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Google already knows how to break Bitcoin, but it doesn’t want to say it yet

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“Quantum computers will represent a significant threat for current cryptographic standards.” These are the words of Google in a recent publication in which they seek to draw attention to some quantum frontiers They are closer than they seem. Because, if a few days ago They put a date on the post-quantum eranow they say they know how to break cryptography Bitcoin with the quantum computing. And it’s so crazy that they can intercept transactions before the blockchain I verified them. The PQC era. Google is very active with the topic of the quantum era. They have a team -Quantum AI- focused on researching this technology and how to protect themselves from it, and a few days ago they shared with the world an ambitious objective: all their systems will be prepared for the age of post-quantum cryptography by 2029. 10 GOOGLE APPS THAT COULD HAVE SUCCESSFUL This does not mean that in three years there will be quantum computers galore: it is a self-imposed deadline to migrate all its security systems to post-quantum cryptography systems or PQC, for its acronym in English. It is a superior security layer designed to resist quantum computer attacks and ensure that data such as keys and digital signatures remain encrypted for the long term. Because a current computer would take centuries to break those encryptions, but a quantum one would do it in a heartbeat. less than 10 minutes. But Google has not left it just a declaration of intent. In a study Prepared together with Stanford University, the Department of Computer Science at the University of Berkeley and the Ethereum Foundation, Google details that a quantum computer could derive the private key of a Bitcoin wallet in just nine minutes. They point out that breaking the security of these wallets would require 500,000 physical qubits, which is 20 times less than previous estimates of ten million. And it’s no longer that they breach security, but rather that the speed is so high that, in an estimated 41% of cases, they can intercept and redirect a transaction before the rest of the chain confirms it. Responsibility. In the statement, Google points out that it is its responsibility to lead this field to convey the urgency of accelerating this transition of large digital companies to the PQC era. The sooner this migration of security systems is achieved, the sooner the security of digital signatures will be guaranteed. But of course, if someone enters the studio hoping to find clues, Google has tied the dots together. They have not published the actual circuits and movements, but rather a simulation that allows the crypto community to verify the estimate without providing a manual for potential attackers. Additionally, they detail a long-term vulnerability whereby 6.9 million bitcoins stored in wallets whose keys have been leaked in security flaws are the most vulnerable to quantum attacks even outside the transaction window. Preparation with head. It’s clear that Google is spreading this to raise awareness, but the industry is also carrying years moving. Microsoft wants start with their migration by 2029, the European Commission is rushing to achieve it by 2030 and the US federal agencies they want do it in the 2030-2035 window. And the Bitcoin industry also has something to say. Justin Drake is a Bitcoin security researcher who qualified Google’s progress was “interesting” and commented that, although “there is at least a 10% chance that by 2032 a quantum computer will recover a secp256k1 ECDSA private key from an exposed public key, now is the time to start preparing.” We also seek to put our minds to the matter and not create baseless fear. Shiv Shankar is the CEO of Boundless and has commented that “there is no reason for panic” because “the smartest and brightest minds in the world are focusing on this problem” In Xataka | Superconducting quantum computers are being sabotaged. Fortunately, several Chinese scientists have found those responsible.

Google sets a date for “Q-Day”, when quantum computing will be able to break current cryptography sooner than expected

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The arrival of the quantum computing brings us closer to an exciting horizon. It is a paradigm shift because, if classical computing is based on bits of 0 and 1, quantum computing uses qubits that can be in both states at the same time. Translation: if classical computing does operations one at a time, quantum computing does many at the same time. This opens up an ocean of possibilities, and will also allow any current encryption system to be broken. in a matter of seconds. Google has been around for a decade getting readyand has set a date for his arrival. 2029. PQC. It stands for post-quantum cryptography. It is a set of encryption algorithms designed to resist attacks by quantum computers and allow data that must be encrypted such as keys and digital signatures to remain so in the long term. Those complex mathematical algorithms designed to resist quantum attacks are designed to be implemented on classical computers. That is, it is not the hardware that is updated, but rather the security. Quantum cryptography is another approach, but also more experimental. It is the one that will use the full potential of quantum computing to achieve theoretically unbreakable security. The one that interests us at the moment is post-quantum, and it makes perfect sense because classical and the quantum They will coexist, and what is needed is to update encryption systems so that companies continue to have classic computers, but with security that resists quantum attacks. Q-Day. Companies have been preparing for this for a long time and, as we say, Google is one of them. Carry from 2016 investing in that post-quantum cryptography, migrating some key exchange systems for internal traffic to the post-quantum standard. A while ago they claimed that key exchange within Google services is now resistant to quantum computing by default. Proton also is in it. So as not to leave it there as a pending task that is never finished, they finish to mark a self-imposed deadline to complete the transition. By 2029 they will have to complete this migration of their security to PQC systems. In fact, on their blog, they have announced that Android 17 will integrate an algorithm that will provide quantum-resistant signatures to protect the integrity of boot software. It is a way of saying “hey, we are already preparing,” but basically what there is is a commitment to that security for a time that is near. And it won’t just be the boot system: applications will be able to generate and verify post-quantum signatures within the devices’ secure hardware, and Google Play itself will also begin generating secure keys for applications that choose to participate in the program during the launch cycle of the new system. The industry prepares. Aside from the announcement, the company urged the rest of the technology industry and governments to step up to accelerate the adoption of these more resistant encryption systems. And, although Google has been saying “the wolf is coming” for several years, they are not the only ones. Microsoft wants to start migrating its systems by 2029, culminating in 2033. US federal agencies also want do it for the 2030-2035 window and the European Commission has urged member states to make critical infrastructure resilient by the end of 2030. With this movement, Google has set a date that seems ambitious and is a declaration of intentions. “It is our responsibility to set an example and share an ambitious schedule,” says Google. It is also evident that as a digital infrastructure provider, offering a post-quantum security system before anyone else gives you a competitive advantage because if someone doesn’t arrive on time, they could always buy your services. Companies like Telefónica are also working on it, but when we talk to them They did not give us an indicative date. What they did comment is that they are beginning to see that there are parts of the industry that are becoming interested in their post-quantum cryptography services. Don’t panic. that the arrival of quantum computing represents a headache for everything that is encrypted (blockchain and cryptocurrencies, banking data and transactions and even messaging apps) does not mean that we have to panic. A few months ago, Keith Martin, professor in the Information Security Group at the University of London, commented that, although the threat is realresearchers have been working for years and most of the theoretical work is done. When cryptographically relevant quantum computers appear, the protection technologies will already be ready and we will not have to worry about anything. In fact, at the user level… we can do little. We are not going to be the ones who have a quantum computer at home to be able to encrypt our information. Basically, as I said a few lines ago, it is Google saying “get ready because this is going to come and, as an industry, we have to prepare.” And they have already set a date. There’s not much left… Image | Xataka In Xataka | Putin compared the quantum race to the nuclear race of the Cold War. China has just taken a leap in that war of the future

Saudi Arabia’s ace in the hole to break the Iranian blockade in Hormuz

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Iran’s survival strategy in this war is based on a tactic of geopolitical suffocation: strangling the Strait of Hormuz to impose an unbearable economic cost on the West. However, while the financial market blindly speculates with express truces and the price of fuel follows its own dynamics at the pumps, the physical reality on the ground is about to change. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have a logistical “antidote” capable of rescuing up to 7 million of those barrels, radically changing the equation and breaking Iranian blackmail. The “antidote” in the desert. This lifeline was not improvised yesterday. Known as the East-West Pipeline (or Petroline), It began to be built in the 80s for fear that the war between Iran and Iraq will paralyze the Persian Gulf. According to Middle East Eye, It is a pharaonic artery of some 1,200 kilometers that winds through the Arabian desert, connecting the gigantic extraction fields in the east directly with the port terminal of Yanbu, bathed by the waters of the Red Sea. In this way, the crude oil can go out into the world without coming into the range of the Iranian missiles in Hormuz. As confirmed by the CEO of Saudi Aramco, Amin Nasser, in Financial Timesthe company is working around the clock to raise pumping to the pipeline’s maximum capacity: 7 million barrels per day. Before the crisis, only 2.8 million barrels circulated there. Nasser detailed that about 2 million barrels will remain to feed its refineries on the west coast, leaving the not inconsiderable figure of 5 million barrels per day ready for the global market. The machinery in motion. Saudi Arabia has stepped on the accelerator. “We should reach maximum capacity in a couple of days,” said the head of Aramco, according to statements collected by Reuters. If Riyadh manages to consolidate this route, the kingdom will be able to export close to 70% of its usual shipments. The energy analyst Javier Blas underlines in your column for Bloomberg that right now the critical thing is to look at the flow export outside of Hormuz, and not so much in wellhead production. And shipping data supports this frenetic activity: Bloomberg has detailed as an “armada” of at least 25 supertankers (known as VLCCs) have changed course and are sailing towards the port of Yanbu to load this lifesaving crude oil. Adding to this ball of oxygen is the effort of the United Arab Emirates. Through their Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, which also bypasses the dangerous strait to exit the Gulf of Oman, they are providing between 1.5 and 2 million additional barrels per day, according to the data of Wall Street Journal. The small print. However, as with any large-scale emergency logistics operation, there is no magic wand. Experts warn of several blind spots in this strategy: The port funnel: According to the agency Argus MediaAlthough the Saudi pipeline manages to transport 5 million barrels for export, the port of Yanbu has its own limits. Its nominal loading capacity is about 4.5 million barrels per day in two terminals, but market sources place the proven effective capacity closer to 4 million. The fuel crisis (distillates): As Arne Lohmann Rasmussen warns, analyst cited by Middle East Eyethe current problem goes beyond crude oil; It is a diesel and aviation fuel crisis. The pipeline East-West It transports crude oil, not refined products. This leaves markets such as Europe, which were highly dependent on Middle Eastern refineries (such as the gigantic Emirati Ruwais plant, recently hit by a drone). The Houthi threat and the collapse of the tanks: Moving the oil outlet to the Red Sea returns the spotlight to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. As Greg Priddy points outships loading in Yanbu bound for Asia will have to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, exposing themselves to drone attacks. Added to this is that, faced with the inability to remove ships through Hormuz, the Gulf countries are filling their storage reserves to the limit, forcing Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq to drastically cut extraction from their wells, as it has progressed Bloomberg. Buying time in the “Battle of the pipelines”. Nobody in the oil industry deceives anyone. Aramco’s own CEO admitted the “catastrophic consequences” What would a prolongation of this scenario have for the world economy? As Blas concludesthese alternative pipelines do not replace the opening of the Strait of Hormuz permanently. Its main mission is another: to buy valuable time. If the Saudi-Emirati duo manages to get this enormous pipeline to spit millions of barrels into the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman, they will stop the panic at the Western pumps and take away Iran’s main negotiating asset. Far from the political and stock market noise, the resolution of this crisis is being fought in the logistical desert. Image | Aramco Xataka | Light and gas have become luxury items. Europe’s plan is to intervene in prices no matter what the cost

This is the Hormuz “swarm” that threatens to break the $100 barrier

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Just enter Marine Traffic to understand the magnitude of the problem. The entire world is holding its breath before a funnel of water just a few miles wide. Through the Strait of Hormuz travels approximately 20% of the world’s daily oil supply and a vital quota of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Today, that global artery is suffering a heart attack. An unprecedented escalation in the Middle East, detonated by attacks of the United States and Israel that ended the life of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has unleashed a hail of missiles and drones. The result is a blockage de facto of the most important sea route on the planet. X-ray of a historical traffic jam. The cover image of Marine Traffic It is a veritable swarm of red icons that crowd on both sides of the strait, especially near the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Once we move the cursor over the boats, we see that they are still. According to the data of S&P Globalmaritime traffic has plummeted, between 40% and 50%. There are around 240 ships clustered waiting for instructions. Among them, as analyst Weilun Soon details in Bloombergthere are at least 40 supertankers (VLCCs), inactive giants each loaded with about 2 million barrels of crude oil. And time is against us: according to estimates by JPMorganIf this effective closure lasts more than 25 days, producers will run out of space to store crude oil and will have to stop physical production. The chaos is not only physical, it is also electronic. The data team SkyNews has documented severe interference in ship tracking systems (AIS). The signals are so distorted that some oil tankers appear located inland on radars. The fear is more than justified: the war has already spilled into the water. According to reports from the UKMTO (UK Maritime Commercial Operations) cited by Business Insiderthe tanker skylightflying the Palauan flag, was attacked near Oman. The balance has left four injured and 20 crew members urgently evacuated. Markets in panic and freight rates through the roof. The chain reaction has not been long in coming. In a quick look at the bag, we can observe the initial panic of investors: in the first hours of operations, Brent crude oil (the European benchmark) soared by 13%, reaching $82 per barrel—its highest in 14 months. Although it later relaxed to dawn this Monday around $79, the scare was already in the body. This whiplash has had winners and losers in the European stock markets. As you have detailed Guardian, While oil companies (Shell, BP) and defense companies (BAE Systems) rose sharply, airlines such as IAG or easyJet plummeted by around 10% and 7% respectively, terrified by the imminent increase in fuel costs. Moving crude oil today is a high-risk sport. The daily cost of renting a supertanker has skyrocketed by an unusual 600%, reaching $200,000 a day, as Alex Longley warns in Bloomberg. Insurance must be added to this bill: France 24 reports that premiums against war risks They are going to become between 25% and 50% more expensive for those who dare to enter ground zero. The paradox of OPEC+. The next market movement looked askance at the offices. According to the official statement from OPEC+the cartel agreed to inject an additional 206,000 barrels per day starting in April to stabilize prices. However, this measure is, in practice, a logistical mirage. As analyst John Kemp explains: in your column for Finance TimesOPEC+ has excess capacity of more than 3 million barrels per day, but almost all of that capacity is inside of the Persian Gulf countries. In other words, no matter how much extra oil Saudi Arabia or Iraq promise to pump, if the ships cannot cross the Strait of Hormuz, that oil does not exist for the rest of the world. The analysts of wood Mackenzie, collected by oil price, They have been more forceful: “If traffic is not restored quickly, the barrel will pierce the $100 barrier.” The nuances that will define the crisis. Despite the drama, the world has some escape valves that did not exist in the oil crises of the 70s: Lifesaving pipelines: As Kemp explainsSaudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can bypass the strait by exporting some of their crude oil through pipelines to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman. However, countries like Iraq and Kuwait are trapped: they are 100% dependent on Hormuz. Global shock absorbers: Analyst Javier Blas shells in Bloomberg that the shale revolution (shale oil) in the United States gives Washington unprecedented control over supply. Furthermore, China lIt has been filling to the brim for years its strategic reserves, which would soften the blow in the short term. The big beneficiary: Ironically, the blockade is excellent news for Vladimir Putin. As Blas points outa sustained rise in prices makes it easier for Russia to sell its sanctioned crude oil on the Asian black market with much juicier margins. The world holds its breath. At the moment, the global economy is paralyzed waiting for what a few ship captains decide. Maritime transport giants such as Maersk have already announced the temporary suspension of all their transits through the area, how to collect France 24. Laden ships will remain idle, “avoiding drama,” in the words of a shipping broker consulted by S&P Global. Today, the fate of global inflation is decided not on Wall Street or central banks, but in the tense waters of Oman and Iran, where a swarm of steel giants have decided to shut down their engines and pray for the storm to subside. Image | MarineTraffic Xataka | Tension in Iran is so high that the Strait of Hormuz is closed. And that will have consequences when you go to refuel.

In the midst of the RAM crisis, Intel counterattacks with ZAM. It is the chip to break South Korean hegemony

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Few would have guessed not so many years ago the Intel transformation. The company that will dominate consumer processors and servers for generations has been through a real ordeal through the desert under the rule of AMD. However, they have returned for their rights and not only –rescue through– have positioned themselves to be the great American foundry, but are looking to take a bite out of the gigantic South Korean RAM memory industry thanks to its new memory: ZAM memory. And its weapon is three-dimensionality. Z for ‘zolution’. Do you remember when, in math class, you drew the first cube? The X axis is east-west. The Y axis is north-south. What the square needed to become a cube is the Z axis, the one up and down. That’s what engineers SAIMEMORYthe company resulting from the collaboration between the Japanese SoftBank and Intel, have applied traditional DRAM memory with a single objective: to assault the enormous market for high-bandwidth memory, or HBMwhich dominates data centers. Puff pastry. A few months ago we told you that the two companies They had embarked on a joint path to stand up to the dominance of Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron in the creation of high-performance memory. lHBM memory is preferred for data centers because it has a beastly bandwidth that allows a greater number of simultaneous operations. It’s like a huge highway. However, it has limitations: it is expensive to produce, requires a lot of energy, and gets hot enough to require expensive dissipation systems. Conventional DRAM memory was not an alternative, but Intel and SoftBank began to ‘play around’ with stacked DRAM memory. It is like a puff of RAM memory (simplifying things a lot), whose main limitation came when connecting each of those thin layers of memory so that the final product had the same capabilities as that highway that is HBM memory. ZAM. After a few months of research, a few days ago at the Intel Connection in Japan, SAIMEMORY and Intel presented the ZAM prototype. According to the companiesa ZAM module can have a capacity of up to 512 GB, it is easy to produce because it consists of designing vertically stacked chips and most importantly: it can reduce energy consumption by 40% to 50% compared to conventional HBMs. If HBMs are expensive and take time to produce, ZAMs are cheaper, can be the solution to alleviate restrictions in the supply chain and, in addition, would lower the energy consumption of data centers (which is one of the problems they have), and are also easier to cool. At the moment, the company’s research points to a theoretical limit of 20 layers, but current designs move around 16 layers, so performance may be better if this current limitation can be overcome. Real alternative. Intel’s ambition is total, since they point out that their DRAM module joining technology allows them to offer two to three times the capacity of HBM modules while being up to 60% cheaper to produce. It all seems like a plus and doesn’t seem like bad technology when established giants in HBM memory creation like Samsung are also researching how to overcome the limitations of connections in stacked DRAM memory. The prototype | Photo by PCWatch Ambition. And, almost as important as the presentation of the ZAM prototype, is the alliance itself. Intel has been away from the memory market for many years. He tried it in the 80s and, again, years later with his Optane technology -that died miserably without making the slightest gap in the market. On the other hand, SoftBank represents a Japan that had the lead in this sector in the 1980s, but was overshadowed by emerging South Korean companies. In fact, Intel’s memories were eaten by the Japanese… and the Japanese by the South Koreans. SAIMEMORY has behind it not only those sharks, but other Japanese companies such as Fujitsu, Shinko Electric Industries, PowerChip Semiconductor Manufacturing or the University of Tokyo. And if ZAM memory works on a commercial level, it will not only be good news to alleviate the memory production chains (perhaps this will also alleviate the domestic market totally destroyed for the data center needs), but will mark the birth of a new and ambitious player who seeks to break the hegemony of the trident he currently leads. We will see it, of course, in a few years, since SAIMEMORY plans complete prototypes in fiscal year 2027 and begin commercialization in 2029. Image | Samsung, Maxence Pira In Xataka | The CEO of Nothing is clear that we do not need a high-end mobile phone every year. A mix of RAM crisis and common sense

break China’s monopoly on rare earths

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If in the 20th century the powers fought over oil wells, in 2026 the battle will be fought on the periodic table. Lithium, cobalt, gallium and rare earths have become the new barrels of crude oil, essential for manufacturing everything from the battery of an electric car to the guidance system of a hypersonic missile. In this scenario, Donald Trump’s administration has encountered an inescapable geological reality: the rhetoric of “America First” has a physical limit. To win the technology race of the 21st century, Washington needs its neighbors. In an unprecedented diplomatic and economic maneuver, the United States has launched an offensive to recruit Mexico, Argentina and a bloc of global allies, with the declared objective of shielding themselves from the vulnerability posed by China’s almost absolute dominance over critical minerals. The peak of strategic anxiety. The epicenter of this Copernican turn was the State Department in Washington, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance They served as hosts at the “Ministerial Meeting on Critical Minerals”. The call was no less: 55 international delegations sat at the table, under an urgent premise that the free market has failed. The American diagnosis is severe. China controls 90% of rare earth processing capacity and has begun to use that monopoly as a geopolitical weapon, imposing licensing requirements and restricting exports to pressure American industry. “The international market for critical minerals is failing,” said Vice President Vancearguing that Beijing floods the market with low prices to ruin Western competition and then raise prices at will. Project Vault and the lapse. To counter this, the White House has presented tools that rewrite the rules of global capitalism. Trump announced the creation of a strategic mineral reserve valued at 12 billion dollars (10 billion in Ex-Im Bank loans and almost 1.67 billion in private capital). Like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve created in the 1970s, this “vault” —call Project Vault— will accumulate stock to protect giants such as General Motors, Stellantis and Google from future supply crises. But the White House mentality has gone from business to war, literally. In a Freudian slip or statement of intent, the Trump administration’s official documents on these investments list the Pentagon under its 19th-century name: Department of War (War Department). Under this anachronistic headingWashington is already financing mining projects in Alaska and North Carolina, making it clear that resource extraction is no longer a matter of the market, but of pure and simple national defense. The FORGE alliance and “price floors”. To support this scheme, has been launched he Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE), initially chaired by South Korea, to coordinate a “preferential trade zone.” The revolutionary idea here is floor prices: if China pulls down global prices, the members of the bloc external tariffs will apply to maintain high internal value, thus guaranteeing the profitability of mining investments in allied countries. However, the market has reacted with skepticism to this interventionism. Paradoxically, after the announcement, the shares of American mining companies such as MP Materials and USA Rare Earth plummeted between 6% and 9%. According to analysts cited by Reutersthe fear is that the Trump administration will withdraw direct subsidies for individual projects to focus on this complex global price engineering, leaving local companies exposed to regulatory uncertainty. This entire American strategy draws a two-speed map of the world. On the one hand, there is the technological “VIP club”: the United States, Japan and the European Union will sign a binding trilateral agreement in 30 days to coordinate their industries. On the other hand, there are the suppliers of raw materials: Latin America. Argentina and the delivery of Lithium. In the south, Javier Milei’s administration has decided to unconditionally align its resources with Washington’s interests. Argentina, the world’s fifth largest producer of lithium, signed a framework agreement that ties it to the American supply chain, using RIGI as bait (Incentive Regime for Large Investments). For the White House, Argentina is the key piece to deal a blow to Beijing. At the moment, more than 70% of Argentine lithium travels to China, a flow that the US is determined to cut off and redirect towards its own factories. The operation is already underway. While diplomacy was signing papers, money was moving: the giant Glencore has agreed with the Orion consortium (backed by the US) to acquire assets, demonstrating how Western capital is beginning to take positions on the ground. Secretary Marco Rubio He did not hide his enthusiasm for this total provision: “Argentina is going to be a key partner for the world,” he stated, highlighting not only the extraction, but the country’s capacity to process the materials that the US needs. In practice, this makes the South American country a primary link in American national security. Mexico: The treasure map and the threat of the “Menú”. The situation in Mexico is one of forced pragmatism under threat. With the T-MEC review scheduled for July, the Mexican government accepted an “Action Plan” 60 days that goes far beyond commerce. The agreement opens the door to something that strikes a chord with national sovereignty: the US Geological Survey will collaborate in the “geological mapping” of Mexican territory to locate deposits, an x-ray of the neighbor’s resources carried out from Washington to “provide transparency.” The Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, justified the transfer with a phrase of brutal realism: “If you are not at the table participating, you are on the menu.” But for many, Mexico is already being devoured. The “Cambiémosla Ya” collective has issued a fierce alertdenouncing that this plan is a “return to neoliberalism” that subordinates national sovereignty to the industrial needs of the north. They warn that the rush to comply with Washington’s quotas will cause “the dispossession, displacement and destruction of communities”, relaxing regulations to turn the territory into a sacrifice zone for the US energy transition. Passport for rocks, walls for people. The backdrop of this great mineral alliance reveals a contradiction that defines the current era. While … Read more

break SK Hynix’s monopoly on AI

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Samsung Electronics will imminently begin manufacturing HBM4 memories in February, the next generation of high-speed chips that power AI accelerators. It has already passed qualification tests from both NVIDIA and AMD, according to industry sources cited by Reuters and Korea Economic Daily. The first deliveries will go to NVIDIA for its platform Vera Rubinwhose CEO, Jensen Huang, has confirmed that it is already in production with a launch planned for the second half of 2026. Why is it important. This move is set to change the balance of power in the AI ​​memory market, where SK Hynix has been the dominant supplier to NVIDIA. Demand for HBM chips has skyrocketed with the rise of generative AI, and that has made them one of the most critical bottlenecks in the tech industry. For NVIDIA, diversifying supply reduces the risk of relying on a single supplier when demand for its accelerators far exceeds its capacity. For Samsung, regaining ground means accessing revenues worth tens of billions annually at a critical time: need this boost because precisely SK Hynix has eroded part of its business. Between the lines. Samsung has played a risky card: adopting a sixth-generation (1c) 10-nanometer DRAM manufacturing process before anyone else, despite suffering from very low initial yields. Also has integrated a 4 nanometer logic chipmore advanced than that of SK Hynix. The bet is paying off: Samsung’s HBM4 chips reached speeds of 10.7 gigabits per second in NVIDIA tests, surpassing the 10 Gbps threshold. SK Hynix recorded 8.3 Gbps and Micron around 8 Gbps, according to a technical source cited by Korean Herald. The change in qualification criteria has favored Samsung. Nvidia and AMD have tightened speed requirements but relaxed thermal limits because they prioritize raw performance. This comes after accelerators like Google’s TPUs have demonstrated performance comparable to NVIDIA GPUs. Yes, but. SK Hynix is ​​already working to avoid losing ground: it has redesigned its HBM4 chips and is awaiting the results of new qualifications that will give it an advantage. In February it will begin deploying wafers in its new M15X plant in Cheongju to produce HBM chips. In addition, SK Hynix closed all HBM supply agreements with its largest customers in October for 2026. Samsung arrives later, trying to grab whatever share it can, thanks to all manufacturers operating at the limit of their capacity. The geopolitical background. South Korea concentrates more than 70% of global HBM chip productiona component so critical to AI that it determines who can train the most advanced models and who cannot. China, despite its enormous investments in semiconductors, is still a few years behind in this technology due to Western restrictions on advanced lithography equipment. South Korean dominance in HBM It is one of the most valuable advantages that the Western technological bloc maintains. And now what. Both companies have to publish their quarterly results this Thursday. And it is to be hoped that they will take the opportunity to provide more details about HBM4 orders and real demand. Those numbers will say a lot about who is winning this battle for the most valuable component of the AI ​​era. In Xataka | There is an unexpected victim of the rise in RAM memory prices: the very modern connected cars Featured image | Samsung

Tesla turns on the mega-refinery in Texas with which it wants to break China’s game

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The map of global power is no longer drawn only with oil wellsbut with the critical mineral pathways. In a move that redefines the auto industry and energy geopolitics, Tesla has announced that its lithium refinery in Texas is already an operational reality. It is not just another factory; It is the West’s first major attempt to wrest the keys to 21st century mobility from China. The advertisement. tesla sent a strong message through its official channels: its lithium refinery is now operational. According to Elon Musk himselfthis milestone “marks the beginning of energy independence for North America.” The facility, located in Robstown, near Corpus Christi Harbornot only seeks to ensure the supply of components, but also to reduce logistics emissions and generate regionalized employment. As detailed by Spectrum Newsthe plant has met the ambitious deadlines set since it was launched the first stone in May 2023. What was then a project of more than 1,000 million dollars, today is, according to Musk’s wordsthe largest and most advanced facility of its kind on the continent. A look towards China. To understand the magnitude of this step, you have to look at the Asian giant. Tesla is replicating the successful strategy of the Chinese giant BYD: absolute vertical integration. It’s no longer just about designing software or assembling chassis; it’s about controlling the entire value chainfrom when the mineral comes out of the ground until it becomes a battery cell. The capacity of this plant is massive. According to the specialized media DiscoverAlertthe refinery has a capacity of 50 GWh per year, which translates into enough lithium to manufacture approximately one million battery packs per year. By eliminating intermediaries, Tesla not only ensures its production rate, but also shields itself from the frailties of global logistics and geopolitical tensions. Texas alchemy. The real revolution of this plant is not only its size, but its chemistry. As Jason Bevan explainsmanager of Tesla, the plant uses a pioneering process in the United States: alkaline leaching to directly convert spodumene mineral into lithium hydroxide suitable for batteries. Unlike traditional refining—which often relies on aggressive acids and generates hazardous waste such as sodium sulfate—Tesla’s method is acid-free (acid free). As the refinery staff explains in the official video released by the brandthis process eliminates toxic byproducts. Instead, it generates a mixture of sand and limestone known as “anhydrite.” This byproduct, far from being waste, is being integrated into the circular economy. tesla confirmed from the beginning of the project that this material would be used in the production of construction materials (concrete), turning a traditional waste stream into a useful resource. Is it possible to break away from China’s shadow? Despite the optimism in Texas, the reality of the global market remains overwhelmingly favorable to Asia. How we have developed in XatakaChina currently controls the refining of 19 of the 20 strategic minerals evaluated by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Their dominance is almost total, since they process 95% of the graphite and 98% of the rare earths on the planet. Furthermore, the Chinese advantage is not coincidental, but the result of decades of investment under the “Made in China 2025” plan. While Tesla has managed to build its refinery in a record time of 19 months, the IEA warns that, on average, a mine takes up to 17 years to be operational. However, the United States has begun to play its cards with unprecedented aggressiveness. According to OilPricethe US administration has moved from traditional lending to direct involvement, acquiring stakes in mining companies such as Lithium Americas. This paradigm shift seeks to close the gap with China through public-private collaboration that includes massive projects such as Thacker Pass in Nevada, which is expected to be the largest lithium supply in the Western Hemisphere by 2027. The mining ecosystem: from Nevada to Texas. Until now, lithium production in the United States was almost negligible. According to a CNBC report, the Silver Peak plant in Nevada, owned by Albemarle, has been the only active source in the country for decades. Their method, based on solar evaporation in giant pools covering 13,000 acres, is a slow process that requires 18 to 24 months to concentrate the mineral. The arrival of Tesla and other players such as American Lithium (which recently expanded its assets in Nevada according to their own corporate statements) is transforming the sector. While Albemarle focuses in the extraction of underground brinesTesla focuses on the refining of hard rock (spodumene), creating a diversified ecosystem that seeks to feed the growing demand for electric vehicles. A change of era. The success of the Texas refinery will not be measured only by the tons of lithium hydroxide it produces, but by its ability to demonstrate that the West can compete on costs and sustainability without depending on Chinese infrastructure. Tesla isn’t just making electric cars; is building the foundations of industrial sovereignty. This project is the first concrete step to reduce a dependency that until recently was considered inevitable. Time will tell if 19 months of Texan engineering can beat two decades of Chinese strategy, but, for now, Tesla already has one of the keys. Image | tesla Xataka | Tesla urgently needs to make its electric cars cheaper. And their plan is to produce batteries in Germany

Railway experts explain how and why a rail can break

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Regarding the train accident in Adamuz (Córdoba) and its causes, there are very few things that can be taken for granted at this time. Almost the only certainty is that it will take months to know what caused the derailment of an Iryo train on a straight line and, everything indicates, the subsequent impact of a Renfe Alvia train seconds later. Despite this and despite the fact that Angrois railway accident (Santiago de Compostela) has already made it clear to us that these investigations entail a great effort of time and resources, information that points to one cause or another continues to be published. Among this information that, for the moment, remains conjecture, the idea of ​​a fracture of the road has become relevant following the publication of an image in which three researchers are seen next to a broken rail. in the diary The Country This hypothesis is pointed out as the fact that focuses the investigation. ABC He claims that it is the cause of the derailment. RTVE He points out that investigators want to confirm if it was the cause or consequence of the train leaving the tracks. The image, published by several media, is being used on social networks to defend that this is the real reason for the accident, accompanying video information in which strong vibrations from the trains in motion are observed. The latter, in fact, has been taken into account to lower the maximum speed to 230 km/h in a four points of the line between Madrid and Barcelona by Adif in what is considered the first really drastic measure after the accident in Andalusia. But what causes a fracture in the road and what are the implications? Is it related to the vibrations of the trains we travel on? A fracture in the road The first thing to make clear is that in this article we try to explain how the bill can occur on a track, what its implications are and if it has any relationship with the vibrations we feel on trains. However, until now there are no official sources that confirm that the original cause of the Adamuz accident is this. The investigations continue and probably It will take months to know all the details. The General Council of Industrial Engineers reminds us of the same thing, who emphasizes that “it cannot be stated without data whether the breakage is a cause or consequence. The investigation must be based on records, tests and metallurgical analysis. Not on images after the accident.” With this in mind, they point out that “a stress fracture is a progressive break of the lane that is not produced by a single sudden event, but by the accumulation of tensions over time. Simply put, the rail supports millions of load cycles. If there is a weak area (defect, welding, microcrack), each train passage does not break the rail, but it degrades it. “There comes a time when the resistant section is insufficient and the rail suddenly fractures.” From this entity they clarified to us that the vibrations we feel when we are traveling are not enough to derail a train. For this, one of the following scenarios must occur: Serious lane breakage. Severe loss of track geometry (alignment, grading, width). Structural failures in train elements (axles, bogies). Major obstacles on the road. Very unfavorable combinations of speed, geometry and undetected defects. And they emphasize that “usual vibrations are expected in the design of both the train and the infrastructure. “High-speed rail systems work with very wide safety margins.” “The usual vibrations are foreseen in the design of both the train and the infrastructure. High-speed railway systems work with very wide safety margins” This is confirmed to us from SEMAF (Spanish Union of Railway Machinists), who point out that imperfections in the track multiply when driving on them. “It is steel on steel,” they remember, and emphasize that the vibrations are a consequence of very small perfections in the track or the wheels that generate damage to their opposite. If the damage is on the track, it generates another imperfection in the wheel that multiplies it with each step cycle, generating the discomfort we feel on board. The General Council of Engineers emphasizes that “it is not usually a safety problem. It is usually a comfort or maintenance problem (wheel or rail) and many vibrations are corrected by re-profiling wheels or rails, without touching the structure of the line.” That is, when we feel these vibrations repeatedly and repeatedly It is not that we are passing through broken or fractured paths.. But it is possible that over time they end up being damaged to the point of suffering a stress fracture if appropriate measures are not taken. Maintenance is essential In this case, The road had been renovated last May with an investment that has reached 700 million euros. We cannot yet know if this was the origin of the accident, but the General Council of Industrial Engineers points to three possible causes that could cause the breakage of a track: Rail manufacturing defects: Non-metallic inclusions. Internal microcracks. Steel segregations. They are rare, but possible, and that is why periodic ultrasonic tests are carried out. Defective welds (especially aluminothermal): a poorly executed weld can generate residual stresses, poor alignment and/or internal microcracks. It is not common, but it is a known cause in railway engineering. Fatigue from repeated loads: Each axis introduces vertical, lateral and longitudinal loads. At high speed, dynamic effects multiply those loads. If the rail is already “touched”, fatigue accelerates the breakage. Thermal stresses on track without joints (the usual one today): The lane is “blocked.” Heat generates compression. The cold generates traction. A combination of low temperature, residual stresses and previous defect can promote brittle fracture. It must be taken into account that “the rail is one of the most demanding structural elements that exist. It is not rigid on its own, it is part of a flexible system. The steel … Read more

China aims to break records with the largest ice park in the world. And he has already begun to lift it block by block

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At the end of November, in Harbin, the image is repeated every winter, with a scale that has not stopped growing in recent editions: cranes, machinery and workers begin to raise structures on a surface that weeks later will become walls, towers and slides made of ice. According to official dataconstruction is advanced this year thanks to the ice stored during the previous season and preserved for more than ten months. This material allows work to begin even before the river freezes completely again, with the aim of preparing an area that this winter will have 1.2 million square meters. Harbin Ice-Snow World It has grown from a local celebration to a seasonal theme park that rises again each winter. It functions as an enclosure with defined entrances, circulation areas, walkable structures and spaces to stay for hours, especially when it gets dark and the lighting changes the perception of the place. It is not just a setting for photographs, but a park designed to be walked, used and visited for a few weeks, while weather conditions allow it. When ice stops being landscape and becomes infrastructure Upon entering the venue, the experience is more similar to that of a theme park than a temporary exhibition. You can walk between buildings, climb platforms, slide down ramps or access areas prepared for snow activities. The architectural elements are not presented as immobile pieces, but as part of the route. For this edition, those responsible have announced spaces intended for ice fishing, cross-country skiing and collective snow gamesas well as an additional stage that will complement the cultural activities of the already usual Dream Stage. The proposal does not focus solely on showing structures, but on facilitating their use within a planned and temporary environment. Before erecting ice structures, Harbin already celebrated winter through local practices. Hand-carved ice lanterns began to be used in the city in the middle of the last century and gave rise to the first Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, held on January 5, 1985. indicate official pages. The jump to the current format came in 1999, when Harbin Ice-Snow World was created as an independent venue, with specific access and design. Since then, the evolution has been constant: more surface area, greater volume of materials, presence of machinery and planned construction processes. The park, under construction in November 2025 Harbin has turned winter into a source of economic activity. According to data released by Xinhuathe city received 90.36 million visitors during the last season, with estimated income of 137.22 billion yuan (almost 17 million euros), an increase of 16.6% compared to the previous year. Ice-Snow World does not explain these figures on its own, but it acts as one of the main focuses of attraction and as an element that concentrates tourist services, accommodation, restaurants and transportation during the weeks in which it remains open. The construction mobilizes technical profiles, operators and specialists in structure and lighting, while the opening requires personnel for visitor service, security, maintenance and tourist support. Many of these roles are temporary, but require prior coordination and planning. When comparing Harbin to other major winter events, such as the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan or Quebec Winter Carnival in Canadathe difference is not only in size, but in structure. Sapporo distributes its sculptures in various urban spaces and Quebec combines culture, parades and outdoor activities, but neither of them functions as a theme park concentrated in a single venue, as occurs in Harbin. Harbin uses hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of ice and snow, according to official data, and builds walkable structures that are part of the route and not just the landscape. It is not so much a festival as a temporary recreational facility. Harbin Ice-Snow World has been integrated into the city’s tourism calendar as a seasonal facility. It is built every year, it opens for a few weeks and It is dismantled when temperatures no longer guarantee stability. This temporary nature does not prevent its planning: the prior storage of ice, the mobilization of workers and the associated services indicate that it is an organized activity and not simply a one-off event. The park functions as a generator of temporary employment, concentrates the winter tourism offer and channels activities that are subsequently complemented by the interior ice and snow enclosure, designed to operate all year round as an extension of the exterior park. There is no pretension of permanence, but of repetition adjusted to the climatic conditions. This repetition has allowed the consolidation of technical, logistical and tourist processes linked to winter as a seasonal economic resource. Images | The Harbin International Ice and Snow festival | Harbin Government In Xataka | Someone wants to build a 144 meter high skyscraper in the middle of the port of Malaga. The reason: luxury tourism

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