collapsing

US sanctions are collapsing China’s factories. It’s bad news for the rest of the world

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The US has intensified in recent years its tariff policy against China. Under the shield of “national security reasons,” the Trump administration has attempted to isolate China from essential components to create cutting-edge technology. The play didn’t go too welland China is at its best moment of national production. So much so that the capacity of its factories is reaching the limit. There are those who warned. Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel, warned at the beginning of February in his statements. He pointed out that the US blockade is only achieving the opposite effect, driving giants like Huawei to develop silently and accelerating the race for China to obtain the capacity to make three nanometer chips. SMIC confirmed it. He SMIC report corresponding to the fourth quarter of 2025 is a perfect summary of China’s efforts to one day end up leading the semiconductor race. China doesn’t just want to make chips for mobile phones: it wants to dominate the semiconductors that support AI, cars, telecommunications, industry, energy and defense: because whoever controls these chips controls technological power. The key data. That SMIC’s profits have grown by 39% in the last year is quite revealing, but that the capacity of its factories has risen to 93.5% is even more so. In other words, the Chinese company is practically at the limit of its production capacity, having to satisfy the demanding demands of both the government and local companies. How does this affect me?. Among the key sectors that China wants to lead is AI. And this one needs many, many chips. So much so that SMIC has warned that the demand for them is being so enormous that the rest of the consumer electronics orders are being compromised. This ends up translating into delays in supply, price increases and something that we have been warning about for months: basic components such as RAM, SSD memories and so on. They are going to be more expensive than ever. Without help from anyone. China, without access to ASML’s most advanced machines, is achieving alternative routes for your manufacturing processes. Although some of its manufacturers are still in collaboration with giants like TSMC (case of Xiaomi with “its” XRing 01 chip, manufactured by TSCM in 3nm), the plan is to be completely self-sufficient. Something that they will end up achieving, sooner or later. In Xataka |

High speed in Madrid is at risk of collapsing. And that’s why Adif wants to send her to Parla

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Parla has 134,833 inhabitants, 24.43 km² in area and one goal: to become the nerve center of high speed in the south of Madrid. The idea was presented yesterday by Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport, and is part of the profound renovation that the Government wants to carry out on the high-speed line between Madrid and Barcelona. The plans. Announced yesterday by Puente: a Madrid-Barcelona in less than two hours. That is the goal and the big headline. At the moment what we know is that two feasibility studies have been requested. They will study the possibility of introducing improvements in the infrastructure so that trains can reach 350 km/h top speed and both cities can join in less than 120 minutes. The investment should be reflected in “more services, less time, more users, more territorial structure and flexibility of exploitation, according to Puente’s own words. For this, the construction of two new stations will be key, which will also be the key to introducing two new variants at the entrance to both cities. Parla. It would become the reference for the municipalities in the south of Madrid. And the construction of a large caliber station in the southern zone would not only impact the more than 130,000 residents of the municipality. The key is in everything that is nearby: Getafe, Leganés, Fuenlabrada or Pinto. Alcorcón and Móstoles are further away but there are connections with Cercanías. From Transport they say that Parla has “an area of ​​influence of more than 1.26 million inhabitants and in which, within a range of 15 minutes, 4.7 million people would have access and in less than 1 hour, about 6 million potential users.” In these moments, and if no delays or breakdowns occurthe connection between the Parla and Atocha Cercanías stations is covered in 29 minutes. And it takes 33 minutes to get to Sol station, in the heart of Madrid. Decongest. It is the last objective of the new station. If built, the idea is to offer an alternative to intern services. That is, those who travel from Barcelona to Seville directly. These trains would need less time to travel the distance since they would travel fewer kilometers and could travel faster as they would not have to deal with speed reductions at the entrance to the city and passing through Atocha. Besides, Puente pointed out in his speech that with this new station the station can be used as an intermediate stop on the Madrid-Seville and Madrid-Levante services (its neighbors would not have to go to the center of the capital to return back having boarded the high-speed train) and it can serve as an alternative station in case of incidents. Right now, Transport assures, 250 trains circulate through Madrid or its surroundings. With this variant an alternative would be created to the high-speed route already existing between Madrid and Andalusia or Levante. In addition, it would improve the service for the increase in traffic expected with the improvements in the Extremadura corridor. Parla, you are not alone. Parla’s action, as we said, is not the only one that Transport plans to reduce the time between Madrid and Barcelona. With the same arguments, the idea is to create a new station near Barcelonaspecifically in El Prat de Llobregat. The idea is that this new station would allow the Madrid-Barcelona-French border high-speed train to connect with the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport. Regional trains would also stop at this station through the corresponding adaptation of the lines. The other action in Catalonia involves linking the Lleida-Pirineus station with Barcelona with a new line that would enter the city through La Sagrera, north of Barcelona. In this way, trains would not necessarily have to pass through Camp de Tarragona, freeing up part of the traffic that already circulates there and, therefore, offering a new variant to Barcelona very similar to that of Parla in Madrid. Many trains, little investment. Although the study of these actions has raised some controversy when it is understood that other Spanish roads still need significant improvement to lighten travel times, the truth is that investment in Adif’s infrastructure has been requested for a long time. It must be taken into account that both alternatives in large cities, and especially south of Madrid, represent a good escape route to decentralize the network. The arrival of Ouigo and Iryo has exponentially increased the number of trains on the tracks but they face the problem of Adif has not invested enough money to absorb traffic. own Puente assured last August that “6 trains circulated per day on the Madrid-Seville line, in each direction. Today, 289 trains circulated at the Torrejón de Velasco point on the Madrid-Seville high-speed line (…) When there is an incident you have 25 trains in both directions within a radius of one hour.” Photo | Smiley.toerist and Google Maps In Xataka | A Spain literally at two speeds: while the Madrid-Barcelona AVE goes at 350 km/h, the rest of the network languishes

Its use is collapsing and nobody knows why

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Something weird happens with Windows. In 2022 Microsoft He presumed to have 1,400 of monthly active devices with Windows. A few days ago the figure danced, and in an official post There was talk Initially not 1,400, but 1,000 million monthly active devices with Windows. What happens? 400 million less? If we trust the original version From the Microsoft post, the company would have lost no less than 400 million active devices in these three years, a real collapse of difficult explanation. PC sales are still notable. According to IDC In 2024, 262.7 million pcs were distributed, for 260.2 million of 2023. In 2022 – even with a pandemic effect – yes, yes, yes They were distributed 301.5 million PCs and laptops. The feeling may no longer be sold PCs, but the consultants make it clear that they are sold. Something less, safe, but of course no 400 million less, that would help explain Microsoft’s data. And people are not going to Mac. We have no data sold by Apple MACs, but Yes we know that since 2022 the income of that division has dropped from 10,000 million dollars per quarter to about 8,000 million. If those 400 million inactive Windows devices had been motivated by the change to Mac, that would also have had a clear positive impact on Apple accounts. It has not been so. Two versions for the same story. The original article spoke of 1,000 million active Windows devices. The updated, of 1.4 billion. Queer. Where I said … The funny thing is that after the publication of that unique fall by ZDNET Something happened. Microsoft edited The original article —Aspononable at Archive.org— and In the updated version changed the 1,000 million for 1.4 billion. That is, in the last three years there had been no changes in the number of monthly active devices with Windows. But that is also strange, especially after the slight drop in PCs sales or the impact of the MAC. The company, by the way, indicated in April 2021 that there were 1.3 billion active Windows devices monthly. Did Microsoft 100 million grow in one year, and then there has been no movement in the next three? In the updated version Microsoft does indicate that that number was modified, but not why. Strange. A hypothesis. There is a certain thing that may have affected the number of active Windows devices: the fact that people simply do not use their PCs and laptops, or do not use them so much. The smartphone and tablet can be enough for many users, and that would make the figure again probably different. However, it still seems too much that in three years 400 million people have stopped using their PC regularly. But it is not normal for the updated figure (1.4 billion) to be the same as three years and has not changed so long. Source: Statcounter Globalstats. But Windows 10 ends. The period of Official Windows 10 support It ends next October, and that could have caused some impact among users, both final and business. The data provided by Statcounter Globalstats show that of course since 2022 there has been a significant change in the Windows 10 market share – which has gone from 81% to 48% – and in Windows 11 – from 8% to 48% -. Both systems are distributed right now in the same proportion the Windows device market, but that graph does not give all the information. It only tells us that there are much less Windows 10 and many more Windows 11, but we don’t know how many with certainty. Again, we have to trust what Microsoft says. Difficult to know what to believe. In Xataka we have contacted Microsoft to try to clarify the situation, but there is no clear explanation or in one case – which have lost 400 million “users” – or in the other – which everything remains the same as three years ago. And Windows 12, what? Rumors about a potential new iteration of the operating system have been running for some time. The hypothetical Windows 12 It seemed to make all the meaning of the world: it would be the first Windows of the AI ​​era and could take advantage of a much stronger co -ilot integration, for example. However, that launch has not only occurred, but Microsoft has already confirmed that it is preparing the next great Windows 11 update, The call Windows 11 25h2. And meanwhile, the mystery persists. In Xataka | The end of Windows 10 is approaching: How to install a modified Windows 11 with a trick to use it on a PC without support

The Big Tech are collapsing in the stock market. The question is which one that can best survive tariffs

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Since 2025 began, goal has lost 14.6% of its stock market value. It is just an example, because Nvidia already lost already 30% and Apple, the most affected by tariffs, has lost 33% of its market capitalization. In view of the situation, a thing is clear: all technological ones are falling. The question is whether any of them can better survive this debacle. A quarter to oblivion. The re -election of Donald Trump as president of the United States seemed to sit very well to technological companies. However, the decision to initiate a global commercial war has made the panorama change radically, and in these first months of the year the balance has been very negative for large technology companies. Apple, the one that goes worse stop. The situation was already bad, but yesterday USA announced some 104% tariffs for Chinese importsand that had an immediate impact on a particular company: Apple ceased to be the company with the greatest market capitalization in the world. Right now it is very close to Microsoft, which occupies the first place, but the markets of the market and the measures that the different countries are taking pose a future with a lot of movement in those market capitalizations. The “Seven-Ya-No-Tan-Magnifices”. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla are the prestigious members of the group known as the “Magnificent seven.” These seven great technology are among the 10 most valuable in the world, but all of them have been especially affected by tariffs. However, there are better prepared than others to face this crisis. The hardware penalizes. One of the first side effects of tariffs will be the increase in production costs. This especially affects companies that have a strong manufacturing component of hardware devices. That is one Great disadvantage for Applewhich also manufactures in Asian countries in which tariffs are especially high. It is not the only one with that handicap: nvidia – which It depends on TSMC In Taiwan for much of the production of its GPUS— or Tesla —With China and Mexico as manufacturing partners – they will also be especially impacted in this section. And logistics chains. These tariffs are also an obstacle to the logistics chains of these companies. Geopolitical tensions could exacerbate these conflicts, producing delays in production or supply of materials and components. Apple is again a perfect example of this logistics complexity: globalization came from pearls, but this new situation does not favor its strategy. Amazon is another problematic case for its gigantic commercial network of physical products, many of which are imported from China. Microsoft can survive better. The company does not have a hardware -based business, and Azure, Office 365 or its video game platform (Xbox) are not so hardware dependent. The diversification of its income and its focus on cloud services favors its competitive position, and in fact is one of the least market capitalization has lost these months: 17.7%. Amazon also benefits from the strength of its cloud infrastructure with AWS. And the cloud, what. We have talked about how Microsoft and Amazon do not depend so much on the hardware and apparently that favors them, but you have to be careful, because their infrastructure and data centers depend on hardware components that will end up costing more (like everything) and impacting the business. Something similar happens with Google, centered almost absolutely on the cloud and services and that has a lot of weight not only in the US but in EMEA. The danger of tariffs to services. Among the reprisals that we can live in the next few days is that of the tariffs that the EU proposes for digital services. That is the great export of the US, and the Big Tech are their producers, so companies such as Alphabet, Meta, and to a lesser extent Apple, Microsoft and Amazon could be harmed. He Panorama for investment in AI is complicated Also, and Big Tech can be seen doubly threatened. Image | Egor Myznik In Xataka | The United States has been fantasizing with an “made in USA” iPhone. Now you will have one made in … India

There is a roundabout collapsing access to Granada. The City Council wants to fix it by putting the traffic lights

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Spain is A country of roundabouts. And although they are born to relieve traffic circulation, it is common manage to generate the opposite effect. This is the case of the roundabout that joins the highway of the GR-30 Circunvalación with Fernando de los Ríos Avenue, in Granada. A quite complex point of union between key points of the city such as the highway itself, the Nevada shopping center, the hospitals area and several of the most inhabited peoples of the city. This point, located in the municipality of Armilla, will be the second in Spain to incorporate traffic lights with artificial intelligence. Its objective is clear: replace the work of the Local Police for hours. The Rotunda del Chaos. Imagine a roundabout that joins the main highway of your city with the most busy shopping center of it, the university access zone, one of the main hospitals (not only of the city of Granada, but of the surrounding villages), and the main towns of the city. Insured chaos. This roundabout, located at the foot of the GR-30 highway, is famous for the amount of traffic jams that are generated at peak hours, from morning to the afternoon. It is usual to find local police officers regulating traffic at critical moments of the day, but now the City of Armilla wants to go one step further. Traffic lights with AI. The mayor of the town of Armilla, Loli Cañavate, explains to Granadahoy That the implementation of traffic lights with artificial intelligence is scheduled to replace the work of these mobility agents during tips. How will it work. The traffic light system will allow them Adapt in real time to vehicle flow. How will they do it? First, several traffic lights will be installed at the different access points to the roundabout. A total of five tickets distributed in the GR-30 descent, the departure of the Albán Park area, the departure of Fernando de los Ríos Avenue in the Granada direction, the departure from the Health Technology Park and the departure of Fernando de los Ríos Avenue Direction Armilla. The traffic camera system will collect updated information about traffic, and this data will be used so that traffic lights can regulate the circulation opening and closing the tickets to the roundabout according to the congestion zones. A little step towards the inevitable. The case of Granada is particular, since this roundabout will end up in a underground process to completely avoid this decongestion. However, the implementation of smart traffic lights begins to gain more and more strength. Neighboring countries, such as Germany, They started with pilot tests More than two years ago. The result? An improvement between 10 and 15% in the fluidity of traffic, with a scheduled improvement margin up to 30%. Without going as far, in cities like Córdoba There are already traffic lights with artificial intelligencealthough in this case with a system aimed at that pedestrians with reduced mobility can cross more easily. Specifically, if the traffic light detects that we have mobility problems, it is open for a longer time. In Xataka | Spanish traffic lights are more dangerous than the rest for a peculiarity. And the DGT knows Image | Eliobed Suárez

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