advanced

The advanced chip business is growing so fast that it cannot keep up

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ASML, the Netherlands-based company that makes the most advanced integrated circuit production machines, had planned to hire 600 new employees in Taiwan this year. Finally she was forced to revise upwards your hiring plan. In 2026 they will arrive at their facilities on this Asian island 1,000 new additions. Grace Wang, the vice president and general manager of ASML in Taiwan, has declared that this change has been brought about by the insatiable demand for chips for artificial intelligence (AI). ASML does not manufacture semiconductors, but its equipment extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) are being used by TSMC, SK Hynix, Samsung, Intel and Micron to produce the advanced integrated circuits that data centers demand. Especially CPU, GPU and HBM type DRAM memories (High Bandwidth Memory or high bandwidth memory). In fact, this company alone occupies the first link in the global chip manufacturing chain because it is the only one that produces EUV lithography machines. Be that as it may, Grace Wang’s declaration of intent responds to an unappealable reality: Taiwan is the industrial heart of this Dutch company. ASML manufactures components on this island and assembles UVE lithography equipment which it subsequently delivers to its local customers. These operations are also carried out in the Netherlands, but there are two compelling reasons why Taiwan is enormously relevant to ASML’s business: its best customer and its biggest focus on its global customers reside there. TSMC is ASML’s largest customer A determining factor that is promoting ASML’s expansion in Taiwan is its close relationship with TSMC, the largest manufacturer of integrated circuits of the planet. The operations of this company on the island currently generate 8.3 billion eurosa quarter of ASML’s global revenue. And much of that money comes from the coffers of TSMC, which is building new advanced semiconductor production plants in Taiwan, Japan, Germany and the US. ASML is building a facility in New Taipei that costs about $954 million. However, ASML’s Taiwan branch is not just hiring more staff (it currently has 4,500 employees on this island); is also building a new facility in New Taipei that costs about 954 million dollars. Their plan is for this plant to begin operating before the end of 2026 and to house about 2,000 employees in its initial phase. We still don’t know for sure what this factory will do, but it will probably combine component production, EUV machine assembly, and technical support to customers, primarily TSMC. ASML’s infrastructure in Taiwan is distributed between two cities with very specialized functions. Linkou is responsible for reconditioning chip manufacturing equipment, producing grating manipulators for deep ultraviolet (DVP) machines, and cleaning UVE collectors. Tainan, however, serves as a large global customer service center. And in a few months, as we have just seen, the New Taipei plant will be ready. The future of ASML is promising even though US sanctions They prevent it from selling its most sophisticated machines to its Chinese customers. Image | ASML More information | DigiTimes Asia In Xataka | The chip of the future comes from Japan: it is 1,000 times faster than current semiconductors and does not heat up

The most advanced ship China has ever built doesn’t know if it’s an aircraft carrier or an assault ship. And that’s exactly what makes it dangerous

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Some time ago we knew the existence of the Type 076a warship very suitable to take the recognition of the most advanced that China has ever built. After completing his training maneuvers, he recently was seen crossing the South China Seaquite turbulent waters from a geopolitical and military point of view. And of course, having a 40,000-ton giant there does not go unnoticed. Your own category. The Sichuan is technically an amphibious assault ship, designed to transport troops, armored vehicles and all types of vessels. But to call it just that would be an understatement. With a full-length flight deck, a double-island superstructure and, above all, an electromagnetic catapult Capable of launching conventional fixed-wing aircraft, this ship also functions as a light aircraft carrier. In this way, you could say that the Type 076 is in a category of its own. It is a category of its own, a hybrid between an assault ship and an aircraft carrier that can operate fighters like the J-35the latest generation Chinese stealth, as well as drones and helicopters. Its length is around 260 meters and can house up to 1,000 navy soldiers. Your catapult. Most of the amphibious ships that exist in the world can carry aircraft, yes, but only those with the ability to take off vertically or over very short distances, such as the American F-35B. The Sichuan does not have this limitation, since its electromagnetic catapult, between 100 and 130 meters in length, is of the same generation as that of the aircraft carrier. Fujian and equivalent to the technology that the United States has developed for its latest superaircraft carriers. This gives it unparalleled versatility for a ship of its type and a much greater operating margin in terms of load, range and armament of its aircraft. Electrified. The Sichuan propulsion system it’s electric. Of course, to power it, two 21 MW gas turbines need to be combined with six 6 MW diesel generators, which gives a total power of about 78 MW. This design is used both to power the propulsion motors and also to manage the energy peaks demanded by the electromagnetic catapult. This type of engine has several advantages over conventional diesel, including faster starting, greater operational flexibility, less vibrations and a smaller underwater acoustic footprint, making it more difficult to detect. Testing in the most tense place in the world. The Chinese Navy confirmed At the end of April, the Sichuan had set sail for the South China Sea to carry out its first tests in waters other than those of its base. Zhang Junshe, military expert, counted to the Global Times that it is “rapid and efficient progress” that brings the Sichuan closer to its official commissioning. The previous tests that we reported on last year were carried out in waters near Shanghai, where they evaluated the stability of the propulsion system and electrical systems. Now, in the South China Sea, it is time for something more demanding: complex climatic and maritime conditions, high humidity and variable waves, an environment that will help them validate flight operations, amphibious maneuvers and test the performance of their combat systems in real conditions. A whole birthday has come together. The Sichuan reached the South China Sea at the same time that the United States, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Canada, France and New Zealand began the Balikatan maneuvers, a set of military exercises that are carried out annually and involve nearly 19,000 soldiers, according to Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, before the Senate Armed Services Committee. In addition, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning He also headed towards the same sea those days. And of course, in the face of such deployment, there are many who think that China is carrying out a calculated show of force in waters that it claims for the most part as its own, and where precisely it has open territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries in the region. What comes next. Once these tests in the South China Sea are completed, the tests should include integrated operations with embarked fighters, helicopters and amphibious forces. When all test cycles are complete, the Sichuan will be ready to enter service with operational combat capability. Junshe counted told the Global Times that the ship’s construction speed is “considered fast” and reflects China’s increasing maturity in building large warships. Cover image | Xinhua In Xataka | China is manufacturing missiles at an unprecedented speed. And the final objective is not Taiwan, it is another island 3,000 km away

More advanced chip factories are being built in China and Taiwan than anywhere else. It’s only good for them

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According to SEMI, an international organization that looks after the interests of the electronics and integrated circuit industries, only six of the 64 new factories of semiconductors that are going to come into operation in Asia before 2029 will reside in Southeast Asia. The remaining 58 They will be located in China and Taiwan. These two countries have compelling reasons to strengthen its chip industry and develop its integrated circuit production capacity. It is essential for China to set up new plants equipped with cutting-edge photolithography equipment. And that is precisely what SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor and other Chinese chipmakers are doing. Currently this nation is limited by the difficulty of going beyond 7 nm without being able to use the extreme ultraviolet lithography (VVE) of ASML. Even so, Huali Microelectronics, the division of Hua Hong Semiconductor specialized in manufacturing chips for third parties, is preparing to start the production of 7nm integrated circuits at its Shanghai plant. Taiwan also needs to expand its semiconductor industry, although its motives are very different from China’s. The two largest Taiwanese integrated circuit manufacturers, TSMC and UMCthey need to develop more cutting-edge plants in order to satisfy the growing needs of their customers. TSMC’s 2 and 3 nm nodes in particular cannot cope, so it is essential for this company to expand its production capacity in the midst of the boom in data centers for data applications. artificial intelligence (AI). SEMI is concerned about the vulnerabilities of the chip industry Ajit Manocha, the executive director of SEMI, assures that “we want to see more centers emerge in related countries. We want more plants to be established to reduce the risk derived from vulnerabilities.” What worries the spokesperson of this organization is that the geopolitical tensions maintained by the US, China and Taiwan end up threatening the integrated circuit factories that reside in these last two countries. TSMC’s in Taiwan are especially sensitive to a possible conflict with China due to the undoubted strategic importance that they have not only for Taiwan, but also for the US and its allies. Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand are candidates to host new cutting-edge chip plants Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand are strong candidates to host new cutting-edge chip manufacturing plants. In fact, Several centers already reside in Malaysia Intel’s advanced packaging and verification software. However, Manocha You are also concerned about other types of vulnerabilities. The most critical of all is the shortage of critical minerals, as well as bromine and helium, two fundamental gases in chip manufacturing processes. What is happening with helium in particular is very worrying. This gas is a byproduct of natural gas processing, and its price skyrocketed in March shortly after the war that the US, Israel and Iran have been fighting since then began because Qatar was forced to stop production of liquefied natural gas. In the current unstable scenario, SEMI argues that Southeast Asian countries should aim to build more semiconductor manufacturing plants over the next decade to help the sector diversify and reduce supply risks. Image | TSMC More information | Reuters In Xataka | The US’s problem in the AI ​​and humanoid race is not China: it is all of Asia and it is greatly disadvantaged

that Intel and Samsung manufacture their advanced chips in the US

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Apple is no longer TSMC’s largest customer. It has been since 2014 and has maintained this position for just over a decade, but in 2025 Nvidia established itself as the main customer of this Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer. Until December 31, 2025, Nvidia generated 19% of TSMC’s revenuecompared to 17% for Apple. Even so, there is no doubt that the Cupertino company continues to be a priority customer for TSMCalthough this scenario could change in the short or medium term. And, according to BloombergApple is exploring the possibility of Intel and Samsung manufacturing the advanced chips for their devices in the US. In all likelihood, the loss of influence and priority in the TSMC production chain that it has maintained for more than a decade has led to this decision. Now Nvidia has these privileges. However, to understand why Apple is considering leaning on Intel and Samsung, we also need to look in another direction. Betting on Intel or Samsung makes sense, although it involves risks There are several compelling reasons why Apple may be interested in Intel manufacturing its integrated circuits in the US. Or Samsung in its state-of-the-art plant in Texas. Or you could even work with both companies simultaneously and not completely sever your business relationship with TSMC. Either way, this diversification strategy would allow Apple to effectively protect itself from supply chain disruptions triggered by geopolitical instability. And also the shortage of some components caused by the massive construction of data centers to artificial intelligence (AI). Apple is a candy for Intel and Samsung. There is no doubt about that In fact, last week Apple recognized during the presentation of its economic results that its current supply chain is not very flexible. And in the current situation of instability, having Intel and Samsung as partners is a very attractive option. Furthermore, for these two companies it is very important get Apple as a client. In 2024 this last company represented approximately 25.2% of annual income from TSMC. And in 2025 this figure dropped to 17%, allowing Nvidia to overtake Apple with 19% of income generated for TSMC. Still, Apple is a candy for Intel and Samsung. There is no doubt about that. For Intel, having Apple as a client would represent a definitive boost for its integrated circuit manufacturing division for third parties. And for Samsung to manufacture a part of Apple’s SoCs would be a very important boost that would probably allow it to attract other clients in the fight it has had with TSMC for years to dominate the cutting-edge chip manufacturing market. Whatever Apple executives decide, it is highly unlikely that this company will abandon TSMC. This Taiwanese chipmaker has proven for years that it is perfectly capable of manufacturing cutting-edge semiconductors on a large scale and with indisputable consistency. You don’t have to prove anything, but Intel and Samsung do because it’s currently unclear whether they can reliably deliver the kind of production and scale that has made them TSMC in the dominant custom chip maker. Apple may end up outsourcing part of the manufacturing of its SoCs to Intel or Samsung, but nothing indicates that it will break its already long-standing commercial alliance with TSMC in the medium term. Image | Apple More information | Bloomberg In Xataka | Apple had been able to maintain prices despite the crazy rise in RAM. That’s over

BYD promised them very happy by putting very advanced ADAS in very cheap cars. Until the RAM crisis came

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In recent years, BYD had turned its brand new advanced driving system into one of the biggest arguments to confront Tesla. And having this type of technology in affordable cars can be attractive to the consumer, but it has a cost that other companies can hardly absorb. BYD thought so, but the RAM crisis It has stopped him, and the context is now much more complicated. Prices go up. BYD just announced in China a 21% increase in the price of the ‘DiPilot 300’ option (basically its “God’s Eye” in its version with LiDAR), which goes from 9,900 to 12,000 yuan (about 1,560 euros). The company justifies the measure by the “significant increase in global storage hardware costs.” In other words, DRAM memory and storage have become so expensive that they can no longer absorb the cost without passing it on to the customer. Until now, no major manufacturer had so explicitly linked a price increase to the memory market, according to collect South China Morning Post. In detail. The ADAS Modern ones (and especially those that integrate LiDAR like those from BYD) are very demanding on memory. They need high-performance chips to process LiDAR point clouds in real time, run driving models, and store route data. The problem is that this same type of memory is being absorbed en masse by artificial intelligence data centers, which account for most of the global production of DRAM and NAND. The prices of these chips have entered what analysts call a “supercycle,” with increases that according to TrendForce are around 55-60% in conventional DRAM this year, but that in premium automotive segments (which also use DDR5) have reached up to 300% in free market price. A problem of scale. BYD’s colossal deployment makes the problem especially bulging in its case. The company has installed your “God’s Eye” system in more than 2.85 million vehicles as of March 2026, generating approximately 180 million kilometers of driving data per day, according to own data of the signature. At that scale, every extra cent in memory multiplies into millions. On the other hand, BYD closed the first quarter of 2026 with its worst net profit in three years: 4.08 billion yuan, a drop of 55% compared to the same period of the previous year, according to figures published by the company. In this context, maintaining prices without making a move has become unsustainable for the company. They are not alone. Chery, Xiaomi and the Huawei Aito brand prices have also increased on models with similar advanced driving systems in recent months. William Li, founder and CEO of Nio, counted in January that the biggest cost pressure of the year would not come from raw materials, but from memory. What changes for the buyer. The founding promise of “God’s Eye” was that autonomous driving would no longer be an expensive privilege. As we counted almost a year agothe experience of the system on the highway (even in the most economical model, the Dolphin Surf/Seagull, which sells for around 9,000 euros in China at the exchange rate) was genuinely impressive. Lane keeping was impeccable, autonomous lane changes were well executed and traffic management rivaled other premium range systems. BYD even planned to distribute it as standard in all its models, regardless of the price. Although that narrative is not dead, it is beginning to have nuances. At the moment, the version with LiDAR (the most capable) is already a payment option that has just become 21% more expensive. And now what. From Counterpoint Research they point that the blow will be uneven: low-end models simply will not carry this technology, and high-end ones have less price-sensitive buyers. The greatest impact falls on the mid-segment, where BYD’s value proposition was most disruptive. As the markets are, we will have to wait to find out what direction the company finally takes. Cover image | BYD In Xataka | Cuba is experiencing a brutal energy crisis, so a Cuban has used ingenuity to fuel his car: charcoal

Someone has created the first complete advanced malware by vibecoding with AI. It’s called Voidlink and it leaves an important question

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For a long time, develop malware advanced seemed reserved for actors with experience, time and considerable technical capacity, especially in an environment in which operating systems and many platforms have been tightening their defenses. But the table is changing. What we have seen in recent years is that artificial intelligence not only serves to summarize texts or answer questions, it can also very visibly accelerate the software creation when given precise instructions. And that leaves us facing a reality that is difficult to ignore: the same tool that simplifies legitimate tasks can also reduce part of the effort necessary to create malicious code. That change begins to take concrete form with VoidLink. In his analysisCheck Point presents it as one of the strongest evidence so far of advanced malware developed largely with the help of AI. There is, however, an important nuance in the investigation itself: the company assures that it detected it at an early stage, that it was not deployed against victims and that it was not used in active attacks. But that is precisely why the discovery is so revealing, because it allowed access to development materials that rarely come to light. How VoidLink was built and why it changes the dashboard VoidLink was not, at least on paper, a minor piece or a rudimentary experiment. The cybersecurity firm describes it as a malware framework for Linux with a modular architecture, designed to maintain stealthy and prolonged access in cloud environments. In his analysis he mentions components such as eBPF and LKM rootkits, as well as specific modules for cloud enumeration and subsequent activities in container environments. That level of maturity is just what separates it from other previous cases associated with simpler code. One of the most striking twists in the case is who seems to have been behind it. Check Point explains that, due to its internal structure and the pace of evolution observed, VoidLink gave the impression of having come from a large team, with different profiles and a fairly defined work plan. But the evidence collected by the firm points to something very different: a single actor who, according to the investigation, would have had AI support during different phases of development. There is also another relevant element: that actor would not be a rookie, but rather someone with a solid technical base and previous experience in cybersecurity. The most revealing part of the case is how the project would have been built. The firm describes a working method based on what it calls Spec Driven Development that works as follows: You define what you want to build This idea is translated into architecture, tasks, sprints and delivery criteria The implementation is delegated to the model. In the exposed materials, development plans, technical documentation, coding standards, deployment and testing guides appeared, as well as an organization by teams and phases that supports this model. One of the recovered artifacts, dated December 4, 2025, further suggests that VoidLink had already reached a functional phase in less than a week and exceeded the 88,000 lines of code. That is precisely what separates VoidLink from other precedents. Check Point maintains that this is the strongest evidence of malware created almost entirely with the help of AI. “This is the first confirmed case of advanced AI-generated malware, created with the speed, structure and sophistication of an entire engineering organization,” claims the company. The question now is how far malicious actors can go with these types of techniques. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana | Check Point In Xataka | The Booking hack is a little more disturbing: “Tracking phishing” attacks are here to stay

the secret “eye” of its most advanced anti-missile system

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In modern conflicts, some military systems operate at speeds greater than Mach 5 and they are capable of distinguishing targets in mid-flight without emitting a single signal, guided only by the heat they detect hundreds of kilometers away. These technologies, designed to be invisible and virtually unrecoverable, rarely leave any trace when they fail. But when they do they are a danger from what they say. The chance find. Yes, because someone in Syria has found something completely unexpected in the desert and has uploaded a video to the networks: nothing less than one of the secret “eyes” of Washington’s most advanced anti-missile system, a key piece of the THAAD system which should rarely appear outside of highly controlled environments. The discovery, supposedly in the southwest of the country near areas where US batteries operate in Israel and Jordan, shows not only the infrared sensor but substantial parts of the interceptor in a surprisingly intact state, pointing to a failure during an interception in the midst of the regional war and turning what should have been an invisible process into a tangible, recorded event and potentially exploitable. How the THAAD “eye” works. As we said, the component found is not a simple fragment, but the system that allows the interceptor to “see” its target, an advanced infrared sensor that guides the kill vehicle call after separating from the booster rocket and freeing itself from its front cover. This system detects the heat of the missile enemy without emitting signals, which makes it resistant to electronic interference, and works together with a complex set of small propellants that adjust their trajectory with millimeter precision to achieve a direct impact at hypersonic speeds, all without the need for explosives, in a process where each microsecond and each adjustment determine success or failure. THAAD A failure that changes everything. And here comes the importance of the discovery. The fact that both the kill vehicle and its cover appeared together and relatively intact suggests that something went wrong in the sequence of interception, although it is not clear whether it was a technical problem, a loss of target or a systems failure self-destruct devices designed precisely to avoid this type of situation. In any case, what was supposed to disappear in the sky has ended up on the ground, and that detail is crucial because it breaks one of the fundamental premises of these systems: that their most sensitive technology never be exposed in sight of no one. The strategic value of the meeting. Recovering this type of technology offers any adversary a unique opportunity to analyze from within one of the most sophisticated air defense systems, if not the most, unraveling how it detects targetshow it discriminates threats and what its real limitations are, something that could translate into new countermeasures, improvements in own systems or even attempts at replication. For countries like Iran, Russia or China itself that they already observe the system’s performance in current combat, the possibility of having physical access to its components would multiply the value of that intelligence and reduce the American technological advantage. A war that leaves traces. If you will, the episode also reflects a reality that is increasingly evident in modern conflicts: the intensive use of advanced weapons increases the probability that critical pieces will end up by the wayside. in unwanted handswhether due to failures, demolitions or simple operational wear. We had already talked about the problem that Washington has with the demolition of their radars more advanced by Iran, and with THAAD being used constantly against ballistic missiles in the Middle East, it is not ruled out that scenes like this are repeated, turning each failed interception into something much more serious than a tactical error for the American side: a possible knowledge leak strategic for his enemies. Image | x, US Army In Xataka | To rescue the pilot lost in Iran, the US has told a story worthy of Spielberg. Some explosive images tell a very different story In Xataka | The US is going to end its war in the Middle East with a very uncomfortable reality: Iran had years of advantage underground

Taiwan produces 90% of the world’s advanced chips. Its natural gas reserves last exactly 12 days

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In global energy markets, alarm bells do not always ring loudly; Sometimes all you have to do is watch where the boats are sailing. While the West observes the already known Third Gulf War With a mixture of horror and remoteness, Asia is suffering the direct impact. The colossal Ras Laffan facility in Qatar—which processes about a fifth of global liquefied natural gas (LNG)— has suffered damage by 17% of its infrastructure after the Iranian attacks. 12 days. At the exact center of the geopolitical target is Taiwan. The island has a practical monopoly on the world’s most advanced chips, but its “silicon shield” hangs by an extremely fragile logistical thread: an energy supply chain whose legal security threshold requires a minimum of just 11 to 12 days of natural gas reserves. The fatal panorama in Asia. Asia is on the front line of this fuel crisis as it buys more than 80% of the crude oil that transits through the blocked Strait of Hormuz. The nations of the region have had to quickly dust off the survival manuals of the COVID-19 era. Philippines has become the first country in declaring a state of “national energy emergency”, warning of an imminent danger and turning to coal to reduce costs. In South Korea, the government has asked its citizens Take shorter showers, use public transportation, and avoid charging your phones at night. Sri Lanka declared on Wednesdays as a holiday to save fuel, and in Thailand, officials have received the order to take off their suits, use the stairs and telework. china from chill. However, the contrast with China it’s abysmal. While its neighbors panic, the Asian giant observes the chaos coldly. Five years ago, Xi Jinping ordered to secure the country’s “energy rice bowl.” Today, thanks to a massive accumulation of sanctioned crude oil (bought cheaply from Russia or Iran), the shielding of renewables and a vehicle park where electric cars are the majority, China has built an invisible Great Wall that isolates it from fossil volatility. A trade war against the clock. This hydrocarbon drought not only turns off the lights, but paralyzes the industry. According to Commonwealth Magazinethe petrochemical and plastics sector has been the first major victim. The giant Formosa Petrochemical has had to issue force majeure notices after running out of raw materials, and prices of key materials such as ABS (used in car parts) have soared by up to 50%. At a logistical level, a trade war has broken out ruthless battle between Europe and Asia to seize the few available LNG shipments. Spot prices in Asia have doubled, and ships originally sailing to Spain or France are diverting their course to the Pacific in the face of more lucrative offers. In this Darwinian scenario, South Asia is acting as the global “shock absorber”: price-sensitive countries, such as Pakistan or Bangladesh, cannot compete and are forced to destroy demand or paralyze industries, leaving gas available for the giants that can afford it. To mitigate the blow on their own streets, governments like Japan They plan to inject billions in subsidies, while Taiwan has committed to absorb 60% of the increase in crude oil prices. Taiwan’s “Achilles heel” and the check on chips. If there is a critical point in this crisis, It is the island of Taiwan. In 2025, Taiwan relied on imports to meet 95% of its energy needs, including more than 99% of its oil and natural gas demand. Before the war, it received more than 38% of its annual natural gas supply and approximately 70% of its crude oil from the Middle East. The structural problem is time. While nations like South Korea have the capacity to store gas for 52 days and Japan for three weeks, Taiwan is walking on the wire. As pointed out Bloombergis an almost non-existent room for maneuver for an island where electricity generation based on natural gas has expanded to almost 48%. An immediate buffer. To avoid collapse in the short term, the Taiwanese Ministry of Economy has acted quickly with a checkbook. Minister Kung Ming-hsin has confirmed that supply planning is already covered for March, April and May, and they have even secured half of their replacement agreements for the month of June. Away from the imminent blackout, the island’s reserves have managed to remain above the safety threshold of 12 days since the fighting broke out. However, this short-term patch does not turn off the alarms. The real danger lurks in the summer, when high temperatures historically trigger electricity demand. A prolonged blackout: global chaos. The semiconductor sector contributes around 20% of Taiwan’s GDP. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which produces about 90% of the chips most advanced in the world (vital for AI and military technology), alone consumes approximately 9% of all electricity on the island. But gas is not the only missing input; Added to this is the disruption in the supply of secretive but vital raw materials such as bromine and helium (a third of which is processed in Qatar). The experts They warn that if the interruption of helium exceeds 14 days, the chip production lines will go into technical stoppage. With summer just around the corner and electricity demand about to skyrocket, the island operates at its limit. The pressure is so immense that the historically reluctant Taiwanese government is already openly debating the reactivation of nuclear energy, recognizing that the explosive growth in electricity demand linked to the development of Artificial Intelligence is changing all the rules of the energy game. The geopolitical board: opportunism and contradictions. Beijing has not been slow to intervene. Taking advantage of the panic, the Chinese government has thrown a poisoned lifeline. According to Chen Binhua, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, collected in South China Morning Postthe Asian giant offered the island a stable, abundant and cheap energy supply in exchange for accepting “peaceful reunification.” Taipei’s response was blunt: Vice Minister of Economy, Ho Chin-tsang, rejected the offer, calling it “cognitive … Read more

It had been listed as “scrap” in a museum for 100 years. Now we know that it is the piece that advanced Egyptian engineering by 2,000 years.

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If we think about the ancient egyptian technologythe images that come to mind are the monumental ones pyramids of giza or the great obelisks of the New Kingdom. However, the foundations of this technological feat were forged long before, as pointed out by a new archaeological study that has identified the oldest rotating metal drill in Egypt, a discovery that advances the mastery of this tool by more than two millennia and that rewrites the history of the technology in the Nile Valley. Where was it found? The story of this discovery, the truth is, could fit into a series called “Archaeological CSI”, since it all started with an identified object like a tiny piece of metal that measures just 63 millimeters and weighs 1.5 grams. This was excavated a century ago in tomb 3932 of the Badari cemetery in Upper Egypt, and had lain forgotten ever since. Literally ignored in a drawer at the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, was this object that caught the attention of a research team that decided to follow his trail using the most modern technology. A drill. What was initially classified as a simple and insignificant punch was actually a bow drill. This is the conclusion of this new exhaustive analysis of the piece, where they have been able to see unmistakable marks of its mechanical use such as rotational grooves, a specific curvature for tension and microscopic remains of leather rope. How it worked. What today is a drill that works connected to electricity, in ancient times, the bow drill worked by winding the string of a bow around an axle that held the drill bit. In this way, by moving the bow back and forth, the drill bit rotated at high speed. Its importance. As the researcher points out, the Egyptians had the ability to master this rotation technology more than two millennia before the first sets of drills that humanity knew today. This once again shows us how advanced it could be in its context in the art of construction. Unusual alloy. The big question here is how such an ancient tool could drill hard materials without deforming. And the answer is in chemistry. In this case, the researchers they used portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and saw that the drill was not made of just copper, but was an alloy of arsenic, nickel, lead and silver. A combination that is not coincidental, since the presence of arsenic gave the copper a much higher hardness, transforming the metal into a high-performance tool capable of resisting continuous friction. The trade. Beyond the mechanical value, for historians this mixture of metals is also really important because it points to strong commercial connections with the eastern Mediterranean, revealing that predynastic Egypt was not only innovating technologically, but was connected to a global network of exchange of exotic materials long before the unification of the pharaohs. The technological history. Until now, the official narrative placed the perfection of these rotating metal tools much later in the Egyptian timeline. But now, this tiny forgotten object forces us to recalibrate our understanding of human ingenuity. Images | Martin Odler Osama Elsayed In Xataka | To transport us to Ancient Egypt, researchers have been doing one thing for months: smelling mummies from 5,000 years ago

While the world fights for the most advanced chips, there is a company making gold with the ones that go inside your washing machine

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If you have walked through an industrial estate, you have surely come across the typical warehouse with the sign “Spare Parts and Bearings (Insert name)”. And it’s easy for you, at that moment, to wonder what the hell a bearing is and how the rest of the businesses are closing, except for ‘Rodamientos Paco’. Well, in the world of technology there is also a ‘Paco Bearings’. Is called Texas Instruments and, in full era of sophisticated chips, artificial intelligence and quantum computingis breaking it with something very specific. Boring chips. In short. Companies are in the middle of the results presentation period. In this round, the managers inform their shareholders about the direction of the company, while allowing us to learn about data on upcoming devices or business plans. Texas Instruments usually goes unnoticed in these more ‘techie’ times, but they are finishing up a fiscal year with very positive numbers. The fourth quarter they closed with 4,420 million and anticipate increasing to 4,680 million in the first quarter. In the last three months, its share value has increased by 18%. Its shares are among the highest among companies in the same sector and, as we said before, the curious thing is that it is doing all this almost silently. Live outside the hype. You can constantly read information about cutting-edge chips on Xataka. It is true that the current nature of components is marked by the current RAM memory crisis either of SSDsbut the snapdragonthe Apple Silicon, the latest from NVIDIA or AMD It is what usually marks the conversation. They are the most sophisticated and interesting chips, but a coffee maker does not need a chip like that. That’s where Texas Instruments comes into play. Because calling their chips “boring” is not an exaggeration. They are outside the AI ​​hype, the data centers and the most exciting features because its market is different: sensors, connectivity, controllers. Where are Texas Instruments chips? In routers, smart refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, as secondary chips in televisions, in remote controls, in calculators or in smart smoke detectors. But they not only make chips, but also another series of integrated circuits for wireless communications, signal processing in all types of devices and even sensors that detect tire pressure, engine temperatures or the air conditioning system. Texas Instruments chips and sensors are in… everything. Even in weapons. An example of a tiny sophisticated chip in the headphone stick… with only 16 KB of RAM. Because you don’t need more Huge investment. And the company is not sitting idly by with the huge amount of money it is making with its ubiquity strategy. a few days ago, Bloomberg reported on the agreement that Texas Instruments had reached to buy Silicon Labs. Also American, also with ‘boring’ chips that They are inside ‘things’ of all kinds. The operation is not closed, but the smell of it caused Silicon Labs shares to increase 51% to more than $206. The curious thing? That Texas Instruments is willing to pay more: up to $231 per share to investors. The operation has not been closed, but there is talk of a purchase of 7.5 billion dollars, well above the 4.5 billion that Silicon Labs is “worth.” Great year ≠ perfect year. All of this is… outrageous, but it indicates something very specific: they are spending a lot of money to reinforce a huge, stable market that goes unnoticed in a time when everything revolves around artificial intelligence and sophisticated technology. The purchase of Silicon Labs, paying such a high premium per share, shows that they know very well what they are getting into and the value of a market in which they are a key player. But one thing must also be noted: although revenues rose, annual profits did not increase at the same rate. He total invoiced increased by 13%, but as they have also invested more, this increase in costs reduced the profit margin, which “barely” increased by 4.2%, with some quarters being worse than others (in Q4 they fell by 3.5%). They haven’t had a perfect fiscal year, but there is one thing that is undeniable: they are still the kings of their niche. If we can describe being everywhere as a “niche”. In Xataka | While half the world looks for an alternative to Taiwan, Jensen Huang is very clear about the harsh reality: there is no

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