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Big Tech is pouring billions of dollars into GPUs for AI. 95% are inactive

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When the COVID-19 pandemic began, toilet paper and yeast They flew from the supermarket. Paper because it is a basic good, but yeast because everyone was going to make a lot of bread in his house. That was the forecast, but we would really have to see how many of us ended up making bread. Well, something similar is happening in the data centers at the moment. Hyperscalers have spent billions and billions of dollars on GPUs for AI and, according to one report, 95% are idle most of the time. And all because of the fear of being left out. Kubernetes. Before getting into the matter, there is a concept that must be landed on. It is the one of the kubernetes. It is a kind of “operating system” in data centers, the foreman who organizes and monitors all the software that is being used. Imagine that a data center is a supermarket, the shelves are the servers and the products are the apps. Example of a control panel What this foreman does is find the perfect shelf to place the product in the most optimal way possible. In addition, he is constantly monitoring all the shelves at all times with the aim of not missing anything and ensuring that the data flow is perfect. It is, in short, a software that manages many physical servers in a very optimized way and 24/7. What’s happening. That said, the 2026 State of Kubernetes Optimization Report prepared by Cast AI has just revealed something: the tremendous inefficiency of data centers. They have analyzed about 23,000 kubernetes clusters in giants such as AWS (Amazon), Azure (Microsoft) and GCP (Google) and have discovered that the average GPU utilization of these data centers is just 5%. This translates another way: 95% are inactive most of the time, which implies that these companies are paying to get 20 times more computing capacity than they really need. Right now you might be wondering if it was worth it. destroy the RAM and SSD marketmaking computers, mobile phones, consoles and practically everything more expensive. And it is a question that makes all the sense in the world, but there is another interesting fact. To worse. As we see in TechRadarthose responsible for Cast AI point out that it is “the third year that we published this report and the numbers are getting worse.” Specifically, we are talking about CPU usage falling from 10% last year to 8% currently, while memory usage fell from 23% to 20%. Oversized needs. Something that the report also points out is that, although the use of equipment drops compared to the previous year, hyperscalers continue buying as if the world was going to end. CPU overprovisioning, as they describe it, increased from 40% to 69%. In the case of memory, it went to 79%. FOMO. A few weeks ago, one of the leaders of SMIC, the large foundry in China, already pointed out that Big Tech was buying all the resources that they will need, or that they think they will need, during the next decade… but in just a couple of years. They are investing a fortune in creating wide highways when there are no cars or real demand, and from Cast AI they are pointing in that same direction. Hyperscalers are buying piecemeal due to fear of being left out. It is what is known as FOMO or fear of missing outsomething that applies to many scenarios, but here it has to do with not wanting to come last in the race that is moving many millions from one place to another. This hoarding instinct is fueling a cycle of component shortages that affects consumers, but also the industry itself. According to the report, it makes some sense to want to buy everything as soon as possible because delivery times are long, but they are precisely so because everyone is buying more capacity than they need. Math doesn’t work. In the analysis they also point out that there are clusters that do not have such bad performance and that there are some that are using 49% of their H200 or 30% of their H100, well above the aforementioned 5%, but it is not the norm. And beyond having exploded the components market, the consequence of having so much equipment idle is that they are losing money because they are not profitable. According to calculations, an unused CPU costs a few cents per hour, but an idle GPU costs several dollars. And therein lies another key to this whole matter. Amazon or Azure data centers serve to satisfy the demands of their own companies, but they also rent computing power to whoever needs it. And since having the GPUs stopped costs them money, in recent months it has been reported that the prices of those rentals are multiplying. When will it all end? Cast AI is not optimistic, since they claim that most hyperscalers prefer to assume the costs rather than change their habits for fear that this will take off one day and catch them on the wrong foot. The translation is that… I will never have my Steam Machinesince everyone is focused on making hardware for AI. Image | NVIDIA In Xataka | There are data centers being watched and guarded by robot dogs because apparently the future is already the present

In silence, the US is arming Spain’s most uncomfortable neighbor on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar in a big way.

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The scene took place in the 1980s, when the United States discreetly used bases in southern Spain to launch air strikes on Libya, an operation that showed to what extent the strategic balances in the Mediterranean could depend on little visible agreements for public opinion. Decades later, that same board moves again, although along less obvious paths for Spain. A silent turn in the Strait. In the surroundings of Strait of Gibraltar A fundamental strategic change is taking place that does not respond to a single movement in itself, but to an entire accumulation of decisions sustained over time that are strengthening Morocco. as a key military actor on the southern European flank. This movement, although it is still not public, has now acquired character official with the signature of a road map of defense between the governments of Rabat and Washington for the next decade, a movement that is neither trivial nor an isolated gesture, but the formalization of a broader commitment in which the United States consolidates Morocco in the next 10 years as itsyour preferred partner in North Africa, with direct implications for regional balance and, no doubt, for Spain’s position. From regional partner to strategic platform. Yes, because the relationship between both countries has evolved to make Morocco more than an allygoing on to play the role of operational and technological platform from which the United States projects influence towards Africa and the Mediterranean. There are several examples, for example, the exercises as African Lionwhich integrate troops, industry and technology, and reflect this transformation, as well as the incorporation advanced capabilities as the Link-16 systemwhich brings Morocco closer to NATO standards. This leap not only improves military interoperability, but also places the country in a privileged position within the Western security architecture. Access to advanced technology. The reinforcement of this alliance translates into a military modernization unprecedented, with a significant increase in defense spending and access to systems that until recently were out of reach, from helicopters Apache attack up to guided munitions and potentially the almighty F-35 Lightning II fighters. Added to this is the development of a self defense industrywith production, maintenance and training plants that allow Morocco not only to acquire capabilities, but to begin to consolidate them autonomously, reducing its external dependence in the long term. A rearmament to change the balance. Be that as it may, and despite this progress, Spain maintains a clear superiority for now in structural termsespecially in the naval field and in its technological and industrial base, which allows it to retain a significant advantage over Morocco. However, this advantage is no longer as large as in the past, and the trend and agreement with Washington aims for a progressive convergence, driven by Moroccan economic growth and its sustained investment in military capabilities. If you like, the result is not an immediate balance, but an increasingly competitive environment in which the distance between both countries is reduced constantly. Technology, influence and projection. Plus: Morocco’s objective is not limited to improving its military capacity, but is very possibly part of a broader strategy to increase its geopolitical weight in the Maghreb, the Sahel and the entire western Mediterranean. American support, along with its approach to other partners like Israelreinforces this idea and ambition, allowing Rabat to position itself as a central actor in regional security and as a privileged interlocutor of the great powers in the area. Gradual change. In short, the panorama that draw ten years view is not that of an abrupt and total break, of course, but rather that of a progressive transformation in which Morocco gains capabilities, influence and room for maneuver thanks to the US support. In this process, Spain will continue to be the dominant actor on the military level, but it no longer operates in a static environment, but in one in which its neighbor to the south, often uncomfortable depending on the circumstances, is getting stronger constantly, slowly altering the balance in one of the most sensitive points of Europe, and nuclear from Spain. Image | US Africa CommandNARA In Xataka | The tunnel between Spain and Morocco seemed like a chimera. Now a tunnel boring machine manufacturer says it is viable In Xataka | The US threatened to take the Rota base to Morocco. Spain has buried it with an unbeatable offer: more territory

We believed that tons of feces were the big problem with the touristification of Everest. Until the scam rescue arrived

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Everest may be the roof of the world, but it has long ceased to be the remote and isolated place they found themselves seven decades ago. Edmund Hollary and Tenzing Norgaythe first to summit its icy summit. The best proof was left to us just before the pandemic by Nirmal Purja, the author of one of the most famous (and striking) snapshots of the mountain: in it we see a very long row with dozens and dozens of tourists climbing in single file towards the summit, just as if they were queuing to enter the Louvre or board a cruise ship. That Everest has become a monster touristified It’s no surprise. What is curious is that there are people (presumably) breaking the laws to take advantage of that demand and defraud the insurers. A huge theme park. One would expect the highest place on the planet to be an inhospitable place, reserved for the most intrepid locals and adventurers. Perhaps it was like this in the 1950s, when Hollary and Norgay ascended to more than 8,800 meters of altitude to reach its summit. Not today. The photography that Purja took in 2019 is just the graphic verification of a phenomenon that can be measured in figures… and even in feces: Everest is a tourist icon that they visit every year hundreds and hundreds of climbers, leaving behind millions of dollars and a trail of tons of waste. You will find more infographics at Statista Where there is tourism… There is business, of course. That universal truth is applicable both in Amsterdam, Florence either Barcelona such as in the remote Himalayas, which over the last few decades has seen a thriving industry take shape dedicated to serving those who visit Everest. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTC), in 2023 alone Nepal’s tourism sector generated revenue worth about 2.5 billion of dollars and boosted hundreds of thousands of jobs, both direct and indirect. Even Nepal has considered shoot 40% the fees he charges mountaineers, a source of income that among other things helps him clean the region. Where is the problem? Beyond the environmental impact that this overcrowding has in the mountain range, there is actually no problem in travel agencies, Sherpas, transportation companies, hotels and other businesses oriented to Nepalese tourism trying to make money. Climbing Everest doesn’t come cheap, but at the end of the day, whoever wants to pay for it. The problem is that not all of these professionals respect the law when looking for ways to make money. What’s more, there are those who have no qualms about cheatfalsify and commit millionaire frauds. Mountaineering and picaresque. The news I advanced it a few days ago The Kathmandu Postone of the largest English-language newspapers in Nepal. The Central Investigation Bureau of the Nepalese Police (CIB) has revealed a network dedicated to deceiving insurers who cover mountaineers in the Himalayas. Their modus operandi may vary, but the idea is always the same: alleged scammers make fraudulent ransoms to claim compensation. It may sound rudimentary, but the scam takes advantage of two circumstances that work in its favor. First, in rescue operations speed prevails, so there is no room to wait for the approval of the experts. Second, deceived insurers are often based thousands of kilometers away (in London or Paris), making it difficult for them to confirm what is happening on the ground. One goal, two methods. How do you prepare the scam? The CIB has identified two methods. The first is quite simple and requires the tourist to participate in the deception. If a climber is exhausted after days (or even weeks) of hiking and wants to save the trip back to camp, his guide can offer him a way out that is as comfortable as it is ethically questionable: faking an illness so that the insurance company can mobilize a rescue operation. The second method is a little more complicated, but the end result is the same. The guides or accommodations take advantage of the client’s ignorance to make them believe that the symptoms of altitude sickness (which are usually resolved with rest, hydration and a gradual descent) are actually signs that they are at serious risk, even of death. The key is to suggest the hiker enough so that he ends up asking to be evacuated by a charter helicopter. And where is the business? In the cost of the operation. It is not just that the company that provides that service charges the insurer for a helicopter that was not really necessary, it is that, precise The Kathmandu Postoften manages to expand its profit margin. As? It carries several passengers on the same flight and then sends separate invoices to their insurance companies. In practice that means that a single $4,000 charter flight can end up giving rise to three separate claims worth $12,000. Added to this are alleged treatments in the hospital, even when the client in question did not need assistance. For example, the Nepalese newspaper talks about cases in which treatment is claimed for hikers who were actually in the cafeteria. Not all people who are involved in this mess have to participate in the deception. He post speaks of falsifications of flight manifests or reports with digital signatures of completely unrelated doctors. One figure: 20 million dollars. At the end of March the CIB accused 32 people for this type of crimes, which according to the AFP agency amounted to a total scam 19.69 million of dollars. It may seem like a lot, but the figures revealed by the CIB investigation are eloquent: between 2022 and 2025, it identified 4,782 foreign patients treated in the investigated hospitals. Of these, inspectors believe that 171 corresponded to simulated evacuations. During that period some health centers received deposits worth millions of dollars related to those services. The older ones are the helicopters. Poisoning? The CIB investigation has attracted the attention of the media everyonealthough their headlines often focus on another … Read more

Now their big techs are looking for talent at the institute

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China is quietly redefining who counts as tech talent. Some of its large companies in the sector have begun to skip university and recruit directly from institutes in a movement that indicates that creativity and learning ability are worth more than degrees. What until now seemed anecdotal is beginning to consolidate as a widely accepted deliberate strategy in search of talent. what’s happening. Beyond specific cases such as the signing of Chen Guangyu, a 17-year-old student from the Shenzhen technology hub, as an intern for Moonshot AI and who already signs first-level technical reportsthe trend is better understood with some examples: Huawei Genius Youth. Since 2019, the company has had a recruitment program looking for young geniuses. The Shanghai talent incubator by Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance: their goal is to hire 30 reserve researchers between 16 and 18 years old each year to train them in computer science and AI. Geely has an internship program for senior high school students with direct mentoring from their executives. Tencent has been running its Spark Program since 2019, an annual program to select students with high potential for internships in the company. The technology company also has an exclusive summer program for only 10 middle and high school students, such as pick up Sitx Tone. Why is it important. For decades, technological recruitment has operated on two axes: companies signed up for universities and the sector’s imagination celebrated the genius who left them. That companies as large as Tencent, Huawei, ByteDance or Geely skip both steps and go directly to the institutes is no coincidence: it is a sign that the speed of change in AI is making traditional training obsolete. If the talent that companies need is not in higher education when they need it, the market looks for where to find it. And he’s finding it sooner. Context. China has been stepping on the accelerator for decades in training: It is a world pool of engineers and is diversifying towards FP. It is true that behind this reality there are State plans that, without going any further, are currently erasing arts careers in favor of other strategic ones such as those related to AI. The icing on the cake is the perception of Chinese universities and their tendency towards memorization to the detriment of critical thinking and creativity, a criticism that has been documented for decades, as wield this Harvard report. And one layer below, there is need: the Asian giant’s race for technological talent is exacerbated by Western restrictions on the most advanced critical technology. In this scenario, self-sufficiency is an absolute priority, whether technological or human capital. The justification of the sector. Sixth Tone picked up the statements of Li Shufu, president of Geely, at the presentation event of its internship program: “In the era of AI there is a gap between the talent that companies need and what universities currently offer.” It also provides the statements of a human resources person from an artificial intelligence company who speaks directly about creativity. Those younger people who do not yet have fixed mental schemas can imagine different solutions and products, outside the academic canon, which in some contexts can be a competitive advantage. Crossing borders. The questioning of the university degree as a talent filter is a global phenomenon that is beginning to cross borders. One of the most aggressive companies in implementing it is the American Palantir, which last year recruited to 22 people who had recently graduated from high-level secondary school (they were aiming for the top universities) for paid internships with the possibility of direct hiring. It’s your “anti-scholarship”. Sergey Brin too has declared that Google hires a lot of people without a degree and that they are able to get by in a peculiar way. The signals are converging: the recruiting model from Shenzhen to Silicon Valley points to a shift in the most advanced segments, prioritizing ability over titles. In Xataka | China looks at VET: why more and more generation Z students prefer trades over university degrees In Xataka | China has a huge youth unemployment problem. So much so that some people pay to pretend to work Cover | kimmi jun and LYCS Architecture

We have been sending pregnant women to bed for decades as a precaution. Science has just proven that it is a big mistake

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In the face of a potentially risky pregnancy, the prescription that was administered was very clear: absolute bed rest to avoid any fall or inappropriate movement that could cause an abortion. But this is something that today is no longer the norm, since staying still during pregnancy not only does not prevent the premature birth of a baby, but it can be very harmful. You have to move. Here, institutions as important as the Mayo Clinic are quite blunt in their guidelines by noting that there is no evidence that bed rest is effective in treating preterm labor. To reach this conclusion, they logically resort to different clinical studies inside the Cochrane Library In this case, they point out, for example, that in singleton pregnancies, routine bed rest does not prevent premature births and, in fact, the adverse effects of being immobilized outweigh the supposed benefits. In the situation of being in a multiple pregnancy, hospitalization and strict rest do not reduce perinatal risks and, ironically, an increased risk of spontaneous birth has been observed. What dangers does it have? Lying in bed may be something that a priori is seen as completely harmless, but the reality is that science advises against it for different reasons. The first of them is that immobility increases the risk of venous thromboembolism if one is not properly anticoagulated. In addition, it causes bone demineralization, where an estimated loss of bone mass is 2% to 3% per month, muscle atrophy and weakness, orthostatic hypotension, and is also associated with low neonatal birth weight and a higher rate of cesarean sections. Beyond the physical. Having complete rest isolates the pregnant woman in a bed watching television all day, and this only causes increased emotional stress, anxiety, and can lead to depression. In studies, this is something that currently affects 20% of pregnant women subjected to this isolation in countries like the United States. What is recommended. The objective of the different international guidelines to treat these pregnant women has taken a great turn in recent years. The SEGO guide of Spain, for example, recommends these women with aerobic activity for 3-5 days a week, avoiding routine rest. If we cross the ocean, in the United States it is recommended 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, also to reduce the rate of cesarean sections and gestational diabetes. There are exceptions. Generalizations are never good, and that is why you cannot ask all pregnant women for absolute rest, but neither for a lot of activity. Here the most current guidelines establish that there are very specific and documented cases, such as premature rupture of membranes, where this rest is necessary. But these cases are very few. What we must stay with here is that immobility during pregnancy is not the best, and we must stay active as much as possible with activities logically adapted to the pregnancy situation. Images | Anna Hecker In Xataka | There are couples who couldn’t have children. Now AI has managed to give them hope

This planet is too big for its star. When we tried to find out the reason, we found something even more disconcerting.

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The universe is so immense that it should not surprise us that it is full of exceptions. But even so, there is still such disconcerting findings that obsess astronomers. This is, for example, the case of TOI-5205 b, an exoplanet that attracts attention due to its size, too large for its star. That alone would be truly exceptional, but a new study has found that, if that were not enough, it also has a very unusual atmosphere. Too big for a red dwarf. TOI-5205 b is a gas giant, slightly larger than Jupiter. But only a little. While Jupiter orbits the Sun, this exoplanet orbits a red dwarf. That is, a relatively cold and very small star, with a mass ranging from 7.5% to 50% of the mass of our Sun. Typically, stars are MUCH larger than the planets that orbit them. However, the radius of this red dwarf is only four times that of TOI-5205 b. To continue with the comparisons, our Sun has a radius approximately 10 times larger than that of Jupiter. And it’s not just a radio issue. The mass of this exoplanet is also striking, as it is equivalent to 0.3% of the mass of the red dwarf. Jupiter’s mass is approximately 0.095% of the Sun’s mass. All this tells us that TOI-5205 b is too big for its star. An even more disconcerting clue. Recently, a team of scientists from NASA and the Carnegie Science Institute decided to study the composition of the atmosphere of TOI-5205 blooking for clues about its origin that explain why it is so big. However, what they discovered was even more disconcerting. They carried out the analysis of the atmosphere studying the transit of the planet. That is, analyzing the changes in the light of its star when the planet passes in front of it. When light interacts with the planet’s atmosphere, it interacts with the molecules found in it. Each element reflects light in different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, so, with the help of a spectrograph, you can know which elements the light has interacted with and, consequently, what the composition of the atmosphere is. Astronomical metals. For astronomers, any element other than hydrogen or helium is considered a metal. Just for them, chemists don’t like this. The point is that this decision the concept of metallicity arises. It refers to the proportion of metals that a planet or star has in its atmosphere. When a star forms, it is assumed to take most of the hydrogen and helium present in the stellar nursery with it. Therefore, when a planet later forms around it, it is normal for its atmosphere to have a higher proportion of metals. For this reason, it is said that the metallicity of the planets is higher than that of their stars. But with TOI-5205 b that does not happen. According to analyzes of its transit, its metallicity is lower than that of the red dwarf. hidden metals. To verify what this phenomenon is due to, the authors of the study that was recently published carried out a series of mathematical models. With them, they wanted to check how the atmosphere of this exoplanet could have evolved under different scenarios. This allowed them to verify that the current situation is consistent with their metals having been buried inside the planet. It is true that when it was formed absorbed a greater amount of metals, since the star had taken more helium and hydrogen. However, these metals did not remain in the atmosphere, but were they saved inside TOI-5205 b. In the atmosphere, however, there is some helium and hydrogen, but also other compounds, such as methane and hydrogen sulfide. What this exception teaches us. As explained in a statement One of the authors of the study, Anjali Piette, “these findings have implications for our understanding of the process of giant planet formation that occurs early in the life of a star.” Sometimes, it is the exception to the rule the one that can provide us with the most data. There’s nothing like thinking outside the box. Image | Katherine Cain (Carnegie Science) In Xataka | Since we were children we have been told that Jupiter is enormous, colossal, exaggeratedly large. It is 8 km smaller and that changes everything

Japan sent the wrong creature to eradicate snakes from an island. The disaster was so big that it took half a century to solve it

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Once again, desperate situations lead to extreme measures. Save a species sometimes it involves “exterminating” another. We have seen it in South Africa and his plan to annihilate miceeither injecting radioactive material into the horns of rhinosthe cases of hunt the wild cator the plan for exterminate half a million owls. However, sometimes things do not go as governments imagine. In Japan they know it perfectly. The incident of ’79. The story begins in 1979 on the Japanese island of Amami Ōshima, located in the Kagoshima prefecture. That year, Amami’s rabbit is rediscovered (Pentalagus furnessi), an endemic species and considered a “living fossil” due to its evolutionary antiquity. Before the discovery, the rabbit was thought to be on the brink of extinction due to habitat loss and hunting. The discovery marked a before and after for the conservation of the species and highlighted the importance of protecting the natural environment of the island, home to many other unique species. An event that also highlighted the need for greater conservation efforts at Amami Ōshima, for example trying to eradicate or control the snake population. A wrong “bomb”. Thus, a few months later, Japan launched a plan. Introduces around 30 mongooses to the island with the intention of ending the population of snakes, specifically the habu (Trimeresurus flavoviridis), which represented a threat to the local inhabitants. The idea, on paper, was a seamless plan: that the mongooses, which are natural predators of snakes, would reduce the number of habus and improve security on the island at all levels. However, that project was far from infallible. The mongoose was not the ideal creature to eradicate snakes. Firstly, because they are animals active during the day, therefore, they could not catch the nocturnal habu snakes, which continued to inhabit the following decades without problem. What happened as a result had an enormous ecological impact. A specimen of Trimeresurus flavoviridis Predation of endemic species. Thus, during the day, instead of focusing on the habu snakes, the mongooses began to prey on a wide range of native species, including several that had no natural enemies on the island until then. That seriously affected the local fauna, especially endemic and endangered species, like the same Amami rabbit that had just been happily announced months ago. Hundreds of thousands of mongooses. The situation reached such a point that the mongooses, brought in to eradicate one pest, had become an even larger and more dangerous one, one that It reached around 10,000 copies. at its peak around the year 2000. The truth is that Japan had already started a mongoose control project in 1993 that was expanded over time. As? Around 30,000 traps were set on the island to capture the animals and cameras with sensors were installed to monitor them. In addition, local residents formed the so-called Amami Mongoose Bustersa team specialized in capturing mongooses (they captured thousands). The end? In 2018, the last official capture of a mongoose on the island occurred. It occurred in the month of April, and since no creature has been captured for a long period of time, the expert panel, which is tasked with determining whether the animal is eradicated from the island, estimated that the eradication rate was between 98.8 and 99.8% in February last year, reaching a preliminary conclusion that it is reasonable to say/think that mongooses are eradicated from the island under the current circumstances. Finally, on September 3, 2024, Japan’s Ministry of Environment declared eradication of non-native mongooses on the island of Amami-Oshima, declared a World Natural Heritage Site by UNESCO. The statement was based on the opinion of the expert group on scientific grounds, taking into account that the capture of mongooses has not been confirmed for more than six years since the last one in April 2018. A unique case. The ministry itself did not hide the disaster that was the attempt to control the snakes in 1979. In fact, and as the administration has announced, it is one of the largest cases in the world in which non-native mongooses that had been established for so long have been eradicated. After the statement, the government explained that it will remove the traps that were placed on the island, although it will continue to monitor with cameras to prevent a new group of these small creatures from entering again. After all, if it took half a century to get them out of there, any contingency method is more than understandable. A version of this article can be foundlaunched in 2024 Image | Animalia, TANAKA Juuyoh, Patrick Randall In Xataka | “There are so many that you can hold them with your hand”: the daily nightmare of a town in Pontevedra with flies In Xataka | Salamanca faces its biggest environmental plague in decades. And the problem is that you can’t legally stop it.

The big problem with nuclear energy has always been its waste. Russia can now recycle them up to five times

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A nuclear reactor operating for 60 years using a closed system of three circulating fuel loads, subjected to cleaning processes and specific recharges in each cycle. What until recently seemed like an unattainable technical utopia for the energy industry is the reality that Russia’s latest technological breakthrough points to. The historic Achilles heel of nuclear fission—radioactive waste—is about to take a radical turn to become an almost inexhaustible resource. The magnitude of the test. The press release of Atom Media explains that Unit 1 of the Balakovo nuclear power plant (operated by Rosatom’s energy division) has just made history. They have successfully removed the last three lead test assemblies from an innovative fuel dubbed REMIX. These groups have completed three operating cycles of 18 months each. We are talking about 54 months performing at maximum capacity in a Russian commercial reactor type VVER-1000, thus exhausting its standard useful life. This puts the finishing touch to a demanding pilot program which started at the end of 2021 when the first six experimental rods were introduced into the reactor core. The resounding success. The most impressive thing about this milestone is not just that the fuel works, but where it works. Unlike other experiments designed for new generation fast reactors, REMIX fuel can be used in light water thermal reactors already operating massively around the planet. And without the need to modify its design or add costly security measures. The rehearsal went flawlessly. Yuri Ryzhkov, deputy chief engineer of the Balakovo power plant, detailed: “After each cycle, the fuel rods and structural elements were inspected using the television camera of the refueling machine. No deviations were detected during operation; neutron, physical and service characteristics remained within the design limits.” The science behind REMIX. But what exactly is this material? REMIX comes from Regenerated Mixture (Regenerated Mixture). Instead of using the usual natural enriched uranium, Russian scientists have created a matrix pellet that mixes regenerated uranium and plutonium (both recovered from already spent and reprocessed nuclear fuel), seasoned with some fresh enriched uranium. The technical key to the process is in the proportion: it maintains a very low level of plutonium, up to 1.5%. Thanks to this exact formulation, its neutron spectrum is practically identical to that of standard fuel. For practical purposes, the reactor core behaves the same and does not even “notice” the difference. The cleaning process. It is the circular economy taken to the atomic extreme. The magazine World Nuclear Newyes explains that this recycling cycle can be repeated up to five times. With each pass, the industry reprocesses the material to separate the useful uranium and plutonium from the fission products, which constitute the true radioactive waste. This useless waste is extracted and vitrified (encapsulated in glass) to be permanently and safely buried in geological deposits, while the useful fuel mixture is reintroduced into the reactor. The vision of the balanced cycle. Now it’s time for the laboratory and certification phase, where the irradiated material, now resting in cooling pools, will travel to the Atomic Reactor Research Institute in Dimitrovgrad for exhaustive analysis. Alexander Ugryumov, Vice President of R&D at TVEL (Rosatom’s fuel subsidiary), He announced that after these studies They will be able to bring the product to the market. The next evolutionary step will be to test mixtures with depleted uranium and up to 5% plutonium. All this is part of what Rosatom has called the “Balanced Nuclear Fuel Cycle” (NFC). The goal is to drastically reduce the volume and danger of radioactive waste, solving the historic problem of long-term storage for future generations and guaranteeing a truly sustainable production system. An impact on a global scale. Although the technical success is undeniable and the operational milestone in a commercial reactor is demonstrated, the mass adoption of this technology on a global level will largely depend on the commercialization costs and the economic viability of large-scale reprocessing; factors that the industry must demonstrate after the current qualification phase. However, if Rosatom manages to market REMIX at competitive prices, the global energy situation could take an unprecedented turn. We are not talking about a niche experiment. The data provided by Atom Media illustrate this magnitude: TVEL currently supplies fuel to more than 70 power reactors in 15 countries. Today, one in six reactors in the world operates with its technology. Moving from a linear “use and bury” industry to a closed loop where nuclear resources have multiple lives would not only dramatically expand the planet’s energy reserves, but could forever redefine the ecological viability of nuclear energy. Image | atom Xataka | The US has to make a crucial decision in Iran: exit without destroying its nuclear capabilities or a terrestrial “armaggedon”

What is SMIC, China’s big chip manufacturer, doing right now? According to the US, sell them to Iran for the war

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The war in Iran continues. On the one hand it is said that it is almost finished, but on the other we have the shipment of thousands of American paratroopersmore calls for support and one sided offensives and from another. But in almost any conflict, not only those in the countries involved come into play, but also the allies. And the United States has leveled a pretty serious accusation against China: SMIC is selling chips to Iran. Well, “almost certainly.” SMIC in the spotlight. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp the great Chinese semiconductor foundry. Included in the blacklist of the United States government along with Huaweihas managed to develop advanced chips in record time. They have not only challenged everything the US thought they could dobut that association with Huawei and the country’s push for the technology industry have made it one of the spearheads of China’s technological sovereignty. That SMIC has been able to manufacture advanced chips when it was denied access to cutting-edge technology is something that upsets the US government, which reiterated the sanction and keeping the company on the blacklist for alleged ties to the Chinese government. And the latest accusations are not going to relax the tension. ANDUSA says yes. SMIC makes chips and obviously sells chips. And the United States claims that they are supplying technology to Iran. a few days ago, Reuters published an article in which it included two statements by “two senior officials in the Trump Administration” that suggested that Beijing, perhaps, is not staying as far away from the Iran war as they would have us believe. In the article they state that SMIC has been sending chip manufacturing tools to the Iranian army. This raised questions about Beijing’s stance in the conflict, with officials noting – on condition of anonymity – that the company began shipping the tools about a year ago and that they have “no reason to believe shipments have stopped.” A year ago, the United States was not at war with Iran, and China has long maintained a normal trade situation with Iran. US officials note that, in addition, “they have almost certainly also technically trained Iran on semiconductor technology.” And let’s remember that these chips are in everything: from routers to missiles. China says no. The Reuters article does not give any further information or details on whether Iranian tools that included US technology have been confiscated –something that does occur in other conflicts– and neither the Chinese embassy in Washington, SMIC or an Iranian spokesperson at the UN responded to requests for comment. Who has left Lin Jian, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spoke out and did not hesitate to classify the report as “false information.” He accused certain media outlets of launching self-serving news and then classifying all reports as “false information.” On this issue, China has been caught between two waters, first condemning the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khameini by the Israeli and US forcesbut also expressing his rejection of the Iran attacks on Gulf states that house US bases. Back in focus. Beyond Iran, the United States accusations are part of an operation that began a few years ago. The veto of Huawei marked the beginning of the current trade war between China and the United States, but it also marked China’s ‘awakening’ in technological matters, quest for sovereignty and a technological war that branched into chips, robotics, energy, communications, artificial intelligence and in the military arm. SMIC is the large Chinese manufacturer that defied US vetoes by managing to manufacture the chip of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro before whom The US authorities could not believe and, if they manage to demonstrate that they are involved in supporting Israel when China is not actively participating in the conflict, they will have more reasons to intensify the vetoes and sanctions. And all this is framed in a current situation in which Trump and Xi Jinping will meet in a few days to discuss international relations and where the purchase of American technology by China is expected to be one of the points of the day, with NVIDIA very interested in biting a piece of the $50 billion pie that the Asian giant represents. Images | Ballistic Missile, ASML In Xataka | While the US bombs Iran, something unusual has happened: drones attacking the nuclear bases in North Dakota

Big Tech has entrusted the keys to its kingdom to NVIDIA. Now they want the keys back

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NVIDIA is no longer a gaming graphics card company: NVIDIA is a ubiquitous company. That means it is the baby at the baptism, the bride at the wedding and the cement of the manufacturing industry. artificial intelligence. Your hardware is in the most powerful data centers on the planethis software controls everything and your money invest in any company that has something to say in AI. Big Tech (and everyone) is blindly trusting NVIDIA and has been given the keys to the house, but something is changing. And now they want the keys back to regain control. All the spotlights. Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta have bought hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs to shape your AI aspirations. At some point many began to develop their own hardware, but in the end NVIDIA’s was everywhere and was the one that gave the most guarantees, so they “gave up.” Apple, curiously, opted for Amazon. And not just the big ones. OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral or xAI are purely AI companies that They bet very heavily on NVIDIA from the beginning. Its hardware is the one that leads the way, the one that Western and Chinese companies want and the one that has such a brutal demand that it has elevated the company as the best client of TSMC and Samsung. amd. But no one likes to have all their eggs in one basket, and those same names are moving. From a position of absolute dominance, in a short time we can move to another in which the hardware market is much more diversified. AMD is NVIDIA’s great historical rival in the PC gaming segment (and in consoles), but although they were out of the conversation for a few years, they have returned with force. They have the hardware and are moving to get the same memory that NVIDIA has (and Samsung wins more than anyone else) and contracts as juicy as the one they achieved recently with Meta. The big rival also has deep pockets and is committed to taking a piece of the AI ​​pie. The Chinese threat. On the other side of the world we have China. We have said on numerous occasions that China is on to other things when we talk about AI. If the West pursues the AGI (with questionable claims like it’s already here), to China doesn’t care exactly. They want fast chips that allow them to create accessible and monetizable models in the short term. But they also have Huawei, the company that has become the spearhead of the Chinese technology industry thanks to its collaboration with foundries such as SMIC is allowing, in an unthinkable way due to vetoes, can develop advanced chips. The development of cutting-edge chips still needs to be achieved, but Huawei already has more powerful inference chips than NVIDIA’s H20, according to them, and a supercluster for training. Taking back control. Because in that term, “inference”, is where the current key is. AI training is important because it is what allows the model to then have the data and have a wardrobe to pull from, but inference is the final layer, which processes the user’s request to provide a response. There is not so much raw power needed, and that is what almost all the companies mentioned above are taking advantage of. Amazon, Google or Meta have programs in which they are actively researching or developing chips proper for inference. OpenAI has signed an agreement with Broadcom to supply chips and xAI along with other companies Musk also has its own chips and they plan to open factories. And in China things are no different with Cambricon wanting to be a local alternative to NVIDIA and giants like Alibaba either ByteDance getting into chip design. Groq. Given this, do you think NVIDIA is standing still? Among their hardware proposals, they have Groq, an inference accelerator that is designed for, next to Vera Rubinprocess a large amount of data at enormous speed. Groq was an unknown in the world of AI – until NVIDIA licensed it – and specialized from the beginning in that: chips with minimal latency for inference. The key is in the architecture of its chips and it was a piece that was missing from the NVIDIA catalog and shows that, although the rest want the keys back, the one that already had them may have made a backup copy to continue being the reference. Because they may all be preparing their chips, but while they arrive, NVIDIA is already there and, in fact, with Groq it seeks to sneak into theThe $50 billion pie: China. Problem for NVIDIA. But of course, that’s part of the story. The other is that NVIDIA also has all its eggs in one basket: that of AI. In the middle of last year we already mentioned that six customers represent 85% of all NVIDIA revenue in the previous quarter. It is an absolute nonsense that shows that, if there is a shift in technology, a puncture of the bubble or a new player that arrives strongly, the situation for NVIDIA may not be so favorable. The question is whether a regime change can come and everything will be allowed to collapse like a house of cards. The uncomfortable thing is that an absurd amount of money is being invested and it’s not something that can escalate forever. In Xataka | Jensen Huang believes we have reached the “coming of the AI ​​wolf.” It is perfect for feeding a Tamagotchi

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