avoid

Starlink has made 144,000 maneuvers in six months to avoid collisions

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Starlink satellites executed 144,404 collision evasion maneuvers between December and May, according to SPACEX DATA LOCATED BEFORE THE FCC. That is equivalent to a maneuver every two minutes. Why is it important. Each evasion is an opportunity for human or technical error that could trigger a destructive chain reaction. Kessler syndrome – COLLISCES WASHING THAT WOULD MAKE A COMPLETE ORBITE – STARTS TO STOP SUMMARY FOR SCIENCE. The figures. Starlink has tripled its evasion maneuvers with respect to the previous period. To contextualize: Isro, the Indian Space Agencyhe has only made 122 maneuvers in 14 years. Between 2022 and 2023 he had whether Pico: 23. The context. The low land orbit has become a kind of highway. A saturated highway. Spacex has launched more than 6,000 satellitesand plan to deploy up to 42,000. Amazon, Oneweb and several countries prepare their own constellations. The democratization of space brings obvious benefits: global Internet, land observation, emergency communications. The problem is the hidden cost of orbital congestion. Between the lines. Spacex has asked for “uniform report standards” for the entire industry. Translation: We need clear play rules before someone causes a catastrophe that affects everyone. The threat. A single error can be translated into thousands of spatial garbage fragments traveling 28,000 km/h. In addition, each fragment becomes a projectile capable of destroying other satellites, which would create more fragments in a chain reaction. And now what. The industry is developing autonomous evasion systems with which They promise to reduce maneuvers up to 50%. But the real solution and long term goes through international regulation and coordination between operators. The space is immense, but not infinite. Maybe it’s time to learn to share it. In Xataka | He cheated his wife, the army and the Government of Ireland: the incredible history of the man who passed through Astronaut Outstanding image | Spacex

Thousands of people recorded a B-52 at a fair. Shortly after, a commercial flight had to maneuver sharply to avoid it

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Skywest flight passengers, operated as Delta Connection between Minneapolis and Minot (North Dakota), starred in an unprecedented incident on Friday. The captain of Embraer 175 turned sharply The plane during the approximation by distinguishing a B -52 bomber from the American Air Force too close to its trajectory, which caused surprise and alarm on board. In a video recorded by the passenger Monica Green and Posted on Instagramthe pilot excuses the passengers: “Given their speed – they were military, I don’t know at what speed they were going, but they were much faster than us – I thought it was sure to turn around. They greatly apologize for the aggressive maneuver. It took me by surprise. This is not normal.” An unexpected event that is being investigated The FAA opened an investigation into the event on Monday. Skywest clarified thatdespite having permission to land, the flight made a frustrated approach maneuver By sighting another aircraft in its trajectory. The company is also evaluating the incident from its side. If you wonder what a B -52 was doing in that area, I was fulfilling a scheduled overflow for the North Dakota State Fair, As confirmed by the Air Force. That event is held in Minot, where a civil airport and an air base coexist. The military statement specifies that “The tower did not report the commercial plane”And, after exceeding the fairgrounds, he was ordered at the bomber to move three kilometers west. Tiktok @Theruralrose user recorded the two aircraft in the air from the North Dakota State Fair Platform monitoring data Flightradar24 reveal that he Embraer 175 He made an abrupt turn to the right, recovered altitude and remained waiting before restarting the approach. FAA added that air traffic control in Minot is managed by an external companywhose operators have “the same training and qualification requirements as those of FAA.” Green told CNN: “It was a very right turn and then he went quite to the sides. I looked out the window and all I saw was the grass.” The Embraer 175 belongs to the E -Jet family, a range of regional aircraft manufactured by the Brazilian Embraer. It is a narrow fuselage design thought for short and medium radio routes. Normally it transports between 76 and 88 passengers according to single or double class configurations, with turbofan engines GE CF34-8E and a vCruise elocity near 890 km/h (Mach 0.82). Its typical reach exceeds 3,300 km. Images | Embraer | @Theruralrose (Tiktok) | US Air Force In Xataka | Ryanair workers have a good reason for passing passengers with too big suitcases: collect more

The big problem of marine wind is cables. Germany has a plan to avoid them

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In the middle of the North Sea, an anchored barge off the German coast does not transport merchandise produces fuel. It is not science fiction: it is the first floating floor that converts wind, seawater and air into energy for the future. Short. In the port of Bremerhaven, Germany floats a rare platform. At first glance it looks like another industrial barge, but in reality it is a floating laboratory that prepares for something unpublished: to manufacture synthetic fuels directly in the sea. More in depth. The project His name is PTX-Wind and is part of the national H2Mare initiative, focused on the production of clean energy on the high seas. It is promoted by the Institute of Technology of Karlsruhe (Kit), together with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Technical University of Berlin. The installation has not yet left the port, but it is already ready for its next phase: operating in real conditions against Helgoland. The purpose of the kit with this test is clear: show that e-combustible in the high seas can be generated, without electricity or land infrastructure. No cables, network or land firm. One of the most striking things of this platform is that it is not connected to any electricity grid. It works totally autonomously, using only wind energy, seawater and the surrounding air. What you get from there transforms it into liquid fuels ready to use, without net emissions of CO₂. According to Professor Roland Dittmeyer, director of the Institute of Microprocess Engineering of the Kit and project coordinator, this installation not only seeks to demonstrate the technical viability of the system, but also learn to climb it for future large industrial platforms. The heart of the barge. Inside, this platform integrates several advanced technologies that, together, form a Power -to-X (PTX) chain (PTX). In other words, they convert renewable electricity into fuels or other chemicals. The giant laboratory has a first phase of Direct air capture (DAC)which extracts carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. After that, desalination to transform seawater into water suitable for electrolysis. That water is divided into hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis fed by wind energy. Finally, a synthesis is used Fischer-Tropsch to combine hydrogen with CO₂ and generate liquid hydrocarbons, also known as e-combustible. The entire system has been designed to operate in a modular, flexible and disconnected way of the electricity grid, adapting to the natural intermittency of the wind. This allows maintaining active production even in variable conditions, a key aspect for its replication at an industrial scale. First in your class? While there are other hydrogen production projects on land or offshore wind platforms, none until now had gathered all these pieces in a single floating and autonomous structure. According to Interesting Engineeringthis is the first plant that converts marine renewable energy into liquid fuel without depending on the mainland or electrical networks. The point is that not everything can plug. Today, many sectors already advance towards electrification: cars, heating, even some trains. But there are industries – as aviation, maritime transport or heavy chemistry – that still depend on liquid fuels with high energy density. The e-fuels, like those produced by this platform, They are a neutral alternative in carbon that could replace diesel or kerosene without the need to completely redesign airplanes or ships. And the best: they do not compete for agricultural lands nor consume fresh water. When operating directly in the sea, they take advantage of the wind potential and avoid costly terrestrial infrastructure. According to the Federal Ministry of Investigation of Germany (BMBF)also helps relieve pressure on local electrical networks. Not only diesel. Although for now the main objective is liquid fuels, the team behind PTX-Wind is also investigating other possible production routes, such as Synthetic methane (compatible with current gas networks), The green methanol (useful for maritime transport or chemical industry) and renewable ammonia (It works as a hydrogen bearer or as fertilizer without emissions). The sea as a new energy border. More than a prototype, the PTX-Wind platform represents a scalable and adaptable model for the production of fuels in the high seas. Its modular design would allow to replicate this technology in different coastal areas of the world, creating a distributed network of floating refineries of clean energy. At a time when climatic solutions are urgent and promises often stay on paper, this floating barge is a tangible example that innovation is already out there, literally floating in the sea. Image | Unspash and Kit Xataka | There is a place where Spain is losing a good part of the renewable electricity that generates: the Toledo-Ciudad Real-Granada axis

How can we avoid its consequences

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Surely we have heard dozens of times of acid rain without knowing exactly what it is. It is also possible that we have a cartoon image of this very real phenomenon, a rain that corrodes and destroys everything it touches. There is something true in this but, of course, reality is a bit more complex. First of all we must answer an obvious question: What is acid rain. We refer to acid rain to a rain that drags acid components. These components can of different types, for example nitric acid or sulfuric acid, so there is no “standard” composition of acid rain. Acid rain does not have to be strictly, rain. Other similar events, such as fog or hail, can also make the acidic compounds of the atmosphere intermingle with water and give rise to “acid rainfall.” In a way we can see acid rain as a variety of phenomena with a common denominator in these Acid components. The result is more acidic than normal rainfall: if the rain usually has a pH of 5.6, acid rain tends to have values pH between 4.2 and 4.4. How acid rain occurs Acid rain usually begins with atmospheric emissions of compounds such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) or some nitrogen oxide (NOX). These compounds can be issued by the industry or means of transport (although they can also arise naturally) and dragged from industrial and urban areas to distant areas. In the atmosphere, these compounds can end up mixing with oxygen, water, and other components, unleashing chemical reactions that give rise to the formation of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. These acids are later captured by water itself, forming acid rain. They can also end up precipitating themselves on land, vegetation or terrestrial waters, in what we call the phenomenon of dry deposition. How it affects the environment According to Explains the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the effects of acid rain can be seen more clearly in aquatic environments. Although the increase in water acidity can be harmful to many species (especially young), the main risk is indirect. When acid rain falls on the ground, it can interact with clay particles in these and Extract aluminum They could contain. Due to runoff, part of this aluminum ends in rivers and lakes, affecting aquatic life. This aluminum can also be absorbed by plants, which implies that acid rain can also affect plants, not corroding them as we can imagine but intoxicating them from the ground. It can also make the ground lose nutrients that plants need. Different species may have different levels of tolerance regarding these impacts, however we must take into account that ecosystems are complex systems where the loss of a piece can affect many others. EPA puts a Example with frogs: While these can endure a pH of up to 4, some of the insects they feed cannot survive in waters with a pH below 5.5. How it affects people Acid rain also generates impacts on people. Again, we can rule out the idea of direct damage as skin damage derived from contact with this rain. “Walking in acid rain, or even swimming in a lake affected by acid rain, is not more dangerous for humans than walking in normal rain or swimming in non-acid lakes,” Explain EPA itself. That does not mean that acid rain does not affect us, only that it does so indirectly. Acid rain can also expose us to heavy metals. Studies on the impact of aluminum are not conclusive But we know that acidification can increase bioconversion of mercury to methylmercury and its accumulation in fish. In addition, since this rain can affect plants, it can also influence agriculture, for example altering the pH of agrarian soils, making them more acidic. This rain can also affect the constructions and public furniture. Here corrosion does play an important role since acidic particles interact with metal, stone and paint causing damage to the coating of buildings, statues and other elements. The presence of acid rain is also an indicator of the existence of torqueSO2 and NOX ticleswhich in themselves can be harmful to humans when they are inhaled. That is, the same particles that cause acid rain put our health at risk to a greater extent than acid rain itself. Consequences for the planet of acid rain We indicated before the compounds that cause acid rain can travel displaced by atmospheric winds and currents. This implies that sometimes the emissions of certain industrial areas end up causing problems in vegetated areas to hundreds or thousands of kilometers away. That is, acid rain can have global impacts in addition to premises. Can acid rain be avoided? The big question then is what we can do to avoid this. The answer is In emission control of the particles that cause this problem, that is, of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The main sources of these pollutants are the burning of fossil fuels in different sectors (transport, electricity generation or industry) is largely responsible for This type of emissions. Various limitations introduced Throughout the last decades (The last the imposed in the maritime sector to sulfur emissions) have kept at bay the potential environmental disaster derived from acid rain. In Xataka | Acid rain, oxide in the neighborhoods and mercury in the fountains: this is the panorama of contamination in Gijón Image | Patrick Hendry / Wal_172619

What is and how to avoid it

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Let’s explain A new type of WhatsApp scamin which they steal the account by means of a video call and then take advantage of access to it to start asking for money for money for Bizum To all your contacts. Therefore a double scam, because they take the account and use it to cheat other contacts. We are going to start this article explaining the functioning of this new cybercrime method, so you can identify it in the event that they try to use it against you. Then, we will give you some tips to avoid it. How are you stealing with a video call It all starts when the user receives a video call from a contact. The video call is strange, since the screen looks dark and you can’t see who is on the other side. This person will tell you that he has problems with the mobile, Power that you share the screen To see if with these changes the mobile begins to work. When you share your screen, the cybercrime will try to identify in your WhatsApp account. When I try to do it, it will come to you An SMS with the verification code. And there is the trick, when the message arrives while you share a screen, The attacker can see the codeand use it to access your WhatsApp account. Once the criminal steals your account, he can combine two ways to proceed. You can start asking for money for Bizum to other contacts making you pass through you, and you can also make a WhatsApp video call to steal their account also, and start an expansive wave effect. The contacts that receive the video call will think that it is you, and will try to help … falling into the trap. How to avoid falling into the scam Here, the problem of this scam is that cybercriminal will call you using the number of one of your contactsmaking stores to trust that perhaps if you have problems. But the main advice is Do not share screen if you are not watching the other person’s face. Do not share your screen with your friends, with your children or your parents if you are not watching the camera through the camera. If they call you from the number of someone you know well, then you can directly Ask some question that only that person can knowabout some common experience you have. You can explain that you know that there are scams of this type and that you prefer to make sure. Never share a verification code In no other way. These codes are sent to verify that whoever is trying to enter an account is you, sending you by SMS a code to verify that it is you who is in front of the mobile that uses the phone number to whose account you want to enter. In Xataka Basics | Alternatives to whatsapp: the best messaging applications if you want to change the finish line for another

The great myths of heat that we should avoid in summer

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The heat wave It crosses its peak during yesterday’s days and today, so staying fresh and hydrated becomes fundamental. This is not always easy: sometimes intuition deceives us, sometimes those who lead us to error are the myths we hear again and again. That is why it is convenient to review some errors in which we can fall easily. Cold water, hot water. To stay hydrated it is essential to drink liquids and, especially, water. But,at what temperature? It depends on what we want to achieve and the characteristics of the heat we are going through. We know that consuming a hot drink can make our body respond breaking. That is why in certain circumstances, drink a hot drink, like coffee can make us cool. But there is an exception: this phenomenon is based on the ability of sweat to cool, but this capacity It looks reduced in high humidity conditions. That is: a hot drink can cool us only if the heat is rather dry. Water of time? If we resort to this technique, we must also take into account the fact that sweat implies a loss of liquids and therefore a greater risk of dehydration. If our objective is not so much cooling and replenishing fluids, perhaps the best idea is to consume “time” water or sympleously fresh (not cold). It is the conclusion of A study Posted in the magazine International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine In 2013. This analysis, focused on seeing how water temperature affected the rehydration process, observed that consuming water at a temperature of about 16º could facilitate the rehydration process. Fresh beer. Taking a fresh beer in summer is common to fight heat. A moderate consumption can have that effect, but as we add alcohol to our body, the chances of the cylinder head shot will increase. First because alcohol works as a vasodilator, which can alter the distribution of heat in our body. This effect It makes alcohol more dangerous in winter, when you can transmit a false feeling of warmth, but it can also affect how we feel in summer. Perhaps the greatest risk of going with beer in summer is, however, hydration. This drink has a diuretic effect that can make us lose water at a rate greater than the replacement, which can approach dehydration. Fans, yes or no. The fan is one of the most useful tools when fighting heat, but it is a tool with its limitations and even inconvenience. TO Air conditioning differencefans do not cool the air. What they do is to facilitate that our body heat is blurred by sending us colder air than the one around us. The problem is that, after a certain temperature (about 35º), the air that comes to us is not colder than the one around us, so the fan will not help us. Moisture It is also important since these devices work worse in very dry environments. They can also cause us problems when we use them for a long time, such as when we sleep with them, disseminating allergens or drying the atmosphere of our stay. Ventilate spaces: Not so simple. Keeping our very ventilated home is important throughout the year, but correctly handling ventilation in summer can also help us refresh our home, improving thermal comfort and saving energy. Now, It is not right simply With opening the windows, there are important factors to take into account. Of course, the time is one of the keys: if we want to refresh our house it is best to do it before the arrival of the daytime heat or once it has dissipated. We will also otimize the ventilation if instead of opening windows to right -handed and sinister we open windows in opposite points of the house in order to take advantage of the thermal difference to generate stronger currents that are taken with it the heat and moisture. In Xataka | Heat wave in Spain 2025: 7 tools to look at the temperature where you live Image | Lucas Sandor

The oil ships are changing route to avoid the Ormuz Strait. Who will pay the detour: We

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Hostilities between Israel and Iran have reached a new peak of tension. The impact has not been expected: The price of oil rises and all looks point to the Ormuz Strait. Through that narrow step it circulates almost a fifth of the world crude, and although it has not been blocked, the tension is already altering routes, more than transportation and raising the pressure on the global energy market. A global bottleneck. The Ormuz Strait connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabic Sea, and is under the control of Iran. Only in 2024, more than 1.4 million barrels daily on ships were transported. According to Bloombergalso manages about 27% of the global oil liquefied gas flow (LPG). A partial or total obstruction It would directly affect energy powers such as China and India, as well as Iran, which has the third largest oil reserve on the planet. An unprecedented climb. Amid the registration of the conflict, many shipowners have begun to avoid the area or demand much higher risk premiums to cross it. According to Financial Timesthe result has been a vertiginous rise in charter prices. According to Clarksons Research figures cited by the British media, the daily rate to rent a VLCC (Vary Large Crude Carrier) that transports 2 million barrels of crude oil from the Gulf to China jumped from $ 19,998 to $ 47,609 in just a week. And not only oil transport has been increased: tank ships that transfer refined products, such as gasoline and diesel, have also doubled their rates, reaching more than $ 51,000 daily on that same route. The gas feels the impact. The tension has caused a slight fall in maritime traffic in the area, and some countries have begun to take precautions. Catar, through his state company Qatarenergy – the world’s largest exporter in the world – officially recommended to its vessels, care to cross the Strait, being the first measure known by an energy producer of the Gulf, According to Bloomberg. The tension is intensified. Iran, under international sanctionsuse a “ghost fleet”: ships that operate outside the international regulatory system, without valid insurance or security certifications. This not only represents a legal risk, but also operational. On June 17, Petrolero Front Eagle, of the Norwegian Frontline company, collided with one of these ships just after leaving the Gulf, According to Reuters. That same day, two other oil tankers collided and even caught fire, while two others were approached by Iranian vessels, which led to a “maximum alert” in the area. According to Richard Fulford-Smith, director of the firm Eden Ocean, cited by the Financial Timessome oil buyers are opting for suppliers other than Iran who use regulated vessels. This is pushing the demand towards the legitimate fleet and further increases the global rates. And now what? Uncertainty has already pushed some companies to redirect their routes outside the Persian Gulf, despite the additional cost. China and India could increase their purchases to suppliers such as Saudi Arabia or Russia, which do not depend on the Strait. So, some vessels are demanding higher risk premiums to cross the area, while others prefer to avoid it completely. For its part, United States has begun to reinforce its military presence. Can there be a real closure? Although there has been no official closure of the Strait, the tension has raised the fears that it may occur. Oxford Economics has recently warned In Bloomberg that the price of the Brent barrel could reach $ 130 if a total blockade occurs. And the most worrying: an eventual risk premium could be maintained even after a reopening. For now, the flows continue, but with greater caution and an increasingly dense naval presence. Energy risk. The Ormuz Strait is still open, but fear of a block is more present than ever. For now, the flow of crude and gas continues, although conditioned by a conflict that threatens to spread. The tension has not paralyzed trade, but has more expensive. And that, in the energy market, is enough to light alarms. Image | Pexels Xataka | A fear has taken over the world oil industry: the closure of the Ormuz Strait by Iran

In a desperate attempt to avoid the blackout, Ree tried to start a gas center seven minutes before the disaster

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The Official reports on the blackout They reveal the maneuvers to counterreloj that the network operator did to try to stabilize the system while rushing into the collapse. T-7 minutes. In the moments of maximum tension (never better) prior to the historic blackout that left the Iberian Peninsula without light on April 28, Red Electric took a desperate measure: he ordered the start of a combined gas cycle center to try to stabilize an electrical system that crumbled at times. The call to the owner of the plant, registered in official reportsthere was just seven minutes before the system collapsed completely at 12:33 at noon. However, the thermal power plant never coupled then The zero of tension It occurred first. It was not a typical morning. That April 28 were the perfect conditions to test the network: a relatively low energy demand, and a very high solar radiation that caused a massive predominance of photovoltaic generation. With a network dominated by the electronics of investors instead of the heavy turbines of the conventional generation, the tension already issued warning signals. At 11:00 in the morning, after a voltage climb, the transformers of two Adif substations in Zaragoza were fired. But the situation became critical from 12:00, with the appearance of strong frequency oscillations that put the stability of the entire network in check. The oscillations. At 12:03, a first 0.6 Hz oscillation was detected, an unusual phenomenon that lasted for almost five minutes, forcing Red Eléctrica to take emergency measures. Among them, reduce electricity exchanges with France and Portugal. It didn’t help much. At 12:19, a new 0.2 Hz oscillation shook the system. Given the seriousness of the situation and the need to “attach more conventional generation” to control the tension, Red Electrico contacted at 12:26 with the head of a combined cycle center in Andalusia to start urgently. The choice was not accidental. The group that could be attached faster in the southern zone was sought, one of the most affected by instability. The chosen central, which had decoupled at 9:00 in the morning, was “hot”, which allowed it a shorter start time: an hour and a half. The goal was to be fully operational at 2:00 p.m. Unfortunately, the system did not have that time. Just seven minutes after the starter order was given, at 12:33, a succession of waterfall generation, mainly due to surgeens, caused the total collapse of the peninsular electrical system. The measure, a last resort to avoid the greatest blackout in the recent history of Spain, “never consummated by the zero of tension.” Image | HRAD (CC by-SA 3.0) In Xataka | Many plants disconnected from the network when the blackout began. The problem is that some renewable did it before

There is already an autonomous community taking note of the blackout and putting measures to avoid it: Catalonia

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The electrical invoice It has risen After the blackout for the reinforcement system, but the real challenge is not only in reinforcing the system, but in transforming it. Catalonia has understood and got to work. Short. The Government of Catalonia has approved by urgent a new decree-law with the aim of increasing the resilience of the electrical system. The standard introduces reforms both in energy legislation and urban regulations to facilitate energy transition. Specifically, it modifies Decree Law 16/2019, oriented to climate emergency, and adapts the regulatory framework to accommodate energy storage through batteries. A double purpose. On the one hand, it streamlines the administrative process of renewable energy projects. On the other hand, and pioneer, regulates the installation of high -power batteries, both independent (Stand Alone) as hybridized with solar and wind farms. In addition, the Catalan Government has decided to grant these infrastructure the condition of higher public interest, which allows them to be installed even on non -urbanizable land, by legally equating them with technical services of public utility. This measure responds to an old demand for the energy storage sector in Spain, As it took place in the AEPIBAL Day. Treading the accelerator. The Generalitat has processed 94 Energy storage projects through batteries. Of these, 87 are independent and add up to 920 MW, while the other 7 are hybridized with renewable facilities and provide additional 22 MW. Catalonia thus becomes one of the first communities to create a specific regulatory framework for these technologies. The rest trapped in an obsolete framework. As experts in the energy sector pointed out To Xatakathe storage problem is not only technical, but also regulatory and economic. Today, batteries that are not linked to self -consumption cannot participate in balance markets, which hinders their profitability and slows its mass implementation. However, beyond the regulations, the future of storage will also depend on technological and economic evolution. Technologies like him Grid formingwhich allows batteries to stabilize the network imitating the inertia of traditional centrals, or the development of local micro -redes Able to operate autonomously, they are already being successfully tested. Criticisms have jumped. Battery deployment has also aroused social and critical resistance resistance. According to publicsome groups have warned of the risk that the energy transition becomes a new form of extractivism, without rethinking the consumption model. Specifically they have accused the project of the Korean company Lotte in Mont-Roig of the Camp. In addition, organizations such as the Observatori del Deute in Globalització (ODG) have remembered the same medium as the extraction of materials such as lithium, tungsten or sodium depends on mines in countries such as Chile or Australia, which reinforces the dependence of external resources and raises environmental and geopolitical dilemmas. A map yet to define. Catalonia wanted to advance with a strategy that seeks to combine energy resilience, administrative agility and technological impulse. Storage by batteries is not just a technical solution: it is an essential piece to balance an increasingly decentralized, renewable and exposed crisis system. The road is drawn. The question is whether the rest of Spain will know – and want – follow it on time. Image | Unspash and Unienergy technologies Xataka | The surprising thing is that the light is still on 99% of the time: the blackouts of Spain and London are a good example

TSMC will open a chip design center in Germany. It will not be enough to avoid the failure of Europe

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Just a few hours ago Paul de Bot, the president of the European subsidiary of TSMC, has announced that your company will build a semiconductor design center in Munich (Germany). This installation will be ready in a record time: During the third quarter of 2025. In fact, this Taiwanese integrated circuit manufacturer, The Major on the Planettrust that this installation starts its operations in just three months. The construction and tuning of a avant -garde chips factory requires investing at least four years in these processes before starting large -scale production, but the installation that TSMC will be tuned is not a factory: it is a design center. This is the reason why it is credible that may be ready in just three months. In fact, as its purpose is not to manufacture semiconductors does not need Nor lithography equipment No wafering processing machines. Paul de Bot has confirmed That this center will be dedicated to helping European customers from TSMC to design integrated high density, high performance and high efficiency circuits. These chips can be used by automobile industries, telecommunications or artificial intelligence (AI), among others. However, this project runs in parallel to the semiconductor production plant that TSMC is already building in Dresde (Germany). This factory is underway, but presumably will not start the operation until the end of 2027. This integrated circuit design center does nothing for Europe The arrival in Germany of this TSMC installation is good news, there is no doubt about that. However, his contribution to the aspirations of the old continent in the matter of chips production is irrelevant. On February 8, 2022 Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced that Europe wants to be a fundamental actor in The semiconductor industryand the first step to achieve this requires manufacturing 20% ​​of the planet chips in 2030. The new TSMC Chips Design Center will not produce semiconductors, so it will not quantitatively contribute to European aspirations It is evident that in the delicate current geopolitical situation Europe needs to be ambitious if it wants to increase its relevance in the semiconductor industry. Have ASML and Intel, Globalfoundries and TSMC facilities within its borders plays in its favor. However, The speech of European leaders It seems to be focused on quantity, and is not enough. The quality understood as the capacity of a chip to deliver added value is also fundamental. The new integrated circuit design center of TSMC presumably will deliver value to European companies, but, as we have seen, it will not produce semiconductors, so it will not quantitatively contribute to the aspirations of the old continent. It is better to have it than not to have it, there is no doubt about that, but its role in the objective of which we have spoken two paragraphs above will be inconsequential. In fact, it is very unlikely that Europe achieves its purpose. We do not say it, although we share it; The European Court of Accounts holds itwhich is nothing other than “the financial guardian” of the European Union. In The report that published At the end of last April he defends that the objective of achieving a fee of 20% in the world market for integrated circuits in 2030 It seems unattainable Because Europe is very far from the rhythm of production necessary to fill its ambitions. To achieve this production capacity, it would have to be four times higher in less than five years and is far from achieving those figures at the current development speed. Image | TSMC More information | Digitimes Asia | SCMP In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be. The machine that will manufacture them is close

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