the dongles from Amazon, since we had not found a model below 20 euros for a long time (since the Fire TV Stick Lite). Its price has fallen to 19.99 euros. It is capable of playing content at 4Kincorporates Alexa and will be updated to Vega OS. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Roborock QV 35A If you are looking for a good robot vacuum cleaner, be careful with the one I myself have purchased: the Roborock QV 35A. Its price has dropped to 329.99 euros With the Amazon coupon, it is capable of vacuuming and mopping, you can map the house and from the app You can select the rooms we want it to clean. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links 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 | Amazon, Nintendo, Google, Roborock In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2025), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best robot vacuum cleaners in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

Netflix’s commitment to its Christmas fireplaces is such that it physically records them and already has several themed ones

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It’s not Christmas until they turn on the lights in Vigountil Mariah Carey doesn’t give us permission and until the Netflix fireplaces. What began, in other formats and on other channels, as a programming filler in a difficult time for small channels, has today become a powerful promotional tool. Let’s see what we warm up to this year. This Christmas. Netflix premieres today three hour-long virtual fireplaces set in the universes of ‘Stranger Things‘, ‘Wednesday‘ and ‘The k-pop warriors‘. Three digital chimneys that recreate iconic scenes from the platform’s three indisputable last bombs. A maneuver whose origins at Netflix date back to 2013, when they created ‘Fireplace For Your Home’, a three-hour loop that accumulated millions of views. What started as an alternative for homes without a real fireplace evolved into a holiday tradition. Differentiated experiences. Each of the fireplaces has its particularities, and even, in an attempt to expand the possibilities of the format, Easter eggs. The one from ‘Stranger Things’ includes the iconic wall with the illuminated alphabet that Joyce used to communicate with Will in the first season. There are six easter eggs hidden, from Demogorgons to Steve Harrington’s spiked bat. Particularities. In ‘Wednesday’, the scene is in Principal Weems’ office inside Nevermore Academy. Thing makes a surprise appearance, and all with the series’ original soundtrack. In ‘The K-pop Warriors’ we go to the lair of the demon Gwi-Ma, where the Saja Boys perform their most recognizable song. There will be instrumental versions of songs from the movies, so that the fireplace takes on an authentic karaoke tone. How it was done. Netflix’s Product and Design teams developed these virtual fireplaces with a level of detail unusual for content of this type. According to what they tell us from the platform, the process included recordings in real physical settings instead of depending exclusively on digital effects. According to Netflix, it collaborated with the showrunners of each series to guarantee fidelity to the original narrative universes. Later, digital artists integrated fantastic elements such as the Demogorgons or the violet flames characteristic of the ‘Wednesday’ universe. Therefore, except for these special effects, the fireplace props are authentic, coming from the original sets or recreated with the intention of maintaining aesthetic continuity. Fireplace: Origins. These fireplaces recover a television tradition created in 1970 by the New York network WPIX-TV, which broadcast a virtual fireplace for the first time on December 24 as a Christmas greeting. That 17-second loop, filmed at the New York mayor’s residence with music by Nat King Cole, also allowed the canal workers to celebrate Christmas Eve with their families. After disappearing in the nineties, it returned by popular demand, spawning imitators that marketed VHS and DVD-ROM versions for decades. In Xataka | There is a reason why Vigo is announcing its Christmas in Japan. And it has little to do with Japanese tourists

his essay to assault luxury

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This Thursday, Zara reopened its store on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona, ​​converted into a what you call a “boutique author’s“. The premises of almost 1,000 square meters have been designed by Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen, who has transformed the space into a succession of rooms that emulate a luxury home. Sofas, display cabinets, wooden and metal shelves, warm lighting and matte finishes make up a museum-like atmosphere where the garments are displayed as works of art. Van Duysen, head of stores for Ferragamo and Calvin Klein Jeans, had already designed four Zara Home collections. This is their first full store project for the group. Why is it important. Inditex implicitly admits that its physical store strategy can no longer be sustained the same as before, despite the growth of the online channel. The new boutique in Barcelona represents a change: differentiating not by volume, but by experience. The price of the garments is the same as in any other Zara, but the packaging seeks to rival the luxury brands that dominate that same avenue. This is the second store that Zara has signed with a renowned architect after the reopening of its Serrano location in Madriddesigned by Elsa Urquijo. The company also confirms that Barcelona is a special place for it: the city is home to the headquarters of five of the group’s brands, including Zara itself. Yes, but. Inditex does not plan to replicate this model throughout its network. Roberto Martín, director of Zara in Spain, made it clear that the concept will be reserved for specific locations, always adapted to the city. The bet is risky: Zara has invested more than usual in a store that sells exactly the same as the rest, and at the same price. Between the lines. The project reveals Marta Ortega’s strategy since she became president of Inditex: to distance Zara from the stigma of fast fashion and bring it closer to the territory of fast couture. Van Duysen’s choice is not accidental. Signing a store with an architect of his level is exactly what Chanel, Dior or Louis Vuitton do with Peter Marino. Zara is adopting luxury codes without raising prices. Image: Zara. Image: Zara. Image: Zara. The context. Zara closed the first six months of 2025 with the lowest quarterly growth since the pandemic: its sales rose just 0.89%, the lowest figure in all of Inditex. The brand needs to demonstrate that it can sustain its leadership beyond volume and frenetic product rotation. Barcelona is not the only laboratory. Inditex is expanding its flagship from Plaza Catalunya to turn it into one of the chain’s largest stores in the world, with more than 6,500 square meters. Go deeper. The interior is divided into a dozen rooms, each with its own style, with a maximum of three or four items per reference. The furniture belongs to the collection Zara Home+ by Vincent Van Duysen and it is for sale. On the lower floor there are 16 fitting rooms that from the outside look like closets but inside are cabins with triple mirrors and smart lighting. The alarm signal. If Zara fails to build a sustainable competitive advantage with these boutiquesyou will have wasted resources on an aesthetic experiment that does not move the business. Brands like H&M or Primark compete on price. Luxury brands, in exclusivity and craftsmanship. Zara tries to stay in the middle: affordable prices with premium aspirations. Are boutiques of author are his most visible commitment to demonstrate that this balance is possible. The market will tell if it is. Featured image | Zara In Xataka | Inditex’s digital transformation is already here: it is achieving more and more sales with fewer stores

clients VS rooms without doors in the bathrooms

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If you travel frequently, it’s probably happened to you. You arrive at the hotel, tired, wanting to take a good shower, and suddenly you realize that the room you are going to share with your brother, a friend or a co-worker has a small problem: there is no door in the bathroom. The beds are soft, the closet is spacious, the room is spacious and well-lit, but there is nothing to isolate the toilet from the rest of the room. So… How the hell do you shower or use the toilet without the other person seeing/hearing everything? There are those who have said ‘Enough’. What has happened? Fed up with finding more and more hotels that do away with the doors that should separate the bathroom from the rest of the room, recently a tiktoker named Sadie had a curious idea: launch a crusade against this trend in accommodation design. Literally. The young woman created a website and several profiles in networks from which he dedicates himself to two things. First, denounce hotels that have banished toilet doors. Second, promote others who remain faithful to the idea that when you enter a bathroom (whether it is your home, office, a restaurant or a hotel located on the other side of the planet) what you want is privacy. After all, you don’t always share a room with people you trust enough to take a shower or use the sink in plain view. @bring_back_doors Hotel Name 👇👇👇 Riu Plaza Times Square New York City, NY, USA I don’t know if I can make a difference, but I do know it’s not too late for the hotel industry. The airline industry is a lost cause, but only a few hotels have really hopped on this glass trend, which means it’s very possible to always make sure you are giving your money to hotels with proper bathroom doors. Find hotels with proper doors visit BringBackDoors.com Hotel submitted by many people, photo from Google images. Submit your own bad hotels by sending me a DM with the hotel name, location, and door type (none, glass, or sliding). If you have a photo I’ll (try to) post it, but either way it will be added to the website. #hotel #bathroom #hoteldesignfail Bathroom doors | hotel bathrooms | hotel privacy | no privacy | travel problems | hotel issues | travel | hotel design | hotel design fail | hotel designers | design fail | concept hotel | bathrooms | hotel recommendations | hotels in NYC | NYC hotels | new york hotels | visit nyc | visit new york city | travel to new york ♬ original sound – Bring Back Bathroom Doors But… Why? Sadie explains it clearly in her Bring Back Doors websitein which he has posted a kind of manifesto in which he proclaims his hatred towards businesses that have decided to do without doors. “I can’t stand arriving at hotels and discovering that they have removed the bathroom door. Something that should be as common as having a bed has been sacrificed in the name of aesthetics,” the young woman laments. “That’s why I created this website, where I compile hotels that guarantee doors in the bathrooms and others that need to work on their privacy.” To that end Sadie assures who has sent emails to “hundreds” of accommodations to ask them two questions: Do their toilets have doors? And if so… Are they glass? “Everyone who says yes to closing doors and no to glass doors has been sorted by price range and city so you can easily find accommodation,” the manifesto continues published on Brongbackdoors.com, which invites all users who come across hotels that leave their toilets exposed to report it by sending an email. Thanks to these collaborations, the website includes a list of businesses in different cities around the world that do and do not have open toilets. @bring_back_doors Hotel Name 👇👇👇 Pendry Hotel San Diego, CA, USA I get it, you save a few inches on every room and eventually you get to make an extra room without any noticing. That doesn’t mean I accept it. Find hotels with proper doors visit BringBackDoors.com Photo submitted by @allisonsmyname (Hotel submitted by so many people) Submit your own bad hotels by sending me a DM with the hotel name, location, and door type (none, glass, or sliding). If you have a photo I’ll (try to) post it, but either way it will be added to the website. #hotel #bathroom #hoteldesignfail Bathroom doors | hotel bathrooms | hotel privacy | no privacy | travel problems | hotel issues | travel | hotel design | hotel design fail | hotel designers | design fail | concept hotel | bathrooms | hotel recommendations | hotels in San Diego | san diego hotels | hotels in california | visit san diego | san diego tourism | visit California ♬ original sound – Bring Back Bathroom Doors Why do without doors? The tiktoker ventures with a theory that explains the increase in accommodations that banish toilet doors. They do it, he says, because it allows them to save on materials and make their rooms look larger without having to invest more money. “And my dignity?” he wonders the young woman, clearly upset. She is not the only one who uses that explanation. A year ago Thrillist already published an article (‘Where have all the hotel bathroom doors gone?’, is titled) in which he slips that the beginning of the trend probably dates back to the Japanese capsule hotelsa notion (that of ‘microhotel’) that has not taken long to expand to Western countries. Behind doorless bathrooms, however, there would not only be a practical issue. The phenomenon is also explained by design and psychology. Without doors, spaces appear larger and this generates a feeling of spaciousness, a highly appreciated value in large cities. Are there so many cases? Thrillist assures that the problem is not just hotels without doors. The same feeling of discomfort … Read more

AEMET has released its prediction for winter and confirms the trend that is no longer an anomaly: a winter “without cold”

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Although we can keep in mind that winter does not begin until next December 21, coinciding with the winter solsticefor meteorology now we have started with the station from today. A season in which we could all expect a great spell of polar cold to be at home with a blanket and watching a series on television. But the AEMET has lowered these forecasts taking into account to what we experienced in previous years. Via a post on X The AEMET has welcomed this new winter 2025-2026, but with bad news behind it: it will be much warmer than usual with a high probability. We are not talking about individual “summer” days, but rather a robust statistical signal that covers the entire quarter (December-January-February). What we used to call an anomaly, the data are beginning to call the norm: winter in Spain is fading. Heat map. AEMET’s seasonal prediction It doesn’t leave much room for doubt. According to probabilistic models, the average temperature will be in the warm zone throughout the country. Specifically, for the AEMET the eastern peninsula and the Balearic Islands have a probability of a much warmer winter that exceeds 70%. In the case of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, this is where the “zero zone” of this warming will be found, with a very pronounced thermal increase with respect to its normal values. In the rest of the peninsula, the probability is around 50%, which continues to be a sign that points to having a winter that is as normal as possible with respect to what we have seen in previous years. The rain. If in terms of temperatures it seems that we are not going to have very good news with a high probability, in terms of precipitation it seems that we must be optimistic. A priori, the models suggest that we will not have an extremely dry winter but nor will it be too wet. And the rainfall seems to be close to the average, although with great variability. Not all months of this winter will rain in the same way, emphasizing especially the second half of winter, that is, the end of January and February, where the models point to the arrival of dynamic phases with fronts and storms. This is something that may fit with studies on the loss of sea ice in the Arctic, which alters atmospheric circulation and may lead to much more “wet or variable” winters in the Iberian Peninsula, breaking the patterns that we saw in our environment. 28 days of “no winter”. To understand why the AEMET is so sure of this forecast, you have to look in the rearview mirror. The most recent reportslike Climate Central, already warned that last winter Spain experienced an average of 28 days with temperatures above the historical average. To do this, experts focus on reducing the days where we have temperatures below zero with a sharp drop in the days where there is frost. Furthermore, cities like Valencia are seeing how urban centers are turning into ovens even in the middle of winter. And it is a serious danger, as the CLIVAR-Spain report warns that this amplification of warming and the alteration of winter variability pose a critical challenge for our ecosystems, which need rest from the winter cold for their biological cycles. Goodbye to the historic cold. What AEMET is telling us with this forecast for 2025-2026 is that the atmosphere in Spain has more and more accumulated energy. Studies by Funcas and analysis by AEMET itself corroborate that the decrease in snow coverage and the increase in warm episodes are not temporary, but in the end they are the reality we face. We are facing a scenario where winters do not disappear, but they do “soften” until they become unrecognizable compared to those of three decades ago. If you have thermal clothing prepared for this year, it is possible that, except for occasional episodes of storms in February, it will stay in the closet. Images | Thomas Holmes Immo Wegmann In Xataka | “Three days of pure cold”: while the world looks at the polar vortex, bad news accumulates for AEMET

How to watch YouTube without ads and in the background without paying for YouTube Premium or installing fake apps

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Let’s tell you How can you watch YouTube without ads on your mobile or computerand even with the option to watch the videos in the background. These are features available to paying users on YouTube Premiumbut we are going to tell you how to do it without paying. We are going to do this using third-party apps, but without resorting to fake applications or those that are a modified YouTube and that expose you to privacy dangers. Nor are they the apps to listen to music on YouTube as if it were Spotify. Some browsers will help you with this There are three key functions that YouTube Premium offers you, which is to watch videos without ads, listen to their audio in the background, or even use the mode Qicture-in-Picture with which to watch videos in a floating window while you are using another application. This is something you can do with other paid apps. The trick is use some specific browsers instead of Chrome or Safari. They are perfectly normal, safe and legal browsers, so you don’t need to go around installing modified versions of YouTube that are going to become a problem for your privacy. There are three very popular browsers that you can use for this, which are Brave, Firefox and Vivaldithe latter with the extra of being a European alternative. You can find these browsers both in the official application store of your mobile phone, and you can also download them to your computer. Brave is the best option for mobileas it allows you to use PiP mode to have the video play in an overlay window while you do other things. Vivaldi, on the other hand, only removes the ads, which is no small feat either. Just remember, you have to use YouTube from the browsernot from the app, entering m.youtube.com. For background playback With Brave, you’ll need to turn it on in the app’s settings. For this you will have to enter the configuration, and in the section Multimedia. Here activate background playback. For the computer any of the three options are goodsince they will allow you to watch YouTube without ads. This is due to the internal blockers they have. In Xataka Basics | How to use Gemini to summarize YouTube videos or ask questions about their content on Android

Huawei has a patent with which to manufacture 2nm chips. The only problem is that it’s just a patent.

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Huawei has just applied for a patent in which a new and unique process of advanced chip production. The patent focuses on improving one of the limitations of the technology of deep ultraviolet photolithography (UVP) to try to compete in this way with the extreme ultraviolet machines (UVE) to which China still unable to access. There are, however, many uncertainties here. The patent. Huawei formally submitted the technical documentation in June 2022 to the Chinese patent office, allowing the invention to be “protected” since then. The detailed content of their study was made public in January 2025, but It is now that it has come to light. The patent is only applied for, not granted or granted. The patent office is examining the application to determine if it meets the requirements. Why is it important. This patent tries to address the limitations of the so-called edge placement error (EPE, Edge Placement Error) in the advanced interconnection process used when manufacturing advanced chips. The method discovered makes it theoretically possible to use “metal spacings” smaller than 21 nm, even when using deep ultraviolet (UVP) technology instead of extreme ultraviolet (UVE), which is the most advanced photolithographic technology today… and to which Chinese manufacturers like Huawei do not have access. If it achieves its objective, the firm could have access, for example, to chips that would theoretically compete even with chips made with 2nm photolithography. Metal spacing? That term (metal pitch in English) refers to the minimum distance that exists between the metal lines that form the interconnections within the integrated circuit or, in this case, the chip. These lines carry power and data signals between the transistors, and that metal spacing is extraordinarily small for advanced nodes. The objective of the patent is precisely to allow the manufacture of these lines with a spacing of less than 21 nm. This gives rise to a possible process that could compete with the 2nm UVE photolithography used, for example, by TSMC. The important word there is “could.” Edge Placement Error (EPE). EPE is the error that occurs when a pattern on a chip is not placed exactly where it was intended by the chip design. The closer that metal spacing is, the smaller the EPE margin must be to prevent the lines from touching and causing a short circuit. At this scale it is incredibly complex to solve this problem, and Huawei’s patent precisely proposes a way to achieve it. Supervitaminizing “old” lithography. What makes this method possible is that UVP photolithography, less powerful and advanced than UVE, can be used to compete with it. This method would allow “jumping” the limits that this process now faces, and which normally had many difficulties in going beyond 21 nm. A double hard mask process of two materials and a special patterning scheme are introduced that theoretically allow us to go below 21 nm. and even 5 nm which are already very complicated to achieve with EUV. In short: China could achieve advanced chips without the need for use the most advanced ASML machinesto which you do not have access. But. Although the technique is apparently striking, there are two big problems here. The first and most important is that this is just a patent and that does not mean that the process can be transferred to reality. The difficulties in doing so are enormous, and that leads us to the second problem: the effectiveness of production would probably be very low and the yield (process success rate) would be greatly affected. That is to say: of all the chips theoretically produced with this technique, only a small part would be valid, which would waste a huge part of the investment. In Xataka | In its race to make advanced chips, China has tried to copy ASML. It’s going wrong

We are facing the greatest threat to livestock farming in 30 years

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As I write this, the Military Emergency Unit is deploying to Collserola to try to contain the African swine fever epidemic that has already left 14 dead wild boars and threatens bring the entire Spanish pork sector to a historic crisis. Right now, while the Generalitat finishes the tests on the 39 livestock farms in the area, more than 80 UME operatives (together with the Rural Agents and the Civil Guard) are sweeping the natural park between Barcelona and Cerdanyola del Vallès. Thirty years later, this animal disease is back. What has happened? On November 26, in the vicinity of the campus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Bellaterra, two dead wild boars were found. The tests by the veterinary services of the Generalitat of Catalonia left no room for doubt: the African swine fever virus was back on the peninsula. It was the first positive in Spain since November 1994. After notification to the Ministry of Agriculture, confirmation of the positives by the Central Veterinary Laboratory of Algete (Madrid) and the implementation of the control device, the Department of the Generalitat found four other bodies more in the same area. Given the confirmation of the outbreak, the Government requested intervention of the UME hunting control unit. Aren’t we overreacting a little? That’s what it might seem like. After all, African swine fever does not affect humans and is relatively localized among wild pigs in a specific natural park. The question that many ask is whether it is really necessary to mobilize one of the elite units of the Spanish army for 14 dead wild boars. And the answer, I’m afraid, is yes. Although it is a strictly zoonotic disease (and, indeed, does not affect humans) it has mortality and morbidity levels close to 100% among domestic pigs. That is, it is a disease that “can kill all the pigs on a farm after a few days of fever, coughing and bleeding.” And the world takes it very seriously. To the point that “the appearance of a single case of plague causes preventive blocking of pork exports.” There are more than 20 countries that, to begin with, they do not accept regionalization and, therefore, the veto of Spanish pork exports is en bloc and immediate. Among them are Japan or Mexico. The Ministry of Agriculture is in negotiations with them, but shipments are stopped. We must not forget that it is leader in pork export within the European Union and ranks third worldwide in production. The arrival of African swine fever (however predictable it could be) is a catastrophe for the sector. And for Spanish foreign trade in general: China, which imports 20% of Spanish pork and which has just signed a historic agreement precisely on pork with the presence of the Kings, is very pending of what is happening in Catalonia (and the possible expansion of the virus). We must not forget that the arrival of the plague to Spain in the 60s (through Portugal and its African colonies) led an international isolation of the Iberian pig for more than three decades. And now what? The first thing is to “clean” Collserola. That is why the deployment has been so rapid and large. But afterward, it will be time to identify the origin of the outbreak (Councilor Òscar Ordeig has pointed to contaminated food as the main suspect, but it is still not clear) and, above all, we will have to reflect on hunting and veterinary controls. Because, as I said before, this is not a surprise. In 2014, reports were already saying that the virus was rampant across Europe’s eastern border; but it wasn’t until 2020 when he jumped to Germany also through a wild boar. The German country was, by the way, at that time the largest pork producer in the EU. Since then, the virus has already appeared in 15 EU countries (Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Belgium and Sweden). Just these last two They have managed to eradicate it again after the application of draconian control measures. Now it’s our turn and we have a lot at stake. Image | Oscar in the middle | Jonathan Kemper In Xataka | In a country with almost as many pigs as people, the worst that can happen is that investment funds take over

The US has insisted that TSMC manufacture chips in Arizona. The reality: it is a disastrous idea

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TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor maker, has long been pushing for unprecedented expansion outside Taiwan. The initiative includes large projects in the United States, Japan and Germany, but does not respond to market demand, but rather to geopolitical pressure and a chip war that wants to try to “repatriate” this type of process. It’s a terrible idea. Morris Chang knows it’s a mistake. Despite the political urgency, the economic viability of these factories abroad has been questioned by TSMC founder Dr. Morris Chang. He already had the previous experience with the WafertTech factory in the US in 1996, and has qualified Arizona initiative as “a very expensive exercise in futility” Everything one hour away. Chang’s skepticism is based on the belief that TSMC’s operations and profitability are intrinsically dependent on its ecosystem, which is entirely concentrated in Taiwan. The Hsinchu Science Park “cluster” allows hundreds of technology partners to operate within a “one-hour” radius, facilitating problem resolution and providing ultra-fast logistics and unparalleled coordination. TSMC is still 90% Taiwanese. Despite that global expansion, TSMC remains deeply Taiwanese, with more than 90% of its manufacturing capacity and nearly 90% of its employees on the island. That’s where your massive, highly trained and qualified engineering talent base is. That is again a key factor in its competitive advantage, and in fact the company has already warned its employees in the US that they should adhere to the work culture of the Taiwanese company. Arizona produces, but it is more expensive. That attempt to replicate Taiwanese efficiency in Arizona has revealed something important: although TSMC has achieved competitive performance in its first production runs with 4nm photolithography, the cost of the wafers is significantly higher. The local supply of raw materials and equipment remains insufficient, making the factory dependent on Asia and is a bottleneck for the efficiency of the production cycle. Skilled labor shortages and permitting and bureaucracy, which further slow things down, add considerable operational costs. Japan and Germany, next objectives. TSMC has two major expansion projects in Japan (JASM) and Germany (ESMC). These locations will focus on much less advanced photolithographic nodes (28/16 nm) and will focus on meeting the demand of some specialized customers such as Sony for image sensors in Japan or Bosch in Europe. The scale of these investments is less than that of Arizona, which aims to be the world’s largest advanced chip factory… if planned future phases are completed. A double edged sword. TSMC’s expansion has two sides. On the one hand, TSMC consolidates its technological leadership and its strategic role as a “silicon shield” against China. On the other hand, it generates internal anxiety about the possible “leakage” of advanced technology and talent that could weaken national sovereignty in the long term. US pressure even extended to veto the possibility of establishing a TSMC factory in the United Arab Emirates. TSMC does not expand by pleasure, but by pressure. Traditionally, TSMC only builds new factories in response to real demand from its customers. Here the reason has been very different, and geopolitical pressure has forced moves that the company would probably never have made otherwise. Here the different subsidy programs (CHIPS Act in the US, European Chip Law) try to repatriate part of the manufacturing and thus mitigate Asian dependence, but it’s not clear at all that they achieve it. Image | TSMC In Xataka | Japan is rapidly reconquering the chip industry. It has just successfully manufactured its first 2nm transistor

take down a Russian ghost fleet without the need for humans

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Europe has been dealing with the call for years “ghost fleet” Russian, a network of aging tankerspoorly insured and with opaque owners who have evaded sanctions, turned off transponders, manipulated routes and put European waters at risk with incidents, leaks and dangerous maneuvers. These ships have operated at border of legality to keep afloat energy income from the Kremlin, forcing Brussels to strengthen maritime controls and several coastal states to investigate suspicious incidents near critical infrastructure. The birth of an offensive. The night of November 28 marked a turning point silent but decisive in the war that has pitted Ukraine and Russia for almost three years. A few dozen km from the Turkish coast, far from the usual range of Ukrainian systems and in the heart of Moscow’s logistical rearguard, two Sea Baby naval drones (unmanned, guided by AI and armed with explosive charges weighing more than a ton) rushed at full speed against two oil tankers of the Russian “ghost fleet”the network of aging and opaquely owned ships that Moscow uses to circumvent Western sanctions. The hits against the Kairos and Virat not only showed a technological leap in the range and precision of Ukrainian naval drones, but also sent a strategic message to all actors in the global energy trade: any ship supporting Russian exports can become a military target, and kyiv is no longer limited by the geographic space of the northern Black Sea to impose that cost. The meticulous execution of the attacks (aiming propulsion and rudders to disable, not sink) reveals the extent to which Ukraine is trying to balance military effectiveness with the political risk before international partners, aware that it is hitting an economically sensitive terrain for Türkiye, Kazakhstan and several Western companies with energy interests. How the ghost fleet works. The so-called ghost fleet is one of the pillars that Russia has built since 2022 to maintain its income stream tankers, recruiting hundreds of tankers with decades of service, dubious insurers and convenience records, many of them under African flags like that of the Gambia. The Kairos and the Virat, pointed out by sanctions bodies from the United States, the United Kingdom, the EU, Switzerland and Canada, are perfect examples of this network: very old ships, with questionable maintenance, designed to operate in the legal shadows that allow real owners and routes to be hidden. Its function is key because oil continues to be the Kremlin’s financial key: only in October, Russia entered 13.1 billion dollars for sales of crude oil and derivatives, although the figure already shows a significant decrease compared to the previous year. Damaging these ships (and above all, showing that no part of the Black Sea is safe) turns each transit into a calculated risk. The ultimate goal it is erosive: increase insurance costs, slow down logistics, increase the risk perceived by intermediary companies and force them to reconsider their collaboration with Moscow. He sinking of the M/T Mersin off Senegal, although it is not proven that it was the work of Ukraine, it illustrates the growing deterioration of a fleet that operates with minimum standards. The transformation of the Sea Baby. The Sea Baby have established themselves as the spearhead of an unprecedented Ukrainian naval revolution. Their early versions acted as medium-range explosive platforms; but the updated prototype, shown by the SBU in October, has multiplied its capabilities: 1,500 kilometers of autonomy, high speeds, autonomous navigation supported by AI and up to 2,000 kilograms of payload. Now they can operate anywhere in the Black Sea, from Odessa to the Bosphorus, from Crimea to global oil routes. This expansion underlines an evolution with two simultaneous layers: Ukraine is destroying the historical Russian hegemony in the Black Sea, and it is doing no traditional boatswithout sailors and without risking lives, relying on a naval concept that Moscow has not managed to replicate with the same efficiency. The combination of drones, Western satellite reconnaissance, electronic intelligence and autonomous platforms makes the Russian navy look increasingly corneredforced to disperse fleets, reinforce escorts and operate with a caution that reduces their freedom of action. Geopolitical leap and message to third parties. That the blows occurred a few km from the Turkish coast is not a technical whim: it means that Ukraine has crossed a symbolic and geopolitical threshold. For the first time, it has attacked Russian naval infrastructure in areas where global trade, NATO and maritime law converge. The images verified by BBC show drones hitting ships that were assisted by the Turkish coast guard, in an extremely sensitive environment for Ankara. Türkiye reacted with a very low profilelimiting itself to putting out fires and rescuing crews, aware that openly protesting would go against its difficult balance between Russia, NATO and its own regional agenda. But the message is there: Ukraine is no longer limited to destroying Russian ships within the space that Moscow considered comfortable control; Now it can harass energy trade even when plying international routes. This reconfigures the calculations of insurers, shipping companies and states involved: even Kazakhstan protested after the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal was affected, underlining that the Ukrainian campaign is touching multinational interests. Hitting ships, but also infrastructure. One day after the attack on the oil tankers, the Sea Babies attacked the CPC marine terminal in Novorossiyskforcing it to stop operations. Is the third time In just a few months, Ukraine hits this crucial enclave. The emerging equation it’s clear: disabling ships is just one part; degrade the infrastructure that allows oil exports, another even more destructive for Moscow. Ukraine is applying a dual strategy that suffocates the Russian oil system at both ends: the ships that transport the crude oil and the points where they are loaded. The result is a predicted fall of 35% in Russian oil revenues in November and a fiscal impact that already force unpopular measures how to increase VAT or suspend payments to veterans, a sign that the Kremlin’s “war economy” is beginning to feel the accumulated pressure. A … Read more

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