china

In its leap to electric cars, Europe fears total dependence on China. Your solutions arrive (quite) late

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The rope tightens. This time it is Europe that pulls to its side. Or, at least, that is what he wants according to what is stated in Financial Timeswhere we read that the European Union wants to force car manufacturers to reduce their level of dependence on China. Now, forcing them to buy fewer components from their suppliers. A new goal. It is, according to Financial Timeswhat the European Union wants to impose on companies in key sectors such as automobiles, industrial machinery or the chemical sector. In the newspaper’s information we read that European institutions are looking for tools to put pressure on their own companies. In the information, which is attributed to two European officials familiar with this project, the objective is to put a limit on the percentage of components that can be supplied to a single country. That is, if a company wants to manufacture a product in Europe, it could not buy all of its components (or the vast majority) from China. To distribute the purchases. If the project goes ahead as we read in the British media, a company could only buy between 30 and 40% of its components from the same country. It is sought that, at least, the origin of the parts that, in this case, make up a car is from three suppliers and from at least three different countries. This would not be much of a problem if it were not for the fact that the 30-40% barrier could not be overcome. “Gradually dependent”. “In many areas we are gradually becoming dependent on China’s exports,” the words are from a senior European Union official consulted by the newspaper. According to Financial Timesthe organizations are very aware of the extent to which a stoppage of Chinese factories or exports can damage the European economy. In fact, last summer some factories had to stop or saw their production compromised after China put greater impediments to export of products in which rare earths are used such as the magnets in electric car motors. Just a few months later, The Nexperia crisis once again set off the alarms of possible interruptions in the supply chain since a good part of the chips used by the European industry uses components from this company. They are not key products for its operation but without them, a car cannot be sold because They are essential for auxiliary but basic functions How to raise and lower the car window. 1 billion. That is what, according to Financial Timesthey calculate in the European Union that we lose to China. 1,000 million euros of deficit in the trade balance. 1,000 million. Diaries. The figure has been floating for two years now. and the automotive industry is one of those that has suffered the most. According to the European Union, they have achieved this with a doped industry, which has led to the lifting of tariffs on electric cars arriving from China. And the Chinese manufacturers have wanted to land abroad on our continent but also the Europeans have wanted to manufacture in China because it was cheaper. Spain? According to Anfac dataIn Spain we have a deficit in our trade balance of 5,000 million euros annually if we talk about components. As the second largest car producer in Europe, our auxiliary fabric is not enough and we need to buy components worth 16,893 million euros when exports exceed 11,525 million euros. There is no data on the origin of these imported components but we do know that The second country that exports the most cars to Spain is China. Last year, 9.2% of cars purchased in our country from outside our borders arrived from China. Very far, yes, from the German 26%. The problem is that despite importing cars worth almost 2.7 billion euros, China does not appear among the 10 countries to which we export the most cars and we barely place 658 million euros in exports to all of Asia. The game of balance. Yet the European Union is discovering that perhaps it has arrived late to the trade battle. Yes, it has lifted tariffs on electric cars sold from China but the country’s tentacles reach deep into vehicles made in Europe, producing all kinds of cheap components but also producing key technology such as semiconductors or batteries of electric cars. China is aware that it can squeeze European industry but it also needs our trade to export all the cars that are already surplus there. It is no coincidence that Europe has not imposed tariffs on cars arrived with combustion engines and? have negotiated with China the possibility of lifting trade barriers to electric cars. The Band-Aid. Until now, a very important part of the components used in European cars had their origin within the borders of the European Union itself. However, China’s weight has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2024, China has already become the main exporter of cars to Europe and the weight of its components within the cars manufactured here is increasingly greater, which reduces the competitiveness of our exports, according to this report BBVA. This imbalance is doubly worrying because the European Union is trying to reduce Chinese dependence now that it is seeking to make the definitive leap to the electric car, a technology where the Asian country dominates the supply chain. In recent months, Europe has tried to curb dependence promoting mineral mining on our soil or battery production but Chinese dependence remains evident. Photo | Michael Fourset and Sou Jest In Xataka | Japan has been charging a 0% tariff on foreign cars for half a century. It will be very difficult for you to find one on the street.

China is trying another way to surpass the US number one

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Every time we talk about large-scale artificial intelligence we end up reaching the same point: data centers and their enormous amounts of GPUs. It’s not a coincidence. This type of chip has become a centerpiece because it is especially well suited to running many operations in parallel, just the kind of work that requires training AI models and running them at scale. We take it almost for granted: more AI, more GPU. But that equivalence does not exhaust all possibilities. China is trying a different routeone that tries to answer the same question from another place: what happens if the AI ​​​​muscle is built only with CPUs. CPU instead of GPU. HPC Wire notes that China has begun to deploy several CPU-only supercomputers in recent years for AI workloads and high-performance computing, largely due to US restrictions that limit its access to enough advanced GPUs for these types of systems. The difference is important: we are not simply talking about a technical preference, but rather a response conditioned by the geopolitical context. When access to the most coveted hardware is limited, the alternative is to squeeze out our own architectures and reduce external dependency. LineShine. The most striking case of this strategy is this supercomputer, linked to the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen. According to South China Morning Postit is a machine built entirely with domestic CPUs and designed to work without a GPU. The media also reports that Huang Xiaohui, deputy director of the Shenzhen center, presented it as an integrated architecture capable of supporting both traditional high-performance computing and artificial intelligence loads. The system, they explain, uses 47,000 CPUs spread across 92 computing cabinets. The LX2 chip. The piece that allows us to lower that bet into the realm of hardware is the LX2 processor, described as an Armv9 chip designed for AI loads and high-performance computing. Each CPU integrates two chiplets and has 304 cores, organized in eight clusters of 38 cores each. The architecture includes Arm SVE and SME units, designed to accelerate vector and matrix operations, widely present in AI training and scientific computing. Added to that is an unusual combination of HBM memory in the package itself and external DDR5, a mix aimed at moving a lot of data quickly without giving up capacity. The power. LineShine is designed to reach 2 exaflops, a figure with which China aims to place it above The Captainthe Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory supercomputer that is the current world leader with almost 1.8 exaflops. Huang Xiaohui, deputy director of the Shenzhen center, went further at a conference on April 24. According to statements collected by SCMP, he maintained that by the end of 2025 the system had completed its deployment and activation, with sustained performance greater than 2 exaflops. Not everything is positive. Going for a CPU-only machine may make sense for certain jobs, but does not eliminate the great advantage of GPUs in artificial intelligence. For more intensive and easily parallelized loads, these accelerators typically complete more work with the same power than a CPU-only system. That is why the industry continues to rely mostly on mixed architectures, with processors for general tasks and GPUs to accelerate heavier calculations. LineShine fits better as an alternative route under specific conditions than as proof that the dominant model is behind us. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | There was a time when Nvidia was a gaming company. That business is now pocket change for the owner and lady of AI

China finally has a competitive desktop processor. Its problem is that it is six years behind Intel

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China has your own alternative to processors for PCs, servers and data centers made by Intel, AMD and other companies. Loongson is one of the few Chinese companies that can manufacture advanced microprocessors. We have been following it for several years because in the current climate of geopolitical tension it has acquired more relevance than ever, and there is no doubt that its cruising speed is high. At the end of December 2022 this company launched its CPU 3A5000 32 corea general-purpose processor with LoongArch microarchitecture implemented by this company on the MIPS architecture. And in February 2024 it presented its LS3C6000 server processor, a CPU with DragonChain technology that could be scaled up to 64 cores. Its latest milestone is not the presentation of a new chip. The reason why we have decided to talk to you again about this Chinese company is that just a week ago it confirmed that it has distributed more than one million units of its flagship desktop processor, which represents a milestone in China’s efforts to build a self-sufficient semiconductor industry. The 3A6000 CPU has been designed and manufactured entirely in China Loongson implements its processors on the MIPS architecture, but the microarchitecture of these chips has been expressly designed by engineers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. By not using x86-64 or ARM architectures, this company has been able to continue refining its designs without being conditioned by US sanctions. Be that as it may, Loongson is dedicated to the design of microprocessors, but does not have the capacity to manufacture them itself. China recently had no alternative to US-made CPUs SMIC takes care of this (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp), what is the largest semiconductor manufacturer from China, in the same way that TSMC produces the integrated circuits designed by AMD, Apple, NVIDIA or Qualcomm. According to the publication Fast Technology, the third generation of Loongson chipsto which the 3A6600, 3B6600 and 3C6600 CPUs belong, has a performance comparable to that of the 12th Intel Core and 13th generation. Curiously, according to Fast Technology, the 3B6600 model in particular is the one that rivals these Intel CPUs and comparable AMD proposals. In fact, according to SCMP Loongson herself has acknowledged that the performance of her desktop processors is comparable to that of Intel chips launched around 2020. Six years is a long time in this sector, but it is important that we do not overlook that China recently did not have any alternative to US-made CPUs. This achievement by Loongson is part of Beijing’s effort to channel resources to reduce China’s dependence on foreign semiconductor technology. However, this strategy has been accelerated in response to restrictive export controls Americans who limit China’s access to advanced chips, integrated circuit design software and next-generation semiconductor manufacturing services. It will be interesting to see if Loongson finally catches up with Intel and AMD. Image | TSMC More information | SCMP In Xataka | China takes off in quantum computers: it already has the first dual-core and 200 qubits on the planet ready

China was supposed to be behind in chip-making equipment. Now its engraving technology is the standard and even TSMC uses it

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Gerald Yin Zhiyao is the president and CEO of AMEC (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment China), one of the largest chinese companies specialized in the design and production of the equipment involved in manufacturing integrated circuits. During a roundtable held at the end of July 2024 this veteran executive maintained that Chinese chip manufacturing equipment was at that time between 5 and 10 years behind its most advanced competitors in terms of quality and reliability. Yin Zhiyao is one of China’s leading experts in semiconductor production equipment manufacturing. He has not hesitated on several occasions to publicly adopt a critical stance when assessing the degree of development of the Chinese chip manufacturing machine industry, which is why his statements tend to be interesting to say the least. And the one he did last Sunday on Chinese state television, and which has been picked up by SCMPit was. According to Yin ZhiyaoAMEC’s ​​plasma etching technology has established itself as a standard in the integrated circuit industry and has been adopted by its major international rivals. In fact, according to the founder of AMEC, TSMC, the Taiwanese company that leads the chip manufacturing marketuses some of its machines in its production chain. It may seem like bravado, but it doesn’t have to be. It makes sense for TSMC to use semiconductor processing machines designed and manufactured by AMEC. What China has and what it doesn’t have Much of the sanctions deployed by the US Government seeks to put out of reach of Chinese companies the most advanced chip manufacturing equipment available on the market. In this scenario Yin Zhiyao holds something very reasonable: the US bans have accelerated the development of China’s semiconductor industry. In fact, at the end of 2023 the Xi Jinping Administration handed over to its main companies that are dedicated to the manufacture of semiconductor production equipment no less than 41 billion dollars. Photolithography and etching are two different stages that are repeated dozens of times during chip manufacturing Despite this effort, China still does not have extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE), which are suitable for manufacturing cutting-edge chips. At least not in large scale production. What it does have, as the head of AMEC states, are the engraving machines (etching) involved in the production of advanced integrated circuits. These devices are responsible for removing material from the exposed areas in order to physically sculpt the circuits on the silicon wafer. In this context, it is important that we keep in mind that photolithography and etching are two different and consecutive stages that are repeated dozens of times during chip manufacturing. Photolithography aims to transfer the geometric pattern that describes the circuit from a mask or template to the surface of the silicon wafer using extreme ultraviolet light. This is the stage that ASML machines on the edge nodes solve. Immediately after, the engraving process takes place, which can be wet or plasma. This last variant bombards the surface of the silicon wafer with an ionized gas that produces a plasma. This is precisely the process carried out by AMEC machines. Image | TSMC More information | SCMP In Xataka | China has responded to the US with a milestone: it already has an AI model capable of running on GPUs with different architectures

22% of the electric cars we buy in Europe are produced in China. It’s just the tip of the iceberg

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One in five electric cars purchased in Europe are Chinese. Chinese of origin, but it does not mean that their manufacturers are Chinese. However, it is a fact that does not explain the entire story. Chinese companies continue to gain ground in Europe and tariffs are clearly not slowing down their expansion. 22%. The data is brought Benchmark Mineral Intelligence in a report explaining how much ground Chinese manufacturers are gaining in Europe. According to them, 22% of the electric cars that have been purchased in Europe between January and April 2026 come from China. The figure is striking because it grows compared to the 19% that was registered last year. But, above all, because it grows by 27% compared to the same period in 2025. In the first four months, 400,000 electric cars from China were sold in Europe. Chinese and non-Chinese. As we said, the data includes all the electric cars that we have bought in Europe arriving from China. This is relevant because the European Union imposed tariffs to the cars that came from there alleging that the Chinese manufacturers are financially doped and that they do not compete on equal terms. But those trade barriers They also prevailed over European manufacturers who bring their cars from China. Tesla also suffers from it with every Tesla Model 3 sold in Europe. The consequences of these policies have been especially harmful for Seat SAwith a Cupra Tavascan that has barely been sold and that has had to eat the tariffs to be able to have a competitive price. Duty? As we pointed out, the European Union already imposed a 10% tariff on all cars that arrive from China to our market. Defending that many of the brands that came to play on price, They imposed new specific trade barriers for each brandpunishing more those who, in their opinion, had received the most aid from the State or had collaborated the least with the investigation. Rodhium Group shows that they have had a limited deterrent effect over time. When they were lifted in October 2024, China had exported 44,000 electric cars to Europe in a single month. Immediately, the figure plummeted but in February the same sales level was reached again in Europe. But, in addition, the number of plug-in hybrids has skyrocketed. While the sale of purely combustion cars from China has grown, the plug-in hybrid has experienced brutal growth, going from 7,000 units in October 2024 (when the tariffs were applied) to 26,000 units in February 2026. Among the best sellers. In addition to these general market figures, some Chinese manufacturers have managed to make a breakthrough in the markets where they have the most hope. They collect in Autovista24 that BYD was the fourth company in Europe that sold the most electric cars between January and March 2026. Its market share in this space reached 6.8% and is only surpassed by Volkswagen, BMW and Tesla (the latter with 7.3% and BMW with 7.4%). BYD is also, of course, the one that is growing the most, marking 154.7% more sales than last year in the same period. Among the 10 best-selling electric cars in Europe, the Leapmotor T03 It also sneaks into the list. If we look at plug-in hybrids, BYD has the best-selling model. The BYD Seal U is the car with this mechanic that has placed the most units on the market between January and March 2026 with 21,494 units. He is followed by Jaecoo 7 with 17,434 units. And BYD manages to place Atto 2 as the tenth best-selling plug-in hybrid in Europe. The market share. In global terms, S&P Global points out that in 2025 the market share of Chinese manufacturers in Europe was 5.8%. But Automotive News points out that last March, when Chinese manufacturers broke their export record to Europe in terms of volume, the market share already shot up to 9.41%. If we talk about quota, the record from December 2025 (9.48%) still stands. The vast majority of analysts assure that these figures will continue to grow over the years. In S&P Global They believe that by 2035 the market share of Chinese manufacturers will reach 15.5%. Because? What we are seeing, according to analysts, is the tip of the iceberg. BYD is a good reflection of how China has discovered a loophole through which to enter Europe. The brand came with the idea of ​​bringing only electric cars, it tried the BYD Seal U in its plug-in hybrid version and has discovered that it is a success. The Chery Group has not hesitated to bet on this technology. Geely has also come up with a plug-in hybrid upon arrival. And the same thing happens with Deepal, from Changan. These cars have no tariffs and it allows them to gain market share because they can push their prices much higher. In addition, it allows them to give a relatively easy exit to cars that are overproduced for the Chinese marketwhich has slowed down and is beginning to see itself unable to assimilate more growth in its sales. Without forgetting that more and more companies are looking for produce in Europe or Türkiye to skip tariffs. BYD will manufacture in Hungary and in this last country. The Group Chery already operates in Barcelona. Leapmotor will also do it in Spain and everything indicates that the number of models will increase destined for our country. Xpeng already uses factories in Austria. And one fact: S&P Global It anticipates that 44% of the Chinese cars we buy in 2035 will be manufactured in Europe or Türkiye. Photo | In Xataka | The plug-in hybrid is China’s Trojan horse: we looked at the electric car and its great weapon was the combustion engine

China just gave them a much more ambitious mission

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Every time we ask something of an AI, the scene seems almost invisible: we type a sentence, receive a response, and move on. But behind that apparent lightness there are buildings full of servers, cooling systems running tirelessly, and an electricity demand that does not stop growing. The cloud, no matter how much we call it a cloud, has ground, cables, heat and consumption. And precisely for this reason an idea that not so long ago sounded like a strange experiment is beginning to make sense: removing part of that infrastructure from land and taking it to the sea. China is already taking it to the commercial field. MERICS notes that the country has presented the first commercial underwater data center in Hainan and a module powered by offshore wind energy in Shanghai, two movements that point in the same direction: to see if this architecture can stop being a technical oddity and become a usable piece within its digital deployment. The novelty is not only in submerging servers, but in presenting them as a possible response to three tensions that already weigh on the AI ​​infrastructure: energy, cooling and land. Hainan is the first piece of that leap. Pilot testing of the Hainan underwater data center began in 2023, first with storage services for the island’s free trade port and telecom operators, before expanding to cloud and AI companies. The project does not play in the league of large terrestrial data centers, but it does have sufficient scale to stop being a simple model: each cabin is located 35 meters under water, has 24 racks and can house up to 500 servers. Its value is precisely there: demonstrating that China is trying to turn an experimental idea into real commercial infrastructure. Shanghai as an energy showcase. If Hainan represents the commercial leap, Shanghai adds the piece that makes the story more ambitious: direct integration with offshore wind energy. This project is facing Lingang, where CGTN places an underwater platform already operational and directly connected to a nearby offshore wind farm. The total planned investment is 1.6 billion yuan, about 235 million dollars according to that source, and the installation is based on a pilot phase of 2.3 MW, while the complete project is planned to reach 24 MW. Refrigerate without fighting against the environment. That is the technical promise that explains much of the interest in these underwater data centers. The Chinese state media recalls that terrestrial facilities can dedicate up to 40% of their electricity to cooling, a problem that is especially visible when we talk about increasingly dense racks. Under the sea, the idea changes: take advantage of water as a natural heat sink. In Shanghai, for example, the average sea temperature is around 15 degrees Celsius. The other half of the equation is energy. The Shanghai center is connected by a photoelectric composite cable to a 200 MW offshore wind farm, with more than 50 turbines, and more than 95% of its electricity comes from renewable energy. If the project reaches full scale, it is estimated that it could save 61 million kWh per year and significantly reduce its carbon emissions. There are challenges too. MERICS warns that these data centers pose significant challenges: sealing modules, dealing with seawater corrosion, operating in a high-pressure environment, and assuming that maintenance may require bringing entire modules to the surface. This is no secret. Accessing submerged hardware in the event of a failure is one of the most sensitive points. Microsoft had already tried the path. The best known antecedent is Project Natickan initiative with which Microsoft submerged a data center off the Orkney Islands, in Scotland, and recovered it in 2020 after two years of operation underwater. The test served to demonstrate that the idea could work technically.but it did not end up becoming a commercial line. Reading is not a magic solution. As we can see, China is trying another way of dividing up the pieces of the problem. Hainan shows attempt to bring underwater data centers into commercial arena; Shanghai adds a broader ambition, connecting them with offshore wind energy and directing them towards increasingly demanding loads. Undersea data centers seemed like a technological oddity. Now, at least in China, they are beginning to look like an industrial bet with a much more ambitious mission. Images | Shanghai Hailanyun Technology In Xataka | There is a battle to have the AI ​​model that programs best. And a good, pretty and very cheap rival has appeared in it: Cursor

The joint mission between Europe and China is already in space. The really important thing comes now

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Finally, despite the postponement last April, SMILE has been launched successfully. The mission that unites China and Europe To study how the solar winds interact with the Earth’s magnetosphere, it departed from the Kurú Space Port, in French Guiana, at 03:52 GMT (05:52, Spanish peninsular time). He has at least 3 years of work ahead of him, but before starting his work he must take some preliminary steps. Journey to final orbit. During the first 25 days of the mission, SMILE You must start your engines 11 times. This will allow it to gradually lengthen its orbit around the Earth’s poles, until reaching 121,000 km above the North Pole and 5,000 km above the South Pole. Once in its final orbit, around June 13, it will be time to tune up all its instruments. The final deployment. Remotely, from Earth, mission engineers will check that all SMILE instruments are working properly. For that, some must change their conformation. Specifically, it will be necessary to deploy the magnetometer arm and open the X-ray camera shutter and the UV camera cover. Each of these points is essential for the proper development of the mission. The first images. Once the experiments have been verified, SMILE will begin its work. The first images will be sent to Earth for analysis three months later. The mission. SMILE will study the interaction of solar activity with the shield that the Earth uses to protect itself from it. Although other missions have carried out similar tasks, it will be the first time that global images of this interaction have been taken, both in X-rays and ultraviolet. This will give us better knowledge than we currently have about solar storms and how they affect our planet. And not only They draw us beautiful auroras in the sky. They can also affect telecommunications, sometimes worryingly. It is important to understand them and know how to predict, as far as possible, the harmful effects they could cause. At least three years. The nominal duration of the mission will be 3 years. This means that it is designed to achieve your main objectives in this time. The economic investment of the European and Chinese space agencies has focused on guaranteeing this duration. However, that does not mean that within three years the ship will be deorbited or that all its instruments will be turned off. If it continues to function properly, its useful life could be greatly extended. The case of Cluster. Cluster it was a mission ESA whose objective was also to measure the Earth’s magnetic environment. In a way, it could be considered a predecessor of SMILE. It was launched in 2000 and remained active until 2024. However, Its nominal duration was initially 2 years. Once the retirement date arrived, it was found that Cluster was completely fit, so it was decided to invest in it for much longer. Maybe something similar will happen with SMILE. For now, we will have to go step by step. To begin with, it must reach its operational orbit. Once there, the magic begins. Or rather: science. Image | THAT In Xataka | The Webb and Hubble telescopes simultaneously observed Jupiter’s auroras. The problem is that they didn’t see the same thing

In 2008 China was installing metro stations in the middle of nowhere. In 2026 we have discovered how naive we were

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Last year it moved a video which showed that, when it comes to building construction, China looks far ahead of those sacred five-year plans. In fact, something fascinating happens in Beijing: you can find an empty subway entrance where there is no development, a wasteland. The reality is different, because if you return to the same place a few years later, the photo is completely different. Yes, China is an expert in long-term planning. For decades to come. The Chinese urban expansion of the last twenty years has consolidated a structural feature: infrastructure (particularly the metro) is built before the city exists that will do. This deliberate advancement produces a phase visible “empty”: stations buried in open fields, access through weeds without streets or commerce, deep deserted platforms under soils without residents. However, for the Chinese State this phase is not a failure but a transitory state within a horizon of 10–20 years where infrastructure precedes to induce and anchor the development that will come. The called “ghost cities” (from Lanzhou New Area to Xiongan) are less a symptom of error than an intermediate frame of a long temporal script that assumes that urbanization is safe even though its sequence is asymmetrical: first the subway, then the people. Station as a lever. The data from a Wuhan study show that the simple fact of having a metro nearby sharply increases the value of commercial premises within a radius of up to 400 meterseven if there is no city around yet: the line works as a future proof that can be monetized. On a large scale, since 2008 the State launched a wave of new cities and networks (thousands of kilometers of metro in a few years) that reduced congestion and attracted investment. But this anticipated layout was not always accompanied by schools, hospitals or good last-mile connections, which stopped people from leaving the saturated centers and extended the phase in which the new areas seem empty. The infrastructure came first… and the city took longer to appear. First there was the stop, and then Chongqing The Chongqing case. Possibly the most publicized. Caojiawan (the “nowhere station”) condensed the thesis in image: hidden accesses among weeds without streets or residents, surveillance of the viral world, and employees recognizing minimal use “for now” with the central argument of planning: the lane anticipated the neighborhood. Chongqing reinforces the pattern with its deep engineering (Hongtudimore than 60 meters and extension to more than 94), the extreme intermodal connection and the overinvestment in topology before demand. At the city scale, the same pattern runs through its network of viaducts and lines: radically anticipated infrastructure to induce future urban trajectories. Lanzhou New Area Map Ghost cities as a phase. Lanzhou New Area (with razed mountains, free zones, artificial lakes and replicas of monuments) first went through years of silence and then through a slow awakening, with the arrival of people in dribs and drabs, although there are still doubts about the figures. Urban planners who have followed its evolution maintain that calling a “ghost city” is to confuse a phase with the final destination: these projects are conceived for 15–20 yearsnot to be judged at 3–5. In other words, the State does not build for the present, but for the moment when transportation connects, density closes and the population crosses a certain threshold. From that perspective, the initial emptiness does not clash with the bet, it is simply part of the planned schedule. Between ambition and sustainability. Bloomberg recalled a while ago that the model has a cost: most meters they are not profitablethey increase the debt of local governments and there is a risk of building more than necessary in medium-sized cities. The national authority first relaxed the requirements (asking for less population to authorize lines) and then tightened them again and stopped projects, realizing that what helps create value can also sink finances. Various analysts have pointed out that in many places the subway was chosen “out of inertia”, when solutions such as a good bus system with a reserved platform could have provided almost the same with much less debt. The dilemma is no longer whether there will be extensive networks (because they already exist) but whetherat what point to invest in advance it stops being a gamble and becomes a burden. From building to operating. Once built the physical networkthe main problem is no longer digging tunnels but making that work well. There are a large number of stations with a single entrance that get stuck, long and poorly resolved transfers, lack of large connection points between lines and absence of tracks prepared for fast trains to overtake slow ones, because these decisions were not thought out from the beginning. The same logic of “first we build and then we’ll see” now causes circulation problemssecurity, accessibility and response to extreme rains as shown by the Zhengzhou case. They counted in The Guardian that to go from “building fast” to “running well” it is necessary to redesign with the traveler’s experience in mind, not just that of the construction engineer. The temporary strategy. In short, China has turned into a norm an idea that inverts the usual order in the West: the subway is not built because there is already a city, but so that the city ​​exists after. The station tickets today empty are, in their logic, the first material step of future neighborhoods, within a plan that assumes long deadlines and accepts periods of emptiness as part of the price of forcing urbanization. The risk is in the financial cost and in going from “building” to “making it work”, but the advantage is be able to capture value and shape the city in advance. What to today’s eyes seems like an unproductive excess, on a twenty-year scale is only the first phase. A version of this article was published in November 2025 Image | Luke PusateriLanzhou Government Bulletin System, Unusual Places In Xataka | There are skyscrapers so monstrously tall … Read more

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

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

Without state aid, China feared that electric sales would plummet. Until the Hormuz crisis arrived

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It seemed that the market was retreating but, perhaps, what it was doing was taking a breath to come back much stronger. Never before in China have plug-in and electric hybrids, known as “new energy” cars, had so much weight. Last April, a new record was broken that only confirms where the future of its industry lies. Record. 61.4% of the cars sold in China last April they were “new energy” vehicles. This is the category used by the Chinese State to talk about plug-in and electric vehicles. Its market penetration is the highest in the country’s history. The figure is almost 10% higher than last year, despite the fact that sales have fallen. This means that gasoline-powered vehicles have collapsed and that the customer is already beginning to massively accept the plug-in vehicle as the car of the future. a collapse. It is the word they use in CarNewsChina to refer to the drop in sales of internal combustion cars. And, according to data provided by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), the sale of combustion cars has plummeted by 37% compared to the previous year and 33% compared to the month of March. Media like Jiemian They point to a clear cause of this trend: the price of oil. Last April, sales of cars with internal combustion engines were reduced by 530,000 units. The drop is undoubtedly influenced by a rise in the price of gasoline. The State has tried by all means to mitigate the impact on the consumer and the industry. In their market planning, the extra cost at the pump has been cushioned but, as they point out in Reutersgasoline and diesel are close to reaching all-time highs. Thank goodness. In Reuters They assure that China is the country that is best saving the oil crisis due to its diversified purchases but also due to the intensive use of electric cars. According to the Chinese media 36krIn 2024, China was already saving more than 400,000 barrels of oil per day thanks to its electric cars and represented a saving of 12% of its imports of this product. They explain that, although crude oil imports increased in 2025, this was due to an acceleration in the industry but electric cars helped mitigate the impact on purchases. Relief is key given the constant interruptions in regular supply of the countries near Hormuz. And it is that China has Russia as its main supplier but Saudi Arabia follows as second. A powerful track. So far this year, overall car sales in China have declined and especially “new energy” cars have been in the spotlight. Without the support of the State with purchase aidits sales have fallen by 17% but indications are that the oil crisis is helping the market rebound. In April, the drop in these cars was 6.8% while global sales fell 21.5%, both data compared to the same period of the previous year. In the first 10 days of Maysales of these cars have decreased by 13% compared to last year but have grown by 27% compared to the first 10 days of last April. Without state aid, car sales in China have fallen, underscoring the country’s historic problem in encourage family consumption. However, it does make it clear to us that the slowdown between plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles is being less than that of the rest of the technologies despite the fact that the State has stopped pushing. A backup. The movement towards electric vehicles is an endorsement of the policies of the Chinese state. With the economy managed with five-year plans, China has been building a base for more than two decades to be dominant with the Chinese electric car. He attracted knowledge by giving up landhas built a solid foundation in the supply chain and now Their brands already dominate the local marketthe largest in the world. But they have also given a lesson that is beginning to be seen outside their borders: the electric car is a good tool to alleviate the complications of the oil market. On a day-to-day basis, the savings by charging an electric car at low power are very high. If the price of gasoline rises, the savings skyrocket. Beyond China. Aware of this, China has put the turbo into its exports. BYD (which only sells plug-in vehicles) has broken a new shipment record. They are at the perfect time to enter the market with their low ranges but also offering electric cars at very competitive prices. Especially among plug-in hybrids. At the moment, most of the sales of Chinese cars in Europe are low-end cars with combustion engines. This already helps them penetrate the market, gain share and begin to be seen by new potential clients. But, also, its plug-in hybrids do not pay tariffs. This is allowing them to compete on price with Europeans and in countries like Spain, where it is considered the main purchasing value for a large part of the market, it is key. For example, a fact: so far this year, five of the 10 best-selling plug-in hybrid cars in Spain they are Chinese. Photo | INC and BYD In Xataka | An electric car is 54% cheaper to maintain than a combustion car. And it may not compensate because the data has a trick

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