Central

Data centers have run out of “plugs” in central Europe, so they are migrating north and south

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The insatiable appetite of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is redrawing the map of Europe. Historically, the European data center market has been dominated by a handful of metropolitan areas known in the industry as the “FLAP-D” markets: Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin. The main attraction of these cities was their proximity to large demand centers, which allowed extraordinarily fast data transmission. However, current forecasts indicate that this historical dominance is beginning to crumble. Technology developers are packing their bags and the reason is purely physical: there is not enough energy. The collapse of the giants. The driving force behind this technological exodus is the sheer congestion of the electrical grid in the traditional epicenters. Unlike a conventional factory, data centers present a brutal challenge for any infrastructure: they are huge, hyper-localized loads that operate tirelessly and have the ability to skyrocket their consumption faster than almost any other industry. The local impact of these installations is astonishing. According to Greenpeacein 2023 data centers consumed between 33% and 42% of all electricity in cities such as Amsterdam, London and Frankfurt. The most extreme case is that of Dublin, where they accounted for almost 80% of electricity consumption. The situation became so critical that Ireland was forced to impose a moratorium de facto to new data centers in its capital until 2028. The exodus to the North and South. As a direct consequence of this bottleneck, the proportion of installed capacity in FLAP-D markets will fall from the current 62% to just 51% by 2035. according to a report by Ember. This drop marks the beginning of a new era in which developers flee from bottlenecks. The new map would look like this: The big winners: The Nordic countries top the expansion list. They offer some of the least congested networks in Europe, low electricity prices, minimal carbon intensity and cold climates that reduce the need for cooling. Demand is expected to increase 4 or 5 times in this region. The awakening of the South: On the other side of the continent, countries such as Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain also project explosive growth, driven by their potential in renewable energy. The laggards: There are nations that, despite having strong economies and plenty of IT talent, are falling behind. Poland and Czechia are the best example. As detailed by Paweł CzyżakDirector of the Europe Program at the analysis center Embertheir electrical systems are still tied to coal and gas (Poland emits about 600 gCO2/kWh and the Czech Republic about 400 gCO2/kWh). With no clean energy to offer, investors prefer to look to their greener neighbors. Don’t underestimate the south. While the north squeezes the Scandinavian cold, Spain faces this exodus from a privileged position, breaking daily renewable generation records. However, its electrical network suffers a serious administrative “thrombosis”: There is plenty of clean energy, but there is a lack of cables to transport it, leaving 130 GW trapped in a bottleneck. Faced with the avalanche of data centers that threatened to collapse the system, the Government and the CNMC They have applied emergency surgery. The solution involves pioneering “flexible access permits” – which allow these plants to use residual capacity by accepting outages in emergencies – and the non-negotiable requirement that they withstand “voltage gaps” to shield the electrical stability of the entire peninsula. Planning and more planning. None of this happens by chance. In places where the network flows smoothly, there are years of work behind it. The Norwegian operator, Statnett, has been preparing the ground for some time to assume three times the electricity demand from data centers by 2030. In Denmark, Energinet began building high-voltage substations in 2017 in anticipation of precisely this scenario. Beyond the cables, the internal technology dictates the sentence. The key indicator is the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness), which measures the technical efficiency of each installation. Paweł Czyżak points out in your newsletter that the difference is abysmal: the leading centers consume 24% less electricity and emit four times less CO2 than an average plant. Google has the best student in the class in Fredericia (Denmark): it averages a spectacular PUE of 1.07 and runs on 91% clean energy. The technological paradox. There is, however, a fascinating irony in the background: the same Artificial Intelligence that today saturates the cables could be the salvation of the electrical system. According to calculations by the consulting firm Deloittethe efficiency improvements that this technology will bring will save more than 3,700 TWh globally by 2030. Put into perspective, the deployment of these algorithms will save almost 4 times the energy consumed by all the data centers on the planet combined. Examples from other latitudes support this theory: in Southeast Asia (ASEAN), It is estimated that integrating AI in the management of its electrical systems it will save more than 67 billion dollars and avoid the emission of almost 400 million tons of CO2 between now and 2035. Infrastructure decides the future. At the bottom of this complex puzzle of cables and algorithms, what is at stake is pure and simple economic competitiveness. They are not minor figures. In the Netherlands, the data and cloud sector already attracts 20% of all foreign direct investment. In Germany, estimates calculate that the contribution of these centers to GDP will jump from the current 10.4 billion euros to more than 23 billion in 2029. The warning for legislators and regulators is clear: the technology giants have no patience to wait for new cables to be buried. They will move their billions to where the network already has space. As Czyżak saysthe country that wants to seduce the industry must guarantee clean energy in abundance and plugs ready to use. In the frenetic race to dominate the technological future, having a ready electrical grid is no longer an advantage; It is the only entry ticket. Image | İsmail Enes Ayhan on Unsplash and IRENA Xataka | Iran is directing its attacks where it knows it hurts the West: energy and data centers

that humanoid robots controlled by a central AI work

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Samsung has planted itself in the MWC 2026 with one objective: to demonstrate that it is a ubiquitous company. What does this imply? Well, let them gain muscle with your screens everywherebut also show a powerful commitment to artificial intelligence in all links of the chain: from mobile phones to Samsung Galaxy S26 to the factories. And as a result of that intention for AI to be the pilot of everything, they have shown a science fiction plan: that robots and a central AI control their factories. And they want it the day after tomorrow. Independent. He concept of “agent AI” It’s one that we’re going to have to become familiar with because companies are going to put a lot of effort – and money – into this. It is an AI that no longer only responds to what we need, but can carry out actions autonomously. In a releaseSamsung assures that that agent principle that has been introduced in the Galaxy S26 It will be what dictates the future of its factories. The South Korean company wants these artificial intelligence agents to be the ones that “optimize workflows in production, predictive maintenance, repair operations and logistics coordination” in its factories, but an AI cannot execute things outside of the software. Need a physical interfaceand that’s where the other leg of the plan comes into play. Robots. They are the body of the brain and something that many companies are already exploring. A few months ago I traveled to China and came across the first store run by a robot. It is very simple and I described it as a “glorified vending machine”, but it meets the objective of these companies: to have spaces in which robots take care of everything. They don’t rest, they don’t have agreements and they don’t complain. And if companies like BMW either Xiaomi is already testing robots in its factories, Samsung does not want to be left behind. In the statement, the South Korean company states that they are already progressively introducing highly specialized humanoid robots for various tasks. For example, robots for facility management operations, others for the next steps of the production line, others in logistics, others for the transportation of materials, and precision robots for manufacturing. They point out that they are ideal in environments where human access is limited or dangerous and they are clear that it is something that will grow, with other robots dedicated to monitoring plant conditions, identifying risks and mitigating them before they occur. Total bet. In the end, it is about fully integrating AI across the entire manufacturing value chain: from logistics to production; from quality inspection to final shipment. They are designing a “next-generation autonomous production environment,” and they want to have it soon. The plan is that by 2030, “all manufacturing operations” will have completed the transition to this agentic and robotic AI. They are already at it, as we say, adding robots to production chains, but Samsung’s Executive Vice President and Head of Global Technology Research points out that the next phase is the “construction of autonomous environments where AI understands contexts in real time and executes optimal decisions.” NVIDIA. It sounds like science fiction, especially because of the deadlines they have, but they will not be alone in this adventure. Who is going to be by your side? Indeed: NVIDIA. At the end of last year, both they signed an agreement collaboration that includes the deployment of more than 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs and the use of the platform Omniverse to carry out the infrastructure of digital twins in semiconductor manufacturing. This is key to achieving that goal that Samsung seeks and as important as the AI reasoning systems in real time for robots. And for this they are also using the Jetson Thor platform from Jensen Huang’s company. Alternative to TSMC. That is the goal that Samsung wants to reach. Because right now they are one of the largest factories in the world (they have their Exynos processorsbut also its camera sensors that are in various devices, as well as its division of memory that powers NVIDIA GPUs), but what they want is to become an alternative to the undisputed queen: TSMC. To do this, Samsung is moving, opening factories in several countries around the world and investing enormous sums of money to be one of the legs of the business in the United States which also pursues this agentic AI and the end with haste and a good wad of cash: general AI. There are four years left to see if this objective, which seems like science fiction, is met. Images | Samsung, Xiaomi In Xataka | I have seen the result of a crazy night between a mobile phone and a robot: the Honor Robot Phone dances to your music as well as takes photos of you

free multiplayer, according to Windows Central

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We may be facing the biggest twist in the history of Xbox since its birth almost 25 years ago. The classic concept of the home console, which has shared prominence with PlayStation throughout this time, seems set to be diluted to get closer than ever to that of the PC. A profound transformation that even calls into question the need to pay for multiplayer. That is, at least, what Microsoft’s latest movements, the statements of some of its main executives and what was published by Windows Central. If this strategy becomes consolidated, it could open a new stage of opportunities for the platform, although it would also mark the beginning of new challenges. A new Xbox experience. Everything indicates that Xbox’s next step will be to leave behind the limits that always separated consoles from the PC. The aforementioned media points out that the next generation will be built on a Windows base, with an interface designed for the living room, but with the freedom of being able to jump to the desktop whenever we want. The idea is simple but ambitious: a machine that turns on like a console, feels like a console, but can behave like a full computer if the player wants it. The clues are not few. Phil Spencer had already anticipated a long time ago that the future of Xbox would involve more open experiences, and in his last speech he insisted on it again. He said that those who want to imagine what the next generation will be like only have to look at the Xbox Ally. For her part, Sarah Bond, president of the division, confirmed that they are already working on the new hardware with AMD. “We are totally focused on creating products for the future,” he assured. The ASUS laboratory. In the practical field, the ASUS ROG Ally —and its improved version, the Ally— represent the best experiment yet of the future Microsoft imagines. Both devices run Windows and allow you to use launchers such as Steam or Epic, offering almost total freedom. However, they still do not achieve the essential thing: natively accessing the Xbox catalog. This limitation explains why the company wants to go further, looking for a console that unites both worlds without the player feeling like they are giving up anything. Xbox without tolls. According to the sources consulted, Microsoft would be preparing a historic change: eliminating payment for multiplayer on its next console. The reasoning is simple. If the new hardware will behave like a PC, it would make no sense to charge for something that is free on other platforms. In that more open model, the player could choose where and how to play, without feeling obligated to pay to connect with others. Catalog and backward compatibility. One of the great attractions of this new stage will be being able to play practically everything. According to Windows CentralMicrosoft plans for the next Xbox to support the entire Series X|S library, in addition to backwards compatible titles from previous generations. And not only that: it will also allow you to access PC games through platforms such as Steam or Epic. A system that promises to erase the borders between generations and formats. The challenge of execution. The theory is brilliant, but we’ll have to wait to see how it will turn out in practice. On the ROG Ally, the experience between the Xbox layer and the Windows environment is not always seamless. Windows Central notes that Microsoft is aware of these problems and is working on the next console to eliminate those frictions. If he succeeds, the jump could be as big as he promises. Everything indicates that Microsoft is willing to rewrite what we understand by a console. If it manages to integrate the openness of the PC with the simplicity of the Xbox, it could mark a before and after in its history. But there are still questions in the air: price, calendar and, above all, the response of the players. After a quarter of a century, Xbox seems willing to reinvent itself, and this time the leap promises to be as risky as it is necessary. Images | Microsoft In Xataka | The new record of 40,000 games purchased by a Chinese player on Steam blurs the line between collecting and obsession

central banks are fleeing the dollar

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A few days ago we saw how gold had exceeded $4,000 per ounce for the first time in its history and, as it could not be otherwise, it has raised a general alarm in the markets. And there are not exactly a few analysts who are already pointing to $5,000 by 2026. But the real story behind this historic rally is not only that gold is expensive: is that the dollar is losing its neutrality as a world reserve currency. In emerging countries and China is where this is being noticed the most, and central banks react accordingly. A historic rise. gold accumulates a 50% increase so far in 2025, its best year since 1979. However, neither geopolitical uncertainty nor rate cuts nor dollar weakness fully explain the magnitude of the movement. Just like they explain Since Expansion, gold has continued to rise even with the truce in Gazasome recovery of the dollar and a Federal Reserve in standby mode. Something deeper is happening. Central banks lead the purchase. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, central banks They have bought gold massively and constant. In this way, some emerging countries and China diversify their reserves to depend less on the US dollar. According to Goldman Sachscentral banks explain 19% of the expected rise in gold until the end of 2026, buying an average of 80 tons in 2025 and 70 in 2026. Bank of America also matches by pointing to central banks and small investors who push the price up. Gold already competes with American Treasury bonds. The value of central banks’ gold reserves (excluding the United States) reached 3.93 trillion dollars at current prices, slightly exceeding the $3.92 trillion in US Treasury bonds held by foreign governments. Gold has gone from representing 10% of world reserves a decade ago to 24% by mid-2025. It is a structural change in the international monetary system. Preparing for a post-hegemonic dollar world. What is at stake is the global financial architecture. Central banks in emerging economies are betting on a future where the dollar is no longer the neutral currency it has been for decades. Trade tensions between the United States and China, political pressures on the independence of the Federal Reserve and record debt levels Americans feed this narrative. Individual investors join in. A wave of retail investors has recently added to institutional demand. In Japan, where gold exceeded 20,000 yen per gramdistributors such as Tanaka Precious Metals had to suspend sales due to the avalanche of orders. In Hong Kong and Türkiye, traditional gold-buying markets, families They are both buying and selling to take advantage of record prices. Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) they caught 26 billion dollars in the third quarter of 2025 alone, a record figure. Around $5,000. Société Générale has just raised its forecast to $5,000 per ounce by the end of 2026, describing this goal as “increasingly inevitable.” Bank of America aims for the same level, while Goldman Sachs projects 4,900 dollars by December 2026. And in all the projections there is a common denominator: they assume that institutional demand from central banks will remain strong and that individual investors will continue to see gold as a refuge, especially in an environment of great uncertainty. Risk. It’s not all good news for the precious metal. a survey from Bank of America shows that 25% of fund managers consider long positions in gold as one of the most saturated bets in the market. Just like they explain From the Financial Times, historically, when gold moves more than 20% away from its 200-day moving average, as is happening now, corrections of 20% to 33% usually occur. But even with that risk, everything indicates that the world is preparing for a monetary system where the US dollar no longer dominates alone. Cover image | Jingming Pan In Xataka | In Europe we have a problem: we are becoming the Japan of the 21st century

It has become the Central Bank of the AI

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Nvidia has gone from manufacturing graphics cards for Gamers First and Crypto miners later to become the referee of the technological future. His mastery of the chips market for ia gives him a power that goes beyond the business: he decides who can compete and who not in the AI career. Regulating the flow of critical resources towards companies that need them to survive gives it that capacity, as a kind of Central Technological Bank. The money trail. Nvidia controls more than 80% of the gpus market for AI (some sources They attribute more than 90%), with gross profit margins that They exceed 70%. But true power is not in the numbers, but in the waiting lists. OpenAI, Google, Meta and virtually any company that aspires to compete in the depend on chips H100 and H200 of Nvidia. The waiting time can be one semester and a year. The difference between getting them or does not determine who launches the next revolutionary model and who is left behind. Between bambalins. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, personally manages the most important chip assignments. A simple call of yours can accelerate an order or delay it indefinitely. It is a power that no technological executive had had before. Amazon and Microsoft have tried to develop their own chips to reduce dependence. The results so far are mediocre compared to Nvidia. AMD and Intel They try to gain ground, but they are still behind to train LLMS. China tries to create alternativesbut it’s back behind. Larry Ellison told that he, like Elon Musk and others, “begged” for accessing H100 at a dinner with Huang. Nvidia’s advantage is not just hardware, it is the software ecosystem (CUDA) that has been developing years. The big question. How long will this domain last? The history of technology tells us that no monopoly is eternal. But Nvidia has an advantage: every year that passes, its software ecosystem becomes more difficult to replace. The regulators They begin to pay attentionbut intervening in such a technical and strategic market is complex. And a geopolitical factor comes into play: slowing down Nvidia could mean giving advantage of China in the AI race. And now what. Nvidia continues to increase the distance with its competitors. Its new generation of Blackwell chips promises to be even more powerful. Meanwhile, companies that depend on their products have no choice but to accept their prices. And his times. It is a power comparable to that of a central bank: control the flow of the most valuable resource of the digital economy. The difference is that central banks have supervision and public mandates. Nvidia only responds to your shareholders In Xataka | Intel has a plan to recover his old glory. The problem is that carrying it will not be easy Outstanding image | Xataka

There will be portable Xbox this year according to Windows Central. It is the absolute validation of the Steam Deck revolution

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When César what is from César and Nintendo what is from Nintendo: the Switchor rather, the concept of console proposed by Nintendo Switch, has come to stay. Proof of this is the Rage of consolidated PCs. The Steam Deck de Valve He sowed the seed of a segment of devices that is growing by leaps and bounds and it is no secret that Xbox, whose objective in this world is to turn any screen into a console, is working on its own proposal. Today, courtesy of Central Windowswe have been able to know that this console will soon arrive. Keenan. That is the code name that the Xbox portable console project receives. According to the aforementioned medium, Microsoft is working with an OEM (that is, with a company such as Asus, Lenovo, MSI, etc., it is not known which one) to develop it. This device will have a design that will remember Xbox and, probably, work with Windows. Makes sense: that will allow the Microsoft Store and Game Pass On the output grid. This is an Xbox. Microsoft has been struggling to transfer the idea that any screen is an Xbox and serves to play for a long time. Game Pass has managed to become the subscription, capital and bold, based on offering a launching games, large -budget titles, the possibility of playing them at home and accessing them in the cloud. There is no need for dedicated hardware, just an Internet connection to take a game. In that proposal a portable console fits very well. A console that allows Microsoft to breastfeed from Windows possibilities in the same way as Valve did it with Steamos (Aka Linux). In fact, it can be expected that the software options that Microsoft will take out of the sleeve (we think of an Xbox bar enhanced with TDP management options and fans speed, for example) result in the benefit of the rest of the OEMS. Asus Rog Ally | Image: Xataka Release date. According to Windows Central, the console is scheduled to advertise at the end of the year. It seems that Microsoft has put fifth. The first time we heard about this device was at the beginning of last year and it was not until November that Phil Spencer confirmed That was in development. However, having deposited the development of hardware in an OEM has surely accelerated things. After all Asus, Lenovo, MSI and Acer already have experience by building consolidated PCs. The Steam Deck revolution. At this point, it is objective to say that the Steam Deck has meant a turning point in the industry. PC video games, until now tied to a desktop or scarcely portable hardware, have been able to play on the couch on a console similar to a Nintendo Switch. It is proof that graphics in 4K HDR with Path Tracing and 400 FPS They are very good, but not as much as being able to play anywhere what we want. Information from the Next-Gen. Finally, the medium slides that the new generation of Xbox consoles has been approved by Microsoft’s board of directive. Its launch would be tentatively scheduled, by 2027. The console It was announced in 2019 And it was launched in 2020. Seven years of life, the predictable and expected. This new console would drink even more Windows, something designed to reduce the amount of development necessary to carry Xbox PC games. Since it seems that it was yesterday when the new generation consoles were announced, it is possible that someone is concerned about retrocompatibility. Here we must remember that Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, announced a long time ago A team of people dedicated to promoting the retrocompatibility of the games so, the future Xbox games can be compatible with Xbox Series X | s, but it is early to know. Cover image | Xataka, Xbox In Xataka | Xbox releases the artillery by 2025 with in -depth views to the very brutal new ‘doom’ and the announcement of ‘Ninja Gaiden 4’

The European Central Bank has been fighting for five years to literally create a “European Bizum”. Now has taken a key step

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Europe wants to have its own instant payments system. That would allow the dependence of the great market leaders, Visa and Mastercard, and strengthened the European financial ecosystem. And the plan begins to take shape with Bizum as a great protagonist. Bizum is looking for allies. As they point out In Electomistthe idea is to unify the payment systems that are currently working in the various countries of the European Union. Bizum, protagonist in Spain, has its twin schemes with Bancomat Pay in Italy and Sibs in Portugal. All of them now pose to be interconnected with a specially relevant reference. Wero, the German Bizum. The Instant Payment System It has been since summer 2024 being the great alternative in France (where they used Paylib), Germany (Giropay), Belgium and Luxembourg (Payconiq) and Holland (ideal). This project of the European Payments Initiative (EPI) is taking shape, and it can precisely be the other great component of that fusion of instant payment systems in Europe. The ECB wants a European bizum. Sources close to negotiations indicate that the project is on the table. To get ahead, we would have that giant of the instant payments that for years has tried to boost the European Central Bank (ECB). A long -sought project. Five years ago the European Commission He started looking that “European bizum” with the launch of the aforementioned EPI. In the project 16 great banks of Spain, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands participated. A year later the figure amounted to 31 entities. The objective, offer a unified payment solution with a payment card and a digital purse. But that has gone through problems. The initiative was promising, but the slowness of its implementation and the excessive budget necessary to achieve this caused several banks to withdraw from the project. As indicated in the economist, the Spanish bank had to contribute 300 million to the initiative, something debatable if we consider that Bizum has existed since 2015 and has a massive acceptance. Spain, Portugal and Italy teach the way. Last year Bizum, Sibs and Bancomat Pay began working on connecting their platforms and making possible instant payments between these countries in the same conditions as to the national scale. It was also the result of the Bizum Union to the European Association of Mobile Payment Systems (EMPSA), which was the consortium of southern Europe. That alliance brings together 43 million users, of which 28 belong to the Spanish system. Germany, France and Belgium were looking for something similar. Something similar happened with the EPI and Wero, which interconnected the mobile payment systems of Germany, France or Belgium and wanted to become the European Payment System. Now both consortiums have approached positions and according to the sources mentioned there are options to end working on an interconnection of all systems. This looks good. It is not clear if the conversations will end with a single European system – will Bizum be called? Wero? – Or if at the moment we will work on that interconnection of all these applications separately, but of course these efforts can be the principle of something great and important for the European panorama of instant payments. It is already known. Union is strength. In Xataka | The arrival of the digital euro is inevitable: let’s say goodbye to anonymity

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