Chinese

A Chinese laboratory has managed to generate electricity directly from rain, without occupying land or using metal

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Until now, the electricity from a storm came only from lightning. A Chinese team has just added another protagonist: a device that converts raindrops into usable energy. The invention comes from the Frontier Science Institute of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) and will open a new avenue for renewable energies. Its technical name is Water-integrated Droplet Electricity Generator, or simply W-DEG. The discovery. What differentiates this generator from the rest is not its power, but its logic. According to the published article in National Science Reviewthe device floats on water and uses that same water as part of the electrical circuit. It requires no metals or heavy structures, and yet each drop of rain can release spikes of up to 250 volts. Light, cheap and efficient: a small hydrovoltaic revolution. Rain as a source of clean energy. The physical principle behind W-DEG combines two known phenomena: contact electrification and electrostatic induction. When a droplet impacts a floating dielectric film, electrical charges are instantly redistributed between the surface of the material and the water, generating an electrical pulse. Water acts at the same time as a lower electrode and structural support, thanks to its high surface tension and incompressibility: it is firm enough to withstand the impact of drops, but fluid enough to stabilize the system. To prevent pooled water from blocking new discharges, the researchers added micro-drainage holes that allow liquid to flow downward, but not upward. This design keeps the surface clean even during heavy rain and prevents loss of efficiency. A small prototype. The Nanjing team built a 0.3 square meter prototype. Floating on water, the device was able to illuminate 50 LED diodes simultaneously and charge capacitors in a matter of minutes. Its modular design allows it to be easily expanded to power environmental sensors, water quality monitoring systems or small electrical equipment in rainy areas. Furthermore, the W-DEG is a “soilless” system: it does not occupy agricultural or urban land and can be installed on bodies of water without heavy infrastructure. This makes it an ideal candidate for regions where rain is abundant and space is scarce, or where other renewable sources – such as solar or wind – are less constant. The rise of floating energies. The new Chinese generator arrives at a time when floating energy is experiencing a global boom. Floating solar panels are being installed on ponds and reservoirs around the world, from India until the swiss alpsto produce electricity and reduce water evaporation. However, a study from Cornell University revealed an unexpected effect: in small ponds, these installations can increase methane and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 27%, by altering the balance of aquatic ecosystems. Faced with this challenge, the W-DEG emerges as a more environmentally friendly alternative. By not covering the entire surface of the water or blocking sunlight, it allows energy to be generated without altering aquatic life or natural gas exchange. Will storms generate light? The technology is still in the experimental phase. The NUAA team itself recognizes that it will have to optimize the device’s response to droplets of different sizes and speeds, something essential for real conditions. But the potential is undeniable: a lightweight, economical and durable generator, capable of obtaining energy directly from the natural water cycle, without occupying land or generating waste. Researchers imagine swarms of these devices floating in lakes or reservoirs, charging environmental sensors or powering local microgrids during rain. If every storm could turn on a light or power a system, gray days would no longer be synonymous with a blackout. With inventions like this, the border between water and energy blurs, and nature begins—literally—to generate its own electricity. Image | Unsplash Xataka | China has launched its first floating solar park in the sea: panels that rise and fall with the tide

Three Chinese astronauts have delayed their return to Earth due to an impact on the ship. The suspect: space junk

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The crew of the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, which was scheduled to land this Wednesday in Inner Mongolia, has been forced to postpone its return to Earth. The cause is not bad weather, as is usual in manned flights, but the most feared enemy of modern space exploration: a probable impact of space debris. Evaluating risks. China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) broke the news this morning: The return of the three astronauts aboard Shenzhou-20 has been delayed indefinitely following suspicions that the ship may have been hit by a small piece of space debris. The ship is still docked at the Chinese Tiangong space station, where the crew are safe. The crew and engineers on the ground are analyzing the impact on the ship to try to determine the extent of the damage and assess the risks of the return journey. The problem is reentry. Three people traveled to the Chinese space station in April aboard the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft: Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie. The problem is not his immediate survival, but the viability of his ship surviving the atmospheric re-entry maneuver after the impact. In low orbit, objects travel at hypersonic speeds of up to 28,000 km/h. At that speed, even a tiny fragment of metal or paint can release devastating kinetic energy, especially if it hits critical components like the ship’s heat shield or its parachutes. What do we know for now? The CMSA has not specified where it believes the impact occurred or what data alerted them to the event. Now, engineers on the ground and the crew in orbit will perform telemetry checks, check for possible leaks, and analyze the guidance and propulsion systems. They will most likely use the Tiangong station’s 10-meter robotic arm to conduct a detailed visual inspection of Shenzhou-20. If necessary, an extravehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk is not ruled out to assess the damage closely. A problem that China was trying to avoid. The irony of this incident is that the Shenzhou-20 crew itself is fully aware of the danger. In fact, part of its six-month mission in orbit focused on mitigating this risk. Two of the astronauts six hours passed in September by installing additional protective shields against orbital fragments outside the Tiangong station. Although they reinforced the station, the impact seems to have occurred in the way that would bring them back. Image | CMSA In Xataka | Three large pieces of space debris reenter every day: “one day our luck will run out and they will fall on someone”

The secret of Chinese AI companies to compete without Nvidia chips: electricity subsidized by Beijing

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Everywhere we look, there is artificial intelligence. Everyone talks about it, but what is its fuel? It’s not the data or the chips: it’s the electricity. While in the West technology companies are looking for how to power their data centers —increasingly energy hungry—, China has decided to take a different step. Beijing has designed an energy subsidy for its technology sector with a clear objective: to make the energy that powers the digital brains of its next generation of chips cheaper. Energy subsidy. Since September, the Chinese Government banned large national technology companies —including Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent—acquire artificial intelligence chips from the American Nvidia, in an attempt to strengthen local production. However, the consequence was immediate: national processors consume more electricity. According to The Chosun Dailygenerating the same number of tokens with Chinese chips requires 30% to 50% more energy than with Nvidia’s H20, which sent electricity bills skyrocketing and led companies to complain to regulators. To make up for that gap, local governments introduced grants that cover up to a full year of operating costs, according to the Hong Kong media on.cc. In those provinces, industrial electricity was already 30% cheaper than in the developed coastal areas of the east, but with the new incentives the price could fall to 0.4 yuan per kilowatt-hour, a record figure for the Chinese technology industry. ¿How does the energy plan work? The scheme is relatively simple, but strategic. Local governments offer electricity discounts of up to half to data centers that use chips produced within the country. Operators that use foreign processors – such as those from Nvidia or AMD – are excluded from the program. In addition, the energy provinces receive direct support from the State to finance the discounts, with the aim of reducing dependence on technological imports and compensating for the increased consumption of local chips. According to the Financial TimesChinese data centers that rely on domestic semiconductors are, for now, less energy efficient, but the subsidy seeks to bring their costs in line with those of more advanced foreign chips. These regions—Guizhou, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia—have become hotbeds for data center clusters, thanks to their abundance of hydropower and coal. There, companies like Alibaba or Tencent are building new facilities to house their generative AI models, taking advantage of lower energy costs and tax incentives. This policy combines three strategic priorities: making energy cheaper, promoting domestic chips and reinforcing technological sovereignty. In a context of United States restrictions, each subsidized kilowatt is also a political statement. An industrial policy with a geopolitical charge. Behind the energy plan is a long-range political commitment. The Chinese Government intends for its technology companies to progressively replace imported chips with domestic processors, even if this implies higher costs in the short term. The electricity subsidy acts as a temporary bridge for national giants to adopt local chips without losing competitiveness. This measure is included in a broader national strategy of technological self-sufficiency. As the Financial Times explains in its series The State of AIChina is using its “society-wide mobilization capacity” to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence. The country already leads the number of patents and scientific publications in AI, and although the United States maintains an advantage in chips and talent, the gap narrows every year. Analyst Dan Wang, quoted by the same media, points out: “China has achieved a unique balance between engineering capacity, state control and massive industrial deployment, allowing it to advance faster than other countries in the practical application of AI.” Meanwhile, in the West… China’s decision contrasts with the energy challenges of the United States. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned that the real bottleneck of AI It is no longer the chips, but the energy. In fact, he explained that many companies accumulate chips that they cannot connect due to lack of power supply. Both Microsoft and Google are already studying building modular nuclear reactors to power their future data centers, a sign of the enormous energy consumption that artificial intelligence requires. While Silicon Valley seeks electricity, China subsidizes it. This asymmetry reflects two different models: one guided by state intervention and the other by market competition. Both pursue the same goal—sustaining the artificial intelligence revolution—but with opposite philosophies. A future plugged into the State. The Chinese subsidy not only alleviates costs: it redefines the relationship between the State and the private sector in the age of AI. As analyst Arnaud Bertrand observed, US restrictions pushed China towards a different model: more efficient, more open and more collective. “By operating under hardware limitations, Chinese companies have learned to optimize resources and share open models like Qwen or DeepSeek,” wrote Bertrand on the social network That strategy, based on efficiency and diffusion, could give China a long-term advantage in global adoption, since any company in the world can download and adapt its models. The country that controls the plug. China isn’t just making the chips that power its artificial intelligence. It is also building the electrical grid that makes them possible. In a world where data is the new oil, Beijing has decided to subsidize the fuel of the digital brain. While the West debates how to connect its supercomputers, China plugs them in at a reduced price. And in this race, whoever controls the plug could end up controlling the future. Image | FreePik and FreePik Xataka | The world of AI has a problem: there is no energy for so many chips

A Chinese artist is turning the least artistic thing into art

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It hasn’t rained this much since that video of Will Smith eating spaghetti appeared online. However, within a few years technology has evolved tremendously. Taking other people’s content as inspiration, you can now create videos with absurd fidelity. The funniest thing is that, If AI “steals”there is an artist “stealing” which makes the AI-generated videos appear to be AI-generated videos. And it’s delirious. Tianran Mu is a Chinese actor and content creator who, at the age of 29, asked himself how he could create content inspired by what AI does. take a look to the video which we leave below in which you can see Tianran Mu -the one with the noodles- and another person. Exactly, there are clumsy movements, misplaced facial expressions and inconsistencies galore that we associate with failures and hallucinations of artificial intelligence generative, and it is where the 29-year-old creator has seen an opportunity to create a series of videos taking advantage of these gaps in technology. 40 years of forgiveness Recently, Wired He was able to chat with Tianran Mu. At 29 years old, he spent some time looking for work in the film industry, specifically at the huge Hengdian World Studios, but there was no luck. In 2019, he started creating ‘sketches’ on Chinese social networks and things went well for him. After experimenting with content creation using AI, began to detect those patterns in which technology fails. For example, unnatural body gestures, erratic glances, plots that turn somersaults or elements that overlap and, in 2024, it began to release short videos imitating this which means that, luckily, we can still know if a video is AI or not. And it’s… fun. In some videos, he uses different actors to play the same role, emulating the continuity problems that AI often has. The characters are also not looking anywhere and feel like robots. The impact is there. In Chinese networksit seems that the young man has hit hard, but it was a few weeks ago when part of his content began to be shared on Western networks such as X or Instagram, accumulating more than 10 million views and thousands of reactions on platforms where he is not present. The phenomenon has viralized in a very organic way at a time when there is an intense debate around these AI creations. That debate has intensified with the Sora 2 releasethe OpenAI model that has evolved tremendously compared to the tools we had until now and that makes really difficult to guess if certain videos are AI or not. It is something that has already had its share of controversy, of course. content theft to train the modelbut Mu saw an opportunity in Sora 2. He identified that the human characters generated by Sora laugh in unpleasant ways and have hair with strange “physics.” So, he imitated it in a video he released a few days ago: It’s curious because being 100% artisanal and human, Mu’s video is more uncanny valley than some videos made with AI. I think this speaks very well of his work, but also of the dark side of Sora 2. In fact, the actor himself confessed to Wired that It has been much more difficult for him to parody Sora 2 because the quality has gone up several notches. In fact, he comments that it is almost impossible to create parodies and states that in a few months “there will be nothing left to imitate. If I try to act as the AI ​​will, I would only be acting like a human.” And this is really sad. Yes, it is having enormous virality, but that does not pay the mortgage and Mu says that, in two years, many directors and actors will use AI to replace not only the special effects departments, but the actors themselves. And, as an actor, he confesses that if it is already difficult to compete against other actors, it will be more difficult to do so against those who do not even exist, but who can potentially act like a human, bending to whatever the studios want. You don’t have to go in two years. It is true that thanks to this virality, in China he has had some contracts with companies that want him to use AI for campaigns, but he affirms that, in his own content, everything he does is human because his goal is… well, to be hired for his acting skills. Images | Tianran Mu In Xataka | YouTube is becoming much more important to Google than its video platform: in its search engine

the architect of the chinese electrical empire

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On November 20th our Xataka NordVPN Awards 2025which you can follow from our website. In them we will reward, as always, the most important devices and technologies of this year. And of course, in its fourth edition, we will present the Xataka Leyenda award. This recognition, achieved by Pedro Duque in 2021, Margrethe Vestager in 2022 and Matt Mullenweg in 2023recognizes the journey and career of someone of great relevance in science and technology. Today we have the honor of announcing the fourth winner of this award: Stella Li, global executive vice president of BYDthe company that has transformed the automotive industry. Stella Li will join us during the Xataka NordVPN 2025 Awards gala in a few weeks (you can still get a ticket) and we will do an interview that you can see and read on Xataka. You can follow it live with us. Almost three decades of total transformation Li has been with BYD for almost thirty years. He joined when it was a battery manufacturer with two dozen employees that supplied Motorola. Today he directs operations in 88 countries of a company that is approaching a million workers and exceeds $100 billion in revenue. In 2024, BYD manufactured 4.27 million electric vehiclesmore than any other manufacturer in the world. At the beginning of the year she was appointed World Car Person of the Year 2025the first woman and the first Chinese to receive this recognition. His philosophy is direct: “Our common enemy is the internal combustion engine.” He does not see competitors in Tesla or Volkswagen, but rather allies against oil. A rare bird. The industry has been betting on specialization for years, but Li has promoted the opposite: BYD manufactures everything in-house, from screws to chips. When the 2021 semiconductor crisis paralyzed competitors, BYD accelerated. This integration allows BYD to sell the Seagull for 9,000 euros and a luxury Yangwang for 300,000 both models being profitable. With 110,000 engineers, the company registers 32 patents daily. Solid state batteries, your great future betare confirmed for 2030, with 10,000 engineers dedicated exclusively to its development. Execution speed The Brazil plant was announced in December and was already operational in March. The Spanish network has gone from zero to 65 dealers in a year and a half months. When Europe imposed 17% tariffs, BYD pivoted to plug-in hybrids within weeks and sales skyrocketed 892%. Pure speed. Li has not focused his strategy on exporting Chinese cars, but on something very different that explains his success: creating local ecosystems. Hiring in California, development of specific flex hybrids for Brazil, software adapted for each European market… One of its latest movements has been the announcement of 20,000 million euros in European investments and the creation of 10,000 jobs in Hungary. You still have time to get your tickets for the gala Xataka NordVPN Awards 2025 on November 20 in Madrid! Join us and discover the best technological products of the year in a free event full of gadgets, humor and surprises. Advice offered by the brand Despite his growing importance, Li does not have social networks. He gives interviews, but not many. Her public profile is inversely proportional to her impact: she has opened 230 stores in Europe in 12 months, she already has a presence in 88 countries and has multiplied the value of BYD by 20,000 since 2003. She herself was personally in charge of the openings of the first offices in Hong Kong, Rotterdam and Chicago. Three decades of institutional memory converted into the greatest competitive advantage. Stella Li has transformed the global automotive market without having to make media noisecombining strategic patience Zen and very high speed of execution. For all this journey she is the winner of the Xataka Leyenda 2025 award. In Xataka | Stella Li, vice president of BYD: “In five years we will be one of the three main manufacturers in the world, I am convinced” Featured image | Xataka

An experiment has put four chatbots from the US and two from China to invest $10,000 in cryptocurrencies. The Chinese are sweeping

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What would happen if you gave GPT-5 $10,000 to invest in cryptocurrencies? What if you gave them to other models at the same time and they competed with each other? That’s just the idea they had in Nof1…and the result is fascinating. Six models investing in cryptos. Those responsible for Nof1 have created Alpha Arena, a new type of benchmark that according to them “gets more difficult the smarter the AI ​​is.” The idea is relatively simple: measure the performance of six cutting-edge models to see how they perform when given $10,000 (real) and invested in cryptocurrencies in real markets. The contenders are the following: GPT-5 Gemini 2.5 Pro Claude Sonnet 4.5 Grok 4 DeepSeek Chat v3.1 Qwen 3 Max DeepSeek has turned his $10,000 into almost $20,000, and Qwen into $15,000, fantastic. GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro have lost 65% of their value and are both at $3,500. Total disaster. DeepSeek and Qwen triumph, GPT-5 and Gemini sink. The result of these 11 days since this “race” began is fascinating. The two Chinese models, DeepSeek and Qwen, have obtained enormous benefits: in DeepSeek the return is 97% at the moment (it was as high as 123%), while Qwen is not doing badly at 53%. Claude (0.84%) and Grok (-8.2%) are maintaining or losing slightly, but pay attention, because GPT-5 (-65.7%) and Gemini 2.5 Pro (66%) are currently losing two thirds of what they invested. The summary of winners and losers not only shows that positive or negative return, but also something curious: the number of operations. GPT-5 (75 moves) and especially Gemini 2.5 Pro (193!) are extremely restless. Although it does not have to be this way always, those who operate the least are the ones who are earning the most. Crypto fortunes that come and go. For this experiment, the models can invest in six of the most relevant cryptocurrencies on the market: bitcoin, ethereum, dogecoin, ripple, solana and BNB. The models decide whether to take positions in one or several, as well as the amounts and level of leverage. Positions are normally held for a few hours, although in some cases they may be held for days. Learning little by little. All of them have been competing since last October 18 in the “first season” of an experiment that will last until November 3. As explain its creatorsthis first iteration will allow us to obtain the first conclusions about how these models perform in the financial field. Here we come to earn money. The goal is simple: maximize profits and minimize losses (PnL). This first season is just that, because from then on we will apply what we have learned after each season to polish the prompts and add new features to the experiment and thus create models that in theory will perform better and better when investing in financial markets. Algorithmic trading at its best. What these models are doing would be crazy for human investors, especially since all of them not only expose themselves to the volatility of the crypto market, but also multiply it because they make use of the leverage (leverage). With this mechanism one can achieve huge profits much faster, but the risk is also extreme. The models in fact use absolutely extraordinary leverages of 20x or 25x, and can take either short positions (short, you “bet” that the price of an asset will go down) or long (long, you “bet” that the price of the asset will go up). The operation of the benchmark experiment is relatively simple, but it will become more complicated in future seasons. Machines don’t panic. To try to control these risks, the models have clear rules in their prompts regarding risk limits (establishing clear stop loss signals, for example) or confidence in their criteria. And furthermore, they follow them, which allows the models to maintain their position unless these signals occur. Here, by the way, we are talking about medium or low frequency trading: decisions are made in minutes or even hours, not in microseconds. That, the creators say, allows us to answer the question of whether a model can make good decisions if it has enough time and information. Don’t even think about doing it at home.. This experiment is just that, an experiment, and in fact financially speaking it is leaking everywhere. To begin with, because the trial period of this first season is extremely short and does not allow long-term behavior to be evaluated. And finally (among many other things), because the information to which the models have access is very limited. They do not take into account news related to this area and only have numerical data that correspond to average prices and current and historical volumes, and some technical indicators. That information. On the right side DeepSeek v3.1 confesses how it maintains its position because no condition that invalidates it is met, and by clicking on it you can see what it takes into account (value of BTC or ETH, for example) to modify or not modify that criterion. The models tell everything. One of the sections of the interface shows the “Model Chat” where it is possible to see how each model “reflects” on its position. If we click on that reflection we can see all the current and historical data with which he has worked to reach that decision (I maintain my position, I change it) and thus we can find out at all times his reasons for making a move. Just because they win now doesn’t mean they are the best.. Those responsible for Nof1 explain that this is not about declaring the best trading model of the six, because this is just an experiment. As they say, “we are deeply aware of the flaws of this first season, including, but not limited to: response bias, limited sample sizes/lack of statistical rigor, and brevity of the evaluation period.” This experiment will be repeated over different seasons and with new features that will be added to the decision … Read more

The Chinese ambition to lead each and every area of ​​the planet has found its next adversary: ​​Jaén

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In 2024, a Chinese delegation visited 154 Príncipe de Vergara Street in Madrid. A priori, one might think that it is nothing that does not occur relatively frequently in most capitals of the world. And it would be true. After all, the only strange thing about the matter is that, in that corner of the country, is the headquarters of the International Olive Council. What does China look like in the international olive oil market? It’s a surprisingly simple question. The ‘Asian giant’ is a leader in many things, but there is one in which it is nobody: oil. According to the statistics we haveChina represents only 4% of world oil imports. Despite the enormous amount of vegetable oils that Beijing devours, the olive is an inconsequential product on a social, economic and cultural level. However, none of that data interests us. The key is another: that consumption is expected to grow at 7% annually and that, in the medium term, are big words. And China knows it. That is why, while the international market continues to lurch, Beijing has already designed a plan to become a mixed player (it not only wants a role in marketing, but also a producer willing to sit at the table of the elders). This would not only give it a margin of security (and independence) in the country’s food policy, it would also allow it to reinforce its commitment to the modernization of rural China. And what are you going to do for it? Planting olive trees as if there were no tomorrow and learning from the best for it. Right now, the heart of Chinese production is around Longnanin Gansu province. In the Wudu district alone it has twice as many hectares as Almería and produced 56,900 tons of fresh olives in 2024 (about 8,200 of virgin oil). But the focus now It is located in Sichuan: It is a province with inland valleys, medium altitude and a climate that fits the Mediterranean olive tree like a glove. The province already had scattered plantations, but now it is destined to become the “new Jaén.” Oh really? Isn’t that a bit exaggerated? It is true that in Sichuan the orography is complex, that there may be more humidity than optimal and the mechanization costs will be high; however, the California experience (and its high-density models) is there. And if anyone can achieve it, it is precisely China. And it seems like he wants to. Or, at least, there are signs that he is going to keep all options open. As the Californian olive grove demonstrates, building a country brand is something that takes a long time. You can’t improvise. But it seems undeniable that they are getting the bases of it. It is not free for Chinese producers have already achieved win international awards. These are the first steps of what may be the only adversary that Spain will encounter on this path. Image | Vincent Eisfeld | Li Yang In Xataka | The very high oil prices are a symptom of something worse: a sector on the way to disaster

The Chinese subsidiary of Nexperia has just broken ranks with its parent company in the Netherlands. And that takes the conflict to another level.

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Nexperia has gone from being unknown to becoming the new focus of tension in the technological war between the West and China. The company, with Chinese capital but based in the Netherlands, has been intervened by the Dutch Governmentwhich alleges national security reasons. And its impact could soon be felt in sectors as sensitive as automobiles and consumer electronics. The movement is not minor: Nexperia controls an extensive network of factories and assembly centers in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Malaysia and China, all important for the global semiconductor chain. Since the Netherlands took over governance of the company at the beginning of the month, a key question has arisen: how far does its control over those international operations really extend? Different laws, one company: Nexperia, caught between Europe and China The answer, at least in part, we already have. Nexperia operations in China have recalled that They work “independently” from the Dutch headquarters. A gesture that not only challenges this European authority, but adds a new layer of uncertainty to an industry that continues to suffer the consequences of the chip crisis. The statement released by Nexperia China on October 17 through its official channel WeChat marks a turning point in the dispute. In the text, signed by all the group’s operating entities in the country, the company reaffirms its autonomy from the headquarters in the Netherlands and remembers that its activity is governed exclusively by Chinese legislation. The document clearly establishes that the legal representative has exclusive authority to make decisions and approve any instructions from abroad: “Nexperia companies in China are independent companies that operate in accordance with national laws. The legal representative has exclusive authority to make decisions and approve any external instructions. No employee is obliged to follow orders coming from outside without their express consent.” The Dutch headquarters, for its part, has denied that “independence” and has attributed it to unauthorized information and actions, which adds another chapter to the internal clash. A ban on exporting its products from China has put European manufacturers on alert, especially the automotive industry, which depends on Nexperia chips for the operation of numerous electronic components. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) warned last week that the situation could cause production stops if supply is not restored in the coming weeks. According to the organization, current stocks would barely cover a few assembly cycles and approving new suppliers would take months, a period incompatible with market demand. One of Nexperia’s facilities in Guangdong Nexperia’s weight in the semiconductor chain is best understood by looking at how its production is organized. Although the headquarters and operational management are located in the Netherlands, much of the group’s added value comes from Asia. Its assembly and test plants in China, the Philippines and Malaysia manage enormous production volumes that supply both the Asian market and Europe. The coming weeks will be marked by the search for a fragile balance between regulators and governments. Nexperia has confirmed that it is in talks with China’s Ministry of Commerce to reverse the export blockade, while the Netherlands retains control of its governance. The question is whether the company will be able to operate normally. without violating either of the two legal frameworks. For now, the signals are mixed: production continues, but under an environment of uncertainty that leaves manufacturers waiting for a quick outcome. Images | Nexperia In Xataka | The problem is not that Europe has “expropriated” Nexperia from a Chinese company: it is that it approved its sale just a year ago

A factory in Ireland made a fortune selling baby formula to China. Until the Chinese stopped having children

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If China’s demographic crisis is not reversed, if the world’s factories shrink and nothing stops the bleeding, its decline will drag and have effects throughout the world: from cost increases in consumer goods (telephones, footwear, electric vehicles) to inflationary pressures due to lower manufacturing efficiency. As an example, a “button”: thousands of kilometers from China, an entire population is already suffering from the lack of babies in Beijing. In Ireland, no one imagined a situation like this. Industrial mirage. For years, the small Irish town of Askeatonin County Limerick, found his redemption in a factory that produced gold dust. It wasn’t a metaphor. Infant milk was produced on Nestlé production lines for the chinese marketa product so profitable that some workers nicknamed it “the white cocaine” of the town. Overnight, that business transformed a town forgotten by modernization into a prosperous enclave, where credit flowed easily and employment was synonymous with stability. But when the Swiss managers arrived two years ago with the closure announcementdisbelief took over everyone. Nobody could conceive that such a modern plant, the result of a million-dollar investment, would simply be closed. Rely on China. Nestlé attributed the decision to a macroeconomic reason: he birth rate crash in China. The number of births had fallen from 18 million in 2016 to just nine million in 2023, and demand for foreign infant formula was sinking. However, The New York Times said that among the 1,100 inhabitants of Askeaton the official version did not convince. There were those who suspected that the multinational was simply responding to a Chinese demand: to move production to Asian territory itself. The argument made sense. For years, Nestlé had closed markets in Europe and the Middle East to concentrate exclusively in China. “We put all our eggs in one basket.” remember the diary Oliver Scanlon, one of the veterans of the place. And although the business experienced its golden age with that turn, everyone understood too late what it meant: China was not only buying the product, it was also learning how to manufacture it. Silent learning. The workers recount how every year Chinese auditors arrived, curious to the extreme, writing down every technical detail of the industrial process. Sometimes they even visited neighboring farms, taking an interest in dairy production methods. “They came to learn,” counted rancher Tim Hanley. “They can produce everything, and their goal is self-sufficiency.” Ultimately, what happened at Askeaton was the consequence of a repeated pattern: the initial enthusiasm for the Chinese market ended with the transfer of knowledge and the relocation of production. In November 2023, just a month after announcing the Irish closure, Nestlé obtained authorization to open a twin plant in Suzhoueast of China. While justifying the closure due to the drop in birth rates, the company proclaimed that the Chinese market “continued to be the largest in the world by absolute number of newborns.” Jobless. The Times remembered that the closure of the plant has left a visible scar. The machines stopped last month and, unless someone purchases the facilities for the 22 million euros at which Nestlé has valued them, the doors will close permanently in March. Layoffs, severance packages and outplacement programs have not compensated for the sense of loss. The factory was the invisible engine that made local businesses run, from Seán Moran’s hardware store to the credit union, which for years granted loans with only a payroll as collateral. “It was a good salary and the town prospered,” admits Patrick Ranahan, head of the entity. “But we knew it could disappear from one day to the next.” From globalization to dependency. He Askeaton’s case It is an example of the vulnerability of local economies in the era of globalization. The sudden success, sustained by Chinese demand, masked the fragility of a model based on a single customer and a single market. What began as a story of international cooperation ended up being technology transfer disguised as prosperity. In the process, China not only bought the product, but also the knowledge, and when it was ready to replicate it, it simply cut the tie. For Askeaton, the “crown jewel” has become a symbol of a bitter lesson: in global commerce, the shine of success can fade as quickly as the foam on the powdered milk that fed them for half a century. Image | Nestle In Xataka | The great paradox of China’s demographic crisis: its origin is due to a policy that worked too well In Xataka | China knows that its population is going to collapse but it already has a long-term plan to solve it. Of course, thanks to AI

Russia has found a key advantage to multiply the range of its most lethal weapon in Ukraine: Chinese factories

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Last July Reuters was made with some documents that proved the scope of the help from Beijing to Moscow with the war in Ukraine as a backdrop. The proliferation of Russian drones was possible thanks to a system labeling called “industrial refrigeration units” during transportation, one that allowed sanctions imposed by the West to be bypassed through fictitious companies. Now we know something else: that there are entire factories dedicated to collaboration. The invisible industrial alliance. The war in Ukraine has entered a new phase in which Russia’s technological advantage on the battlefield increasingly depends on a network of factories and chinese suppliers. Although Beijing proclaims neutrality, the official customs data show a spectacular increase in exports of critical components (especially fiber optic cables and batteries lithium-ion) that have allowed Moscow to mass-build the wired drones that are transforming the balance of power on the front. These aircraft, operated through ultra-fine glass threads that unwind in flight up to more than twenty kilometers, They are almost immune to electronic warfare and have managed to breach Ukrainian defenses with an efficiency reminiscent of a silent industrial evolution. The Chinese quantitative leap. How much? counted the Washington Post that between May and August, Chinese exports of fiber optic cables to Russia multiplied tenfold, reaching 528,000 kilometers per month, while shipments of lithium-ion batteries climbed to $54 million. In contrast, Ukraine barely received a few tens of km of cable and a testimonial volume of batteries. For analysts, this asymmetry it is not coincidental: China has restricted the transfer of technologies to kyiv and its allies, but has opened the floodgates of the flow towards Moscowtransforming what were simple commercial components into decisive pieces of the Russian war machine. The combination of low cost, high production capacity and speed in developing prototypes makes Chinese factories a material extension of the Kremlin’s war effort, a “precision rearguard” capable of sustaining the offensive even under Western sanctions. The weapon against electronic chaos. we have been counting. Faced with Ukrainian dominance in FPV drones, Russia has found fiber optic models a devastating tool. As they do not depend on radio frequencies, these devices are impossible to block through interference, and their wiring guarantees total control even in environments saturated with electronic warfare. Moscow uses them to destroy logistics lines, command centers and jamming equipment before launching offensives terrestrial. Its scope (coinciding with the advances measured “by sections of cable”) illustrates how this technology defines the very geometry of the front. Since the Ukrainian withdrawal in the Kursk region, wired drones have been the protagonists of precision attacks, such as the registered in Kramatorsk on October 5, cementing a pattern of warfare in which electronic resistance has become useless. The new factories of conflict. After the withdrawal of the giant DJI of the Russian market in 2022, a constellation of minor Chinese manufacturers has taken up its space. Companies like Shenzhen Huaxin Energy either Nasmin Technologyofficially dedicated to civil products, have become major suppliers of batteries and motors for Russian assemblers. The signature Rustakt LLCone of the largest in the Russian military sector, imported from China more than 577 million dollars in pieces between July 2023 and December of the same year, a volume that reveals the scale of covert industrial support. In turn, Russian manufacturers as ASFPV or Stribog exhibit on their websites production lines located in Chinese territorywith personnel, machinery and labels in Mandarin, manufacturing ultralight coils 0.28 mm and 20 km range designed by Chinese engineers. It is a transnational industrial network that no contracts needed formal military to nourish the Russian war effort: the flow of trade is its camouflage. The dilemma of the West. We have also been counting. Despite the sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, the majority of these shipments are protected by the ambiguity of the products “dual use”whose civil application allows controls to be avoided. For NATO, China has become a “decisive facilitator” of Putin’s war, Brussels accuses it of selectively applying its own export rules and to tolerate traffic of components that supports the Russian military industry. Beijing, meanwhile, continues to proclaim its neutrality, while its industrial system benefits economically from the prolongation of the conflict. Its strategy is subtle but effective: it does not supply weapons, but the infrastructure that makes them possible. A strategic advantage. Taken together, the convergence between Russian ingenuity and Chinese manufacturing capacity has created a war ecosystem that combines improvisation with industrial efficiency. The fiber drones optics symbolize that symbiosis: cheap, adaptable and difficult to counter. By providing Russia with technological independence from sanctions and tactical superiority on the battlefield, China not only strengthens its strategic partner, but also redefines global balance of power around a new form of hybrid warfare, where factories and cables count as much as missiles. The result is a cumulative advantage that, in the long term, threatens to turn the Ukrainian front into a manufactured warfare laboratorysupported not so much by soldiers, but by production lines on the other side of the world. Image | Ukraine Mod, Ministry of Defense Ukraine In Xataka | Europe has found the antidote to Russian drones. So demand for a 100-year-old gun has skyrocketed In Xataka | Europe has been working for three years to isolate itself from Russian gas. Two countries have decided to build a direct gas pipeline to Russia

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