Chinas

China’s domain is spreading far beyond rare earths. Even where the US had no rival: the sea

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While the United States is has launched yet to the search of those minerals and rare earths that China governs well above the rest of the planet, even with the pentagon and the Apple very Inverting a stratospheric sum, Beijing has been adding and building A small empire that begins to make many nations nervous. To Japan and Taiwan, who believed the seas as nobody: Washington. Maritime ambition. In a context of growing strategic rivalry with the United States, China has intensified their Naval operations long range as part of an explicit demonstration of its global ambition. Already We tell it: Between May and June, the aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong They carried out combined exercises in waters near Japan, operating beyond the so -called “First Islands Chain” and entering the “Second Chain”, including Guam in Equation, an important military enclave United States. Nerves The presence of these two aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific not only caused Concern in Japanbut also revealed the New scope of the Chinese Navy, which seeks train their units To operate independently, far from the continental coasts, both in peace and war times. The ability to perform air operations from ships in open sea (including Removal and landings of fighters and helicopters up to 90 times a day) provides China an operational experience that, although still incipient, anticipates a future use of these assets as force projection instruments beyond their immediate influence areas. Shandong Inroads under construction, in 2019 Aircraft carrier as a message. Beyond its military utility, Chinese aircraft carriers represent a powerful status symbol international. For the Government of Xi Jinping, the possession and deployment of these ships constitutes an affirmation that China has left behind the limitations of a regional power and progressly advanced towards the image of global power. Even though Three Chinese aircraft carriers current (the liaoning, the Shandong and the still inactive Fujian) operate with conventional propulsion and are below technologically of the Eleven nuclear aircraft carriers From Washington, his exercises are promoted in official media as an unequivocal signal of the country’s maritime rebirth. And one more when falling. In addition, the possibility that The fourth carriercurrently under construction, use nuclear propulsion and electromagnetic catapults indicates a gradual but ambitious evolution. Plus: The recent opening to the public Shandong in Hong Kongafter completing their maneuvers, reinforces that nationalist propaganda approach aimed at strengthening the legitimacy of Chinese leadership through military power. CNS FUJIAN Dispute for the Pacific. China’s aircrafts not only serve for training or to project distant influence, they also constitute a Operational tool Within the framework of Territorial disputes Activated in the Sea of South and Eastern China. Analysts agree that Beijing could use them to reinforce your claims in front of Japan, South Korea or Southeast Asian countries, or even to exert coercive pressure on Taiwan through A maritime block that prevents the flow of goods and communications. Although in a direct conflict with the United States the aircraft carriers would be vulnerable to missiles and torpedoes (and would probably have a limited role in a immediate confrontation by Taiwan), its value lies in the control of broad areas, surveillance, political intimidation and support for combined naval operations. As He pointed out A Japanese academic to NYT, these platforms allow pressure on both military and civil vessels, becoming a hybrid instrument of economic and military coercion. Evolutionary logic. From the Strait crisis from Taiwan in 1996, when the United States deployed two combat groups Of aircraft carriers to deter Beijing, China understood the need to develop its own naval response capacity. The starting point was the acquisition of the helmet of An old Soviet aircraft carrier In Ukraine, converted into the Liaoning and incorporated in 2012. Since then, the advance has been progressive but constant. The Shandong, released in 2017was the first built entirely in Chinese shipyards, while The Fujianeven in the test phase, it incorporates for the first time a system of Electromagnetic catapultkey technology to operate heavier and better armed aircraft. A long way. Despite these advances, experts like Narushige Michishita They warn in the New York Times That Chinese naval operations are still in a rudimentary phase, marked by a slow but disciplined learning curve. China prefers to avoid expensive errors and seeks, however, consolidate a coherent maritime doctrine and functional that allows, in a few decades, to compete from you to you with the great naval powers of the world. The Indo-Pacific Theater. Plus: the simultaneous display Of the Liaoning and Shandong in deep waters, it has a double value: it allows the Chinese fleet to operate in unknown environments and reinforces its capacities for future intervention scenarios in critical areas, such as the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf or even the Mediterranean. According to him Timothy Heath researcher of the Rand Corporation, the aircraft carriers will offer China the ability to project aerial missions in any balloon area Where your Navy sails, beyond the only foreign base that currently maintains in Yibuti. In that sense, the control of routes to the Middle East or the Strait of Malaca, vital for Chinese economic and energy interests, will probably be one of the Strategic objectives in the medium term. A symbols war. I remembered the Times that, as Beijing builds More warshipsconsolidated alliances with African countries and reinforces its port diplomacy in Asia and Africa, the Indo-Pacific converts On the board where a new naval power competition is outlined, with the aircraft carriers as a tool of that Geostrategic ambition. While the aircraft carriers do not guarantee maritime domain (especially in front of a power with Interdiction capabilities as the United States), its value lies both in its operational function and its symbolic weight. In other words, Beijing is no longer satisfied with defending their coasts, but with drawing routes on waters that, until recently, only dominated Your main rival. Image | RHK111, Tyg728, Ministry of National Defense The People’s Republic of China/ Li Gang/ Xinhua In Xataka | China … Read more

China’s boom in the world of technology, visit to the headquarters of Byd in Shenzhen and much more in 1×14 crossover

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China has gone from being The world factory To be not only the world factory, but Pioneers in the world of technology. In a matter of just a few decades the Chinese market has made a huge quanti and qualitative leap, see His advances in the world of artificial intelligence, consumption devices, The appliances either vehicles. That leads to ask a question: In what situation is the West right now? It is a most interesting debate and with many edges, edges that we address in the 14th crossover episode. In the program, conducted by Carlos Santaengrandencia and Jaume Lahoz and already available on YouTubewe talk about this growth of China, how (and why) has taken so many giant steps and in what situation are currently both the United States and Europe. It is an episode, in fact, very focused on China. Both Carlos and our partner Alberto de la Torre They were recently in Xi’an (Shenzhen), home of the Central Headquarters of Byd. Not only did they have the opportunity to visit the area, but they could enter the factorysee how the firm’s electric cars are produced and test the fast loaders first hand. Fast, level: 400 kilometers of autonomy in just five minutes. In short, a very interesting program that helps us better know the world of technology, As geopolitics defines this market and the peculiarities of a country that advances at the speed of lightning. All this and much more, as always, in the new Crossover episode. On YouTube | Crossover

Thus the antimony arrives in the US mocking China’s veto

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The antimony may not appear in the holders as Lithium either cobaltbut it is equally crucial. It is used in batteries, semiconductors, military equipment and flame retarders. Its availability determines the rhythm of entire industries. And at this time, his supply is at the center of a Geopolitical stuff Between China and the United States. Since Beijing prohibited its export To Washington in December 2024, everything seemed to indicate that American factories would run out of mineral. However, commercial records show another reality: the US continues to receive tons of antimony, only now they arrive under another flag. The unexpected redirection. In response to new sanctions imposed by the Biden Administration – the toughest to date against Chinese companies – China officially vetoed the exports of antimony, Galio and Germanio to the US. All of them essential minerals for strategic technologies: chips, telecommunications, renewable energy and defense. Chinese sanctions made alarms jump in the industry. In a matter of months, the price of the antimony quadrupled: it went from about $ 13,000 to more than $ 60,000 per ton, According to Reuters. Battery companies and manufacturers of military teams were forced to look for alternative sources not to stop their production. However, commercial data told a different story. Between December 2024 and April 2025, the United States imported 3,834 metric tons of antimony oxides from Thailand and Mexico. Two countries that, until then, almost did not appear on the global map of the antimony. Creative transfers. A Reuters Report has pointed out That there is no direct evidence in the sending documents that it is Chinese antimony, but commercial flows point to an ingenious transhipment system: the mineral leaves China, passes through third countries, and ends in the US with a different label. The process may include re -designing as innocuous materials – Hierro, Zinc, even “art material” – and the use of intermediaries in Asia. Chinese companies, such as Youngsun Chemicals, have proven to be experts in avoiding regulations. His Thai subsidiary, Thai Unipet Industries, has multiplied by 27 his shipments to the US in six months. The great Asian intermediary. As He has collected Reuters, Thailand does not produce antimony in significant volumes and has only one smelting. However, between January 2024 and May 2025, it has become a key receiver of Chinese antimony exports. Thai Unipet, in particular, has sent more than 3,300 tons to the United States, according to commercial platforms such as Importyeti and Export Genius. Documents do not reveal the origin of the mineral, but analysts and export patterns point to a systematic use of the country as a legal bridge. And Mexico as a key piece. With a single antimony cast iron –Repeat only in April 2025– And without significant extraction of the mineral, now is among the three main Chinese export destinations. In 2023 it did not even appear in the Top 10. As explained in the news agency, the phenomenon is explained by the chain mounted around Youngsun & Essen, the Texan subsidiary of Youngsun Chemicals, which previously received antimony directly from China. Today, the mineral travels via Thai Unipet and enters the US through Mexico or Thailand, in a difficult operation to track, but clearly designed to overcome the Chinese veto. The problem multiplies. The antimony crisis is not exclusive to the United States. In Europe, The situation is equally tense. This metal, considered strategic by the European Commission, is key to weapons, defense, aerospace, electronics and medical systems. His shortage has created a bottleneck that threatens the technological supply of the continent. According to analyst Ellie Saklatvala, from Argus Media, Europe faces fierce competition for accessing minerals such as antimony, renio and hafnio. While prices scale, the European Union has approved plans to diversify its supply and finance own mining projects, such as rare earths in Extremadura. But those solutions are still far from materializing. Global reconfiguration of the mining map. The pressure is forcing structural changes. In the US, the outgoing administration of Biden approved the reopening of a historic mine in Idaho, closed since 1996, which could cover up to 35% of the national antimony demand. The perpetual company Resources, backed by billionaire John Paulson, plans to operate at full capacity in 2028. In addition, companies like Clarios They plan to build A critical mineral processing plant for $ 1 billion, while Nyrstar seeks to produce antimony in Australia, although it requires government support. China, meanwhile, Intensifies surveillance about transford and smuggling. Chinese companies that do not make due diligence on the fate of their products can face fines, prohibitions or even prison sentences of more than five years. Both sides of the game. The antimony case is not unique. China is also playing a similar asset, using the same approach to obtain latest generation artificial intelligence chips, whose export has been expressly prohibited by the US. As my partner explained In this report, Chinese military and academic entities have accessed graphic processing units (GPU) of manufacturers such as NVIDIA, AMD and Intel through intermediaries located in Malaysia and Singapore, which have emerged as neuralgic centers of technological smuggling towards the Asian country. This pattern – eating sanctions through third countries – reflects the real difficulty of containing a power like China in a hyperconnected world. Just as the US continues to receive antimony under other flags, China continues to feed its development in thanks to indirect routes. On both fronts, intermediaries are key actors. The challenge is evident: in this new commercial war, no blockade is airtight, and each loophole becomes an access road. Lessons of an invisible war. The antimony case illustrates how a globalized economy can find routes even under block. But it also highlights the fragility of supply chains and the urgent need to relite, recycle and diversify. Because this time was the antimony. Next time, it could be the bismuth. Or the cobalt. Or lithium. And when it comes to technologies that define the economic and military power of a nation, … Read more

China’s “Peak Oil”

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In the middle of the war escalation between Iran and Israel, a scene attracted all global attention: China ordered his oil tankers Leave the Ormuz Strait, the artery where a fifth of global oil travels. It was a cautious reaction, yes, but revealing. More than 80% of the Iranian crude is destined for Chinese refineries, and yet Beijing opted for diplomatic silence rather than confrontation. The urgent yielded to the strategic. And maybe there is the true story. Because while moving away from tensions in the Middle East, China is approaching – step to a pace – to an energy milestone that reconfigures the global board: its oil demand is about to reach the peak. Or maybe he has already done it. From global leader to consumer in pause. For more than two decades, China promoted a good part of the global oil growth. From YOUR INCOME TO THE WTO In 2001, each stretch of highway built, each inaugurated refinery, each expanded city or megaproject launched added pressure on the world’s world demand. According to the Financial TimesChina has been responsible for more than 50 % of the increase in global demand since 2000. Its economic expansion was also an energy expansion. However, that trajectory begins to be invested. The International Energy Agency estimates that the demand peak It will be reached in 2027while key actors in the sector in China advance it considerably: Sinopec foresee which could happen before 2027 and CNPC claims that it has already surpassed in 2023. An accelerated paradigm shift. China’s energy turn does not occur in a vacuum. It is part of a much deeper technological, social and economic transformation, which manifests itself at all levels of daily life. Just see how tourist videos have been viralized by paying with the palm of the hand In supermarkets either Metro stations. What until recently seemed science fiction, in China it is already routine. That same vertiginous rhythm is happening in the energy system. On the one hand, an internal technological revolution: electric vehicles, heavy transport electrification, trucks that work with natural gas and high -speed trains. On the other, a structural change: the real estate crisis has reduced the demand for heavy machinery, construction materials and petrochemicals, sectors historically linked to oil consumption. The consequence is clear. Crude imports fell in 2024 for the first time in two decades – exchanging the pandemic -, According to Financial Times data. An unequivocal sign that oil is ceasing to be the growth engine that was for more than 20 years. But there is a production record. Paradoxically, China is producing more oil than ever. In March 2025, it reached a historical maximum: 4.6 million barrels per day, According to Global Times. Besides, He has just completed The drilling of the deepest vertical oil well in Asia, with 10,910 meters deep. Contradiction? Not exactly, since China drills when there is need. The point is that 72% of the oil it consumes is imported. For Beijing, that dependence is a weakness. Therefore, for years, more than 80,000 million dollars investigate annually to revitalize old deposits. The objective is not to grow without brake, but to guarantee a stable domestic supply. CNOOC has assured in Reuters Having reached a replacement ratio of 167%reserves, which allows to maintain internal production for at least a decade. In other words, less oil to consume, but more own oil to control. The end of an era. According to Bloomberg analystsis finishing the oil supercycle that defined the markets for more than 20 years. As China decoupled from intensive raw growth, pressure on OPEC, large oil companies and exporting countries – as Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Russia – becomes stronger and louder. Morgan Stanley lo has clearly summarized for the Financial Times: “The world we knew, where oil rose every time China grew, is disappearing.” To begin: an electro -speaking. China is not only slowing its crude oil consumption, it is building an economy driven by electrons. Since Xi Jinping assumed power in 2013, the country launched a “Energy Revolution” based on electrification, technological innovation and energy sovereignty. Today, 10% of your GDP It is linked To clean industries: electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels, intelligent networks, wind turbines. Today, the Asian giant is the world’s largest producer of electric cars, and its two great champions —Byd and Catl – reinvote about 5% of their revenues in R&D. Also, like have detailed in Bloomberghas already deployed 40 tension ultraalt transmission lines, which connect the mega west solar plants with the east industrial centers. The country plans to invest another 800,000 million dollars in the next five years to consolidate its electricity network. The goal? Reduce oil dependence without compromising growth. After the peak. With China outside the center of demand, India and other emerging countries will absorb part of the growth, but without reaching the scale of the Asian giant. According to the IEAthe global oil demand will reach its maximum in 2029, but without China, the market will lose its main engine. “Even if other economies continue to grow, the Chinese decrease marks the beginning of a structural decline in world demand for crude oil,” He explained Ciaran Healy, an IEA analyst. While their ships turn around in Ormuz, their economy accelerates in another direction. Not towards a price war. But towards a model where power is not measured only by fossil reserves, but by transformation capacity. The oil era does not end, but its dominant role in the world economic model is retreating. The rules of the game are changing. Image | Unspash Xataka | The hope against the increasingly extreme heat waves comes from China: a material that lowers the temperature automatically

The key to China’s success with rare earths are not the rare earths: it is the magnet

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The response of the Chinese administration to the tariff pressure to which the United States wanted to submit in early April was immediate: significant restrictions on the export of rare earths. A measure that ended up relaxing this week, with the granting of licenses of export for six months. A truce to which the United States accessed by lowering another of the key elements in this commercial war: The admission of Chinese students in American universities. These are one of the most important pieces of the geopolitical board: they are scarce chemical elements, difficult to extract and refine, and a key resource For the technological, automotive and energy industry, among many others. China is controlling access to these elements to defend their interests, but the key is not just to isolate its rivals of this precious material: is in the disability outside China to take advantage of them. China is the fundamental piece in its prosecuted. China controls rare earth production by 70% and 90% processing them. In the case of heavy strange earth, a subgroup of them even more scarce, their participation in the refining is 99%. According to the newspaper The New York TimesChina has up to 39 university programs so that its students can train and develop their career in the chemical industry specializing in this field. It is just a sample of the importance it has for the country led by Xi Jinping to continue controlling this geopolitical weapon. This graph is the best visual test of China’s domain in rare earths. The access toll. Although the focus on how they are affecting the restrictions on the export of rare earths to the supply chain is currently, there is a key that has gone unnoticed: the real problem is not access, it is the difficulty of working even in the case of obtaining them. When the Ministry of Commerce of China and the General Administration of Customs They imposed access controls for the export of medium and heavy rare earthsthe supply chain staggered. From their entry into force, all exporters were obliged to obtain specific licenses for each shipment, even if they are products in which they have already been refined, such as magnets. Why touch the rest. These licenses are a complex bureaucratic process, slow and studied case by case. Although the primary political objective is the United States, European companies that need heavy land (or materials manufactured with them, such as magnets), are seeing supply interruptions. Suzuki has already arrested swift production in Japan Due to the scarcity of pieces, Musk You are having trouble building your robots and, in Europe, the secretary general of CLA (European Association of Automation Suppliers) made an urgent call: production is entering the paralysis phase. “With a deeply interconnected global supply chain, China’s export restrictions are already paralyzing production in the European supplier sector.” The magnet as geopolitical treasure. William Huo, ex-intel and one of the most prominent figures in the critical analysis of Western industrial policy, summarizes it in the best possible way: West has been focusing on optimizing spreadsheets instead of factories, And now he is not able to manufacture a single magnet. The industry depends on the Chinese refining of rare earths to manufacture high performance magnets. Without them, there is no competitiveness in electric cars, defense, nuclear or consumer technology. The rest is not prepared to refine rare earths. “Middle East has oil. China has rare earths.” They are words of Den Xiaoping in 1992, who was the top leader of the People’s Republic of China. The country has been acquiring the necessary knowledge to extract and refine these materials, while the rest of the world enjoyed a comfortable (and economic) dependence. West has tried to self -abuse with at least 10% of the remaining rare lands. Countries like Norway and Sweden are finding new deposits, and have confirmed the intention of exploiting them not beyond 2030. None of this is enough. Refining is the main bottleneck for the use of rare earths in industry, an expensive, sensitive process and with complex waste management. In Xataka | China has built the most elegant economic power lever in modern history: rare earths

Huawei is China’s winning horse and is even leading where he seemed to death: in mobiles

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2025 will not be an easy year for telephony. The consultants They are checking down Growth forecasts of giants such as Apple and Samsung, hoping that the geopolitical impact of the commercial war will translate into higher prices in key markets such as the United States. The growth perspective in global shipments is especially low, and will be mainly starring Chinese manufacturers. Among them, there is one in which all expectations are set. One with the potential to shake the industry. All eyes put in Huawei. There is no worldwide manufacturer that grows more shipments than Huawei. It is something that We warn at the beginning of the yearin a global photograph of Canals that showed some interannual contraction for Apple and Samsung numbers (they lost 1% compared to 2024), and in which Huawei grew no less than 36%. A wild figure, taking into account that its local rivals such as Xiaomi, Honor or Live grew by about 15%. Less than half of what Huawei was achieving. An unstoppable trend. Ethan qiAssociate Director of Canalys, expects the Chinese manufacturer to remain a leader for 2025. Although not much further in its analysis regarding the relaxation of bottlenecks so that Huawei can stock up on critical components, there are several key points that explain why the Chinese company has all ballots to lead world growth this year. Among them, how will tariff pressure, Chinese technological nationalism of Huawei consumers play in favor of Chinese companies, The thrust with SMIC for the manufacture of Kirin chips and the turn Towards a domestic supply chain for close the circle. Without fear of own hardware. After the American veto, Huawei has focused all its efforts on achieving a product without external dependence. And he has achieved it. Huawei Mate 70 was the company’s first phone with Kirin 9020, A chip developed in silence and who planted the United States, a country that could not understand how were 5g chips developing despite the sanctions. Although this processor is manufactured under the lithographic process of 7 NM of SMIC, and notably below those manufactured by TSMC with its N3E lithographythe demand for mate 70 It has been high in China. However, if Huawei wants to continue pushing on national soil, he needs to prioritize a very concrete product: the mid -range mobile. The mid -range as a key. In Spain we are not the only ones who bet on quality-price mobiles. At the beginning of 2025, the Chinese demand of smartphones concentrated on the strip of 2,000 to 5,000 yuan (240 and 609 euros to change). Here Huawei places his Nova rangeone of its main sales engines in China. National policies of Subsidies Sales continue to warm up of smartphones, having added two to three percentage points to their growth in the first quarter of 2025, according to estimates. Huawei, together with the support of its local suppliers and SMIC, is at its best to aim with this family of products to its national soil. All to pure 80. Although the growth of Huawei in China will depend on a good part of the efforts that focus on their best -selling ranges, all eyes are now put on The pure huawei 80his Flagship family and a great opportunity to demonstrate what their efforts are being materialized to achieve self -sufficiency. They will be presented on June 11, and They already have more than 200,000 reservations without even having gone to the market. The great hope. Huawei’s role is key in China. He is not just the protagonist in the race to lead the manufacture of smartphones with SMIC, It is because of its potential to create chips for iaas his family Asce 910. This chip will play a key role in the effort for reduce national dependence with American manufacturers such as NVIDIApointing in front of their A100 and H100. Presumably, SAQC technology will allow SMIC to manufacture 3 Nm chipswhile they would be About to achieve capacity to make 5 Nm chips No need for access to equipment extreme ultraviolet photolithography asml. A way to travel that leads to an inevitable destination: sooner or later, China will be the world chips leader. Image | Huawei In Xataka | Best Mobile Huawei (2025). Which to buy and recommended models based on budget, tastes and quality price

China’s absolute dominance over rare earths is the result of a strategy that no one else has. Not even the US

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The Rare earth They have a leading role in the commercial, technological and geostrategic war that the US and China support. These chemical elements are relatively scarce, and, in addition, they are not usually found purely in nature, but what makes them so special are Its physicochemical properties. In fact, thanks to them they have established themselves as A very valuable resource In numerous industries, especially in electronics and renewable energies. During the last year and a half the Chinese government has used its control of these chemical elements to defend their strategic interests In full confrontation with the US, Europe and its allies. The interesting thing is that it can do it because it produces approximately 70% of rare earths They are distributed in the world market, and, what is even more important, controls 90% of the processing industry to which it is necessary to submit rare earths so that they can be used. China refines 99% of the weighing land of the planet At the current US tension situation, Europe and its allies need to bet on their independence and consolidate their own supply chain. They are in it, but they don’t have it easy. The old continent in particular has been proposed to self -abuse At least 10% of rare earths He needs for 2030 thanks to the exploitation of the new deposits, such as the one he found in January 2023 the LKAB mining company near the city of Kiruna, in northern Sweden. China’s starting point is very favorable. As we have just seen, with a 70% production of the global market and a control of 90% of the rare earth processing industry this Asian country has this absolutely controlled market. However, we have not yet repaired in a figure more that is also very important: China refine no less than 99% of the heavy lands of the planet. These chemical elements are a subgroup of rare earth characterized by its greater density and lower ionic radius. Heavy rare earths are a subgroup of rare earths characterized by its greater density and lower ionic radius In addition, heavy rare earths are less abundant in the earth’s crust than the light ones. To this subgroup belongs as elusive minerals and with names as exotic as gadolinio, the terbio, the display, the holm, the erbium or the tulle, among others. How can we intuit, China does not control 99% of the processing of this kind of rare earth by chance. This absolute leadership is the result of a strategy in which teaching institutions are having an unquestionably protagonist role. And, according to the newspaper The New York Timesat the moment China has 39 university programs of chemistry specialized in rare earths. Presumably in these training programs students acquire the necessary knowledge to develop their professional career in the chemical industry specialized in rare earth processing. There is no doubt that this is one of the great strengths of the country led by Xi Jinping in this area, especially if we keep in mind that US universities currently do not offer a single specialized program in rare earths. The article published by The New York Times does not collect it, but in all likelihood European countries that have a greater dependence on rare earths, such as Germany or France, as well as Japan or South Korea are in the same situation as the US. These countries will cost a lot of time to acquire the favorable inertia that China has objectively, so it is reasonable to anticipate that in the short and medium term the rare earth processing industry will continue to be led by strong by the country headed by Xi Jinping. This Jens Eskelund statementthe president of the Chamber of Commerce of the European Union in China, clearly reflects what the US and Europe face: “Some approvals are coming (the result of negotiation with China), but they are far from being enough to Avoid imminent stops in production. We still face A great interruption in supply chains“ Image | Volker Braun More information | The New York Times In Xataka | We already know what is the best natural factory of the precious rare earths: a cosmic kilonova

China’s military and civil nuclear capacity grows at an unprecedented rate. The US does not take away your eyes off

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China has deservedly consolidated as the country to which all the nations that bet on nuclear energy look. It currently has 58 nuclear reactors whose joint capacity is approximately 61 GWE (electric gigawatts). Besides, It has another 28 reactors under construction that will add additional 33.65 GWE. And just a month ago the State Council approved the construction of 10 more nuclear reactors. China is already the second country with more machines of this type, only behind the US. In any case, the best asset of this Asian country is its commitment to innovation. And the reactor of Molten Sales and Torio TMSR-LF1 is a very valuable letter of presentation. This machine received the approval of the Chinese Nuclear Safety Administration in mid -June 2023 after having successfully completed the initial testing phase that started in 2021. and since then the itinerary that had set the Institute of Applied Physics of Shanghai, which is the institution responsible for its tuning. As explained by the American nuclear engineer Nick Touran In your tweetthe TMSR-LF1 reactor officially entered into operation on October 11, 2023. A few months later, on June 17, 2024, He started working at full power. And on October 8 of last year the technicians who operate it detected protacinium-233 (PA-233), a radioactive isotope intermediate derived from the transformation of the thorium into Uranium-233 as part of the fuel cycle of the thorium. This nuclear reactor is in the Minqin industrial complex of the province of Gansu, in northern China. It has a power of 2 thermal megawatts (MWT), and, although it will not be the first Fourth Generation Nuclear Reactor In activity, and not the first one that Torio will use as fuel, it will be the first of molten salts that will use this chemical element. However, the ambition of this Asian country does not end here; It is already planning to build a molten salts and more capacity sales reactor for 2030. The modernization of China’s nuclear arsenal is accelerating Nuclear physics has two faces. We all know that the knowledge that has given us can be used to generate electricity and favor the development of large population masses, as we have just seen, but it can also be used to produce weapons of mass destruction. China carried out its first test with an atomic bomb in 1964. Initially its scientists had the help of Soviet nuclear engineers, but this alliance was broken in 1959 and the country that was then led by Mao Zedong was forced to continue with this project without having any external help. This isolation did not prevent China from carrying out the first test with a hydrogen bomb in 1967, just three years after launching its first atomic bomb. During the next three decades the Chinese nuclear armament continued advancing, although Mao never aspired to deal with the number of atomic and hydrogen bombs With the US or the Soviet Union first, and Russia later. His doctrine pursued China’s survival by resorting to deterrence, but without directly involving themselves in the cold war that the two hegemonic powers held at the end of the 20th century. “Beijing has the ambition to create a wide sphere of influence in the regions of the Indian and the Pacific, as well as becoming the leading world power” The funny thing is that everything changed during the first decade of the 21st century. China’s economic capacity was growing and its scientific and technical development during the second half of the twentieth century had been out of all doubt. The US government was already realized that this Asian country was consolidating as a superpower Able to dispute your world supremacy. This was the context in which the tension between these two countries was born that seems to be currently reaching its peak. The following literal extract of the document that collects The National Security Strategy Published by the US government in October 2022, it reflects very clearly why it considers China a threat: “The People’s Republic of China (RPC) is the only competitor that has both the intention of remodeling international order and, increasingly, more and more Economic, diplomatic, military and technological capacity To do so. Beijing has the ambition to create a wide sphere of influence in the regions of the Indian and the Pacific, as well as to become the leading world power. “These lines perfectly condense the background history that has triggered the international situation in which we meet. If we stick to its military development the US Department of Defense He estimates that China currently has an arsenal made up of More than 600 nuclear eyeletsand plans to increase this figure until reaching 1,000 eyelets in 2030. USA and Russia have an arsenal of approximately 5,200 and 5,500 eyelets respectively, although many of them are in reserve and others will be dismantled. China has less eyelets, it is evident, but at least rivals with the US if we stick to the sophistication of its intercontinental ballistic missiles, its nuclear submarines, its bomber and its hypersonic missiles. Let us trust that China, the US, Russia and the other nuclear powers enter and stop this climbing of the nuclear weapons. Image | Пресguese More information | US Department of Defense In Xataka | China prepares the mate to the US: it will have its own UVE lithography team to make chips in 2025

China’s big problem with chips is its difficulty to go beyond 7 Nm. Huawei’s new megaphabic confirms it

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China is doing everything in your hand to achieve total independence of its semiconductor industry. The commercial and technological war that sustains with the US prevents the country of Xi Jinping access to the manufacturing equipment of Most advanced integrated circuits that produces The Dutch Company ASML. And this in practice does not allow Chinese manufacturers, such as SMIC or Hua Hong Semiconductor, produce integrated avant -garde circuits easily. In the previous paragraph I have used the adverb “easily” intentionally because, in reality, China is manufacturing avant -garde semiconductors. They are doing it At least SMIC and Huawei using, as we have explained in other articles, a lithography technique known as Multiple patterning. This strategy in broad strokes consists in transferring the pattern to the wafer in several passes with the purpose of increasing the resolution of the lithographic process. His problem is that he usually has an upward impact on the cost of chips and the decline in production capacity, although it works. In fact, the most advanced chips we can find in the last smartphones and hardware for artificial intelligence (IA) more sophisticated in Huawei have been manufactured using the technique of Multiple patterning with the purpose of reaching 7 Nm. However, presumably this Chinese company will produce Your new GPU for the Ascend 920 During the second half of 2025 using 6 Nm integration technology. Satellite images show the huge complex that Huawei is building A little over a year ago, in February 2024, the newspaper Financial Times said having had access to the statements of two experts who defended that SMIC was finalizing the refinement of their semiconductor manufacturing processes in their deep ultraviolet machines (UVP). Its purpose, according to this source, was to have the necessary technology to manufacture Integrated 5 nm circuits Massively before the year 2024. For SMIC and its clients, among which Huawei is, this would be a very important achievement. Huawei is trying to develop its own integration technology to go beyond 6 and 7 nm However, Huawei’s 5 NM socates have not yet appeared. The chip Kirin 9010 which has happened to the 9000S model is also being manufactured in the 7 NM SMIC node using The technique of Multiple patterning. We can find this soc, for example, in the new triple folding of Huawei, the Mate XT Ultimate Designwhich we tried during the latest edition of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Anyway, we can be sure that Huawei is trying to develop its own integration technology to go beyond 6 and 7 nm. In addition, it has the support of the Chinese government. In fact, Financial Times He has achieved photographs taken from a satellite in which it is possible to see a titanic manufacturing complex of integrated avant -garde circuits that Huawei is building in Shenzhen. It is meritorious that a single company is trying to develop all the links in the semiconductor supply chain and AI, As Dylan Patel arguesthe founder of the semi -health consultant, but There is a problem. And is that according to Eleanor Olcottthe Financial Times correspondent in China expert in technology, this megaplant of chips production aspires to manufacture integrated 7 nm circuits destined for smartphones and hardware for Huawei. If this information is confirmed, it will be evident that this company is still anchored at 7 Nm, although it is important that we do not overlook that this semiconductor production plant will presumably belong to Huawei. Until now, its 7 Nm chips were manufactured by SMIC, but it seems that in a short time this company will have the ability to produce its own avant -garde circuits. It is only a matter of time that finally the barrier of the 6 and 7 nm is shot down. Image | Huawei More information | Financial Times In Xataka | TSMC acknowledges that it has been considered taking its factories out of Taiwan. It is impossible for a good reason

China’s future in the chips industry is in the hands of a single company almost unknown: Sicarrier

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Sicarrier is not a Chinese company. When we repair the country’s semiconductor industry led by Xi Jinping probably many of us think of companies like Huawei, SMICHua Hong semiconductor or Naura Technologyamong others. But not in Sicarrier. Until just a few weeks this company It was a real unknown Beyond China’s borders, but in a record time it has attracted the attention of the global industry of integrated circuits. And he has done it for a weight reason: it is the authentic responsible for China currently having the ability to produce avant -garde chips. Although it was founded in 2021, during the last four years Sicarrier has maintained a very low profile. Its origin is not entirely clear, but The most reliable sources They collect that this company is probably a huawei split. What we know for sure is that it is a state company administered by the Shenzhen government. Sicarrier’s soul are veteran engineers of ASML and Applyed Materials I will not prolong the mystery more: Sicarrier is dedicated to designing and manufacturing photolithography equipment and wafering processing machines. In fact, the more than 30 products that it has presented just a few weeks ago in SemiCon China 2025 competes with the solutions of the Dutch company ASMLthe Japanese Tokyo Electron or the American Apply materials. It is shocking that a company with just four years already has proposals capable of competing in the market of chips manufacturing equipment. But it seems to have earned it. Whatever this presumable success is not the result of chance. And is that his main team is led by engineers with more than two decades of experience in the ranks of ASML and Applyed Materials. In fact, these technicians are surely responsible for the milestone for which Sicarrier is probably in the spotlight of the US administration: the technology used by Huawei and SMIC for MANUFACT 7 NM INTEGRATED CIRCUITS derives from a patent that seeks to make the production of 5 Nm chips possible using equipment from deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP). The technology used by Huawei and SMIC to make 7 Nm chips derives from a patent from Sicarrier The most ambicious lithography equipment by Chinese integrated circuit manufacturers is the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine (UVE). ASML is the only company that produces them, but THE SANCTIONS TO CHINA DE USA They prevent you from giving it to your Chinese clients. The problem is that this equipment is necessary to produce on a large scale and with a competitive price semiconductors of 7 Nm or with even more advanced integration technologies. Sicarrier has not presented a UVE photolithography team in China 2025. It is very unlikely to have it, but, at the same time, it is reasonable to anticipate that their engineers will be working on a machine of these characteristics. The teams that this company has already made known, or, at least, has officialized, are A 28 Nm immersion lithography machinean engraving equipment for advanced nodes below 7 Nm, diffusion machines for rapid thermal processing, chemical vapor deposition equipment for nodes of 28 to 5 Nm, verification machines and test for advanced integrated circuits, etc. The retahíla of lithography and wafering processing that Sicarrier has presented in Semi -Con China 2025 is long. As I mentioned a few lines above, these products compete with the proposals of ASML, Applied Materials or Tokyo Electron, although the authentic Sicarrier fire test will be the tuning of a UVE lithography machine. Du liqun, the president of this company, has declared that its strategy requires betting on the development of avant -garde lithography equipment, selective deposition machines and latest generation transist technologieslike ga (Gate-alall-around), which is already part of the Porfolio of TSMC, Intel and Samsung. It is still early to identify if Sicarrier will live up to the expectations it has generated, but there is no doubt: there is a new actor in the integrated circuit industry. And it is worth following the track very closely. Image | Sicarrier More information | Nomad semi In Xataka | This is China’s big problem with chips: Huawei will manufacture its Kirin X90 for PC using the 7 Nm of SMIC

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