companies

Europe has said that it is a bargain for companies

by

From the 2012 labor reform, Spain uses a fixed scale to establish compensation for Improper dismissal. The Council of Europe has re -urged Spain to change this system indicating that it does not comply with the provisions of the European Social Charter Companies are already very cheap to fire their employees for no justified reason. The European agency considers that workers in Spain are not correctly protected against a dismissal without just cause Because when you know in advance the cost of your compensation for dismissal, it loses its deterrent effect. In addition, the regulations do not include that in the calculation of this compensation, the principle of proportionality by the Damage caused to the worker. New Strasbourg Notice. Spain ratified the European Social Charter in 2021 with the objective of harmonizing labor policies throughout the territory of the Union, committing to transpose the indications of the community document to Spanish regulations. However, the resolutions issued by this European agency are not binding, but the commitment signed by Spain. As he advanced The countrythe pronouncement of Strasbourg has occurred by a CCOO union claim in 2022 before the European Social Rights Committee (which adds to the already resolved request of UGT in 2024) on the need to reform the compensation system in Spain. The union claims the Government of Spain to equate its regulations to the European, which made that the agency pronounce again, Giving the reason to the union and urging the Government to modify this system. The Spanish legislation of 2012. The Council of Europe has made it clear that the system of Compensation for improper dismissal of Spain breaches the appropriate justice and reparation parameters. According to current Spanish regulations, which the government of Mariano Rajoy reformed in 2012, workers receive compensation of 33 days of salary per year worked, with a maximum limit of 24 monthly payments, instead of 45 days per year with 42 monthly payments that were before the reform. However, the Council of Europe has been considered an insufficient model due to its zero deterrence for inadmissible layoff calculate the costs of dismissal In advance, especially for those with little seniority in their jobs. Union spokesmen insisted that this resolution “evidences the need to open a stage of dialogue and negotiation in the field of social dialogue to adapt the framework for the protection of workers in the face of dismissal to the demands of the European Social Charter”, collected The plural. Discrepancies by article 24. The main point of friction between the European Social Charter and the current Spanish legislation focuses on section B of article 24 of the European document indicated: “The right of dismissed workers without valid reason to adequate compensation or other appropriate reparation.” In its resolutions, the Council of Europe has made it clear that the compensation system for unfair dismissal of Spain breaches the appropriate justice and reparation parameters, leaving in judicial hands the calculation of a personalized compensation to each specific case. “It is essential In your writing before the Council of Europe. The temporal “patch”: go to court. While the government is expected to adapt the legislation to European recommendations, to workers who face an inadmissible dismissal only the judicial means have to obtain compensation according to the European Social Charter. However, the Supreme Court It has not been very satisfied With that solution to conflict with Spanish regulations, which they already consider “adequate”, although it left Open the possibility of reinterpretations from European standards. The Last data of layoffs collected in the report ‘Disposal statistics and its cost ‘ prepared by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy give the reason to Europe, indicating that the Average compensation for dismissal in Spain in 2023 It was 35% lower than those received in 2021, although the number of layoffs increased by 34%. That is, although inadmissible dismissals have been resolved by judicial means, the courts have not imposed higher compensation as “reparation” as they ask from Europe. In Xataka | Going to the bathroom is not work: a Swiss court allows a company to force its employees to sign when they go to the bathroom In Xataka | Companies have found a way to fire indefinite after labor reform: disciplinary dismissal Image | Unspash (Mika Baumeister)

There are European companies that want to become independent from the clouds of Amazon, Google and Microsoft: they will not have it easy

by

Cloud computing services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure have become fundamental tools for governments and companies of all sizes in Europe. Logic is simple: instead of investing in their own servers, they can access powerful technological resources under a payment model for use. It is a scheme that has given good results for years, but in recent times certain inconveniences have emerged. To the costs, which in certain cases are higher than expected, new concerns of geopolitical nature are now added. These concerns began to gain strength with the return of Donald Trump to the White House, and are taking some actors in the old continent to consider a change of course. Europe begins to look beyond the United States A little over a week ago, about a hundred European organizations They signed an open letter Aimed at Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, already Henna Virkkunen, EU digital manager. They claim “Radical actions“To reduce the dependence on foreign digital services. The document urges to bet on local solutions, covered by hardware to cloud platforms. Practically in parallel, the Parliament of the Netherlands approved eight motions that ask the Government to replace the software and hardware of American origin for solutions developed by local companies. The intention is to sign new contracts with Dutch suppliers that offer equivalent services and, in a broader look, reinforce the country’s digital sovereignty through a national cloud based on local technology. In addition, as Wired points out, European suppliers such as Exoscale – a company based in Switzerland – are registering a notable Increase in demand of their services, promoted by customers who seek to move away from the American cloud giants. According to his CEO, Mathias Nöbauer, even in Denmark there are companies that are distanced by tensions between the Trump administration and the Danish government For the matter of Greenland. There are still no signs that European governments and companies are moving in mass to local alternatives is happening right now, although as we have seen, there are several initiatives underway and some actors taking the first steps. An exodus would be bad news for American technological ones, who have adopted several changes in recent times to protect European clients and prevent them from fleeing to other platforms. In this context, some foreign companies have begun to install servers within the European Union with the aim of ensuring that the data is stored in Community territory. At the same time, security systems have been implemented that limit access exclusively to the clients themselves. As we mentioned before, cloud services are the basis of many fundamental components that work without pause. A complicated task from where he looks at her Change the cloud supplier It is not a simple decision. Beyond whether it is an American or European platform, every migration process implies a high workload, possible interruptions in operations and meticulous planning. To this are added specific risks, such as the loss of data or compatibility problems between systems, especially when the architectures are not aligned. Even in ideal scenarios, where everything goes as planned, the process can be more than desired. The necessary time will depend largely on the size and complexity of the organization, as well as the services involved. In companies with critical operations, a provider change requires more than will: strategy, technical resources and sufficient margin to absorb any unplanned impact is needed. Images | Alexandre Lallemand | DC Studio In Xataka | In full tariff war, the EU has found a weapon to press the United States: soybeans

ASML’s “invisible monopoly” is indisputable. Although without the technology of these companies would not have reached the top

by

“In 1997, Jos Benschop, the leader of the Investigation Department of ASMLreassess whether extreme ultraviolet technology (UVE) was a viable option. After the first tests he realized that Zeiss was able to develop extraordinarily sophisticated mirrors that would be necessary to transport ultraviolet light. Everything began to change: The puzzle pieces began to fit in their holes and that impossible machine was acquiring little by little. ” These lines come from the chapter entitled “An invisible monopoly” from the very interesting trial book “Focus: The Asml Way” written by Dutch journalist Marc Hijink. We have resorted to them to open this text for a weight reason: they perfectly condense the complexity of the lithography machine that has allowed ASML to lead the industry of the manufacturing equipment of chips alone. And it is that Europe has a voice in the integrated circuit industry thanks to this company of the Netherlands. ASML has no competition since its first UVE photolithography team placed on the market. Japanese Canon and Nikon companies, their natural competitors, also tried to develop this machine, but failed in the attempt. The technical and economic resources that were necessary to make it possible were so numerous that They decided to retire from the struggle with Asml. Free road. Today the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing machines that we can find in the TSMC, Intel, Samsung or SK Hynix plants produce ASML. Currently his reign seems imperturbable. Canon has developed a team of nano -impression lithography that it seeks to compete from you to you with the UVE machines of ASML, but for the moment it is not clear that this technology will be able to rival the most advanced team of the Dutch company: the machine of High Opening Photolithography (UVE). Intel is already testing it, and it is expected that TSMC and Samsung do so for the next few months. Presumably thanks to it they can produce chips of less than 1 nm before this decade expires. ASML does not walk alone UVE photolithography equipment is extraordinarily sophisticated. The GPUs for artificial intelligence more advanced from Nvidia; The most powerful soc that Apple or the CPUs with the highest AMD performance are possible thanks to them. Of course, none of these companies make their own chips. They design them, but they are produced by the Taiwanese company TSMC using ASML UVE lithography machines. However, this European Corporation has not developed solo all innovations that have made its most advanced integrated circuit production equipment possible. One of its most important allies is the American company Cymer. This company founded in 1986 specializes in the manufacture of lasers and deep ultraviolet light sources (UVP) and extreme (UVE). It has a very close relationship with ASML for many years; In fact, the role that Cymer manufactures in lithography machines is so relevant than in 2013 ASML bought this San Diego company with the purpose of investing in it to accelerate the development of the technologies involved in UVE lithography. The ultraviolet light transports the geometric pattern described by the mask to the surface of the Silicio wafer Somehow Cymer gives ASML the raw material that their photolithography machines need. And that raw material is none other than the ultraviolet light that is responsible for transporting the geometric pattern described by the mask so that it can be transferred with great precision to the surface of the Silicon wafer. Understanding what is the mask is simple: it is nothing other than a physical template that contains the design of the integrated circuit that is necessary to transfer to the Silicon wafer. During this transfer process a fine sheet of a substance sensitive to ultraviolet light is placed on the wafer and exposes the latter. The mask blocks or allows the passage of light in concrete regions of the wafer, thus transferring the chip pattern. Then the development, engraving and deposition processes follow each other whose purpose is, in broad strokes, transfer the different layers of the circuit integrated to the wafer and consolidate the transistors and interconnections that shape the chip. Interestingly, as we have just seen, the photolithography process is very similar to the chemical development of photographs. Of course, it is much more complex and requires working with resolutions that until a few years ago were unimaginable. Precisely thanks to the very high resolution with which it is possible to transfer the geometric pattern that describes the circuit integrated to the wafer today we enjoy Integrated 3 Nm circuits. And for 2025 they will be available The first 2 Nm semiconductors. Since we are involved in flour, it is worth investigating a little more in the characteristics of the light used by UVE lithography equipment. And its most striking property is that it belongs to the most energy portion of the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In fact, its wavelength extends in the range that goes From 10 to 100 nanometers (NM). The problem is that it is not easy to generate and deal with this form of electromagnetic radiation. And it is not, among other reasons, because it is so energetic that it alters the structure of the physical elements with which it interacts inside the lithography machine. In addition, the UVE light must travel from the source to the silicon wafer without interacting with the slightest dust particle, so it is necessary that the entire chips production process be carried out inside a camera designed to provide a very quality vacuum. Anyway, the transport of ultraviolet light from the fountain that produces it to the wafer is only possible thanks to the intervention of the mirrors that the other great ally of ASML designs and manufactures: the German company Zeiss. If the mirrors involved in the propagation of the UVE light are not manufactured with enormous precision the geometric pattern defined by the mask will be altered The role of Zeiss’s optical elements in these lithography equipment is crucial. And it is because they are responsible, … Read more

Google hoped that the new US government would save him from “chopping” in several companies. Bad news

by

It doesn’t matter when you read this, it is almost certain that in the last hours you have used some Google service. Maybe you have sent an email in Gmail, received a message on your Android mobile, sailed with Chrome or made a google search. The company dominates so many aspects of digital life that is difficult to escape its ecosystem. But with that power the problems also come: antitrust authorities have been pressing years To detach from some divisions, and a possible separation is getting closer. DOJ VS. Google. The pulse between Google and the US authorities is not new. In October 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and eleven state prosecutors They filed a lawsuit accusing Mountain View company to monopolize internet searches. After years of litigation, in August last year, federal judge Amit P. Mehta failed against him, concluding that the technological giant had maintained his domain in the searches market by imposing entry barriers that hindered competition. One of its main strategies has been to pay mobile manufacturers such as Apple to ensure be the default search engine on its devices. A bold measure on the table. Throughout history, the authorities have intervened to stop the domain of large companies, although the most common strategy is usually imposing economic sanctions. Forcing part of the business, on the other hand, is a drastic and rare measure. In the case of Google, this option went to the forefront the same day the failure against it was confirmed, although informally. However, the judge had not yet determined the corrective measures, which will be announced throughout 2025. Even so, the possibility of a split becomes increasingly strength. The Department of Justice presses to fragment Google. Although, as we say, the judge has not explicitly supported Google’s fragmentation, the DOJ, which represents the US government, has insisted on that option as part of the corrective measures. He has argued that the only way to stop his monopolistic domain in searches is to force the company to get rid of Chrome and, potentially, of Android. The striking thing is that the first attempt occurred under the administration of Joe Biden, But the second has arrivedagainst any forecast, with Donald Trump in the White House. “Thanks to its colossal size and its power without restrictions, Google has taken consumers and companies an essential promise that is owed to them: the right to choose between different services. Its illegal practices have created an economic giant that dominates the market to the point of guaranteeing that, whatever happens, it always wins, ”said the DOJ in his last presentation asking for the disinversion of the company in key areas. “Google’s illegal behavior has created an economic giant that wreaks havoc on the market to make sure what happens, Google always wins. American consumers and companies suffer from Google’s behavior, ”he added. An uncertain panorama. The presentation has been signed by Omeed A. Assefi, who currently leads the antimonopoly division interimly while the Senate evaluates the confirmation of Gail Slater, the one chosen by Trump to assume the position. ASSEFI is no stranger to the former president: He was part of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice during his first term. Slater, meanwhile, has indicated that he hopes to apply Regulations with surgical precisionwhile Trump has not hesitated to accuse the great technology of acting without control, to quell the competition and take advantage of their market domain to restrict rights. With this panorama, it continues in the air if its appointment will mark a change of strategy or if, on the contrary, the pressure on the technological sector will continue to increase. Wasn’t Trump hope? Before even being elected president, several technological leaders went to him in search of solutions. Tim Cook, from Apple, for example, called him to complain of the regulatory approach of the European Union, to which Trump responded with a promise: he would not allow them to take advantage of US companies. SUCTAR PICHAI, from Google, shared a meal with himalthough the details of that conversation are still a mystery. The company itself also donated a million dollars at the bottom of his inauguration. Now, with a judicial ruling that could force her to divide, Google has already announced that she will appeal the decision to avoid the dreaded chopstick. Effects throughout the ecosystem. Chop Google would not only affect the company itself, but shaking the entire digital ecosystem. Chrome and Android are not profitable business for themselves, they exist to channel users to their search engine, the true gold mine of the company. Separating them would completely change the rules of the game, affecting online advertising, agreements with manufacturers and software we use on our devices. But that’s not all: if the authorities are seriously with Google, the rest of the giants such as Apple, Amazon or Meta could be the following in the sight. Images | Xataka with Dalle · 3 | Greg Bulla In Xataka | The enigma of 20,000 million: why Chrome is very valuable and inventible at the same time In Xataka | Telefónica’s commitment to open TV is not just a new business: it is a redefinition of its identity

He did not create either of the two companies that made him a millionaire

by

Elon Musk, al Like Jeff Bezos And many other millionaires have tried to create the image of a genius that made himself starting from scratch, romantizing an image of the Garage Founding Myth even Apple has been able to sustain In time. Around Elon Musk They have raised many myths and legends that, although they start from a certain base, have exaggerated or omitted parts to contribute to epic to their career. However, time, which puts everything in place, has been in charge of denying. To name a few, there is the myth of the emerald mines in Zambia of his father, the Tesla Foundation or the unknown about whether Tesla itself or Space X would have survived if not for some of the government programs that now He is dismantling Doge. Elon Musk’s beginnings Elon Musk grew up in a wealthy family in South Africa. His father, Errol Musk, was a hustler with a career full of ups and downs. However, as his father declared in an interviewdid not own The emerald minesbut her shareholder, so she received a certain amount of precious stones for some years in the 80s. Anyway, Errol Musk describes During the interviewThat Elon Musk’s childhood and his brothers was full of luxuries. Among them that included the plane (which he sold to buy his participation in the Esmeraldas mine) or, as Walter Isaacson said in Elon Musk’s biography, “(…) swam in abundance. He had a Rolls-Royce Corniche Dorado convertible.” While it is true that during the Musk brothers student stage, Errol Musk was very far from being a millionaire and did not always provide them with enough money, he supported Elon and Kimbal Musk when they started their first venture, selling some of the Erroldas Musk emeralds in Tiffany’s of New York. In 1995, when the Musk brothers founded their Zip2 Business Board of Directors, their father financed them with $ 28,000 and His mother, Maye Musk, He contributed 10,000 more. Elon Musk denied this information In an interview For Rolling Stone, although he reduced the tone in his biography ‘Elon Musk: Tesla, Spacex, and The Quest for a fantastic future’ From Ashlee Vance ensuring that his father had participated in 10% of the company’s initial investment, making it clear that his family gave him a great initial economic impulse. More ambition than management After the initial family capital, Zip2 opened the door to new investors, including Greg Kouri, who soon realized that Elon Musk did not have enough experience to take the reins and degraded him to technology director, while Rich Sorkin took command. According to writer Ashlee Vance, the initial code of ZIP2, written mainly by Musk, contained many errors and the engineers who hired They had to rewrite it almost completely. Despite those deficiencies, Elon Musk did not hesitate to download their anger on them shouting in front of everyone who had to “fix their stupid shit code,” Isaacson said in Musk’s biography. In 1999, ZIP2 sold to Compaq by 307 million dollarswhich made Musk brothers a millionaires. They were the origin of the first 22 million dollars that Elon Musk won. After the sale of ZIP2, Musk co -founded the platform of Banking online x.comwhich later merged with his main rival: Confinity of Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, to form Paypal. Although Musk often presents himself as Paypal’s visionary co -founder, the truth is that PayPal’s original technology came from Confinity, not X.com, which contributed the user base. Musk was the CEO of the new company during the first six months, but he was fired by replacing him with Peter Thiel in September 2000, taking advantage of a Musk trip to Australia. One of the reasons were the constant tensions with Max Levchin for Musk’s trend to risky technological changes, such as replacing all PayPal UNIX infrastructure with Microsoft Windows. Ironically, “Musk admired Bill Gates, he loved Windows NT and thought Microsoft was a more reliable partner,” Isaacson wrote in Musk’s biography. That admiration It would not last for many years further. Although, as a shareholder, Musk earned a lot of money when Ebay bought Paypal, he was no longer in command of the company. In any case, his fortune had increased in 180 million dollars more for the agreement of 1.5 billion dollars with eBay. Tesla: Take control and rewrite the story Many people believe that Elon Musk is one of the founders of Tesla and in part it is because the founders of Tesla allowed it. Actually, Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by two engineers, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenninglong before Musk got involved. Musk joined Tesla in 2004, when the company was still not clear what they were going to manufacture. Musk used his money to accelerate the project becoming the main investor. He appointed himself president of the Board of Directors, despite being just an investor, as the co -founders counted In an interview for CNBC. Over time, Musk took more control of the company and fired the original founders. In 2007, Musk fired Martin Eberhard and held the CEO position he still holds in 2008. Eberhard sued Musk, accusing him of taking control of the company, orchestrating his dismissal and trying to rewrite the history of Tesla in his efforts to appear in the company’s documents as a founder, when the company already existed when he invested in it. Finally, Eberhard saw forced to give in and sign an agreement in which Musk was allowed present yourself as “co -founder” next to the true founders. His great achievement was to appropriate a promising company founded by others, and then take advantage of his visionary image of the electric car. This does not mean that Musk has contributed to the success of the brand, but contradicts the idea that he founded Tesla from scratch. Public money to the rescue of Tesla and Spacex In addition to private investments, Elon Musk has benefited from billions of public money to build your empire. Tesla’s case is … Read more

Spanish companies interested in green hydrogen have found a very succulent destination to invest: Morocco

by

Morocco aspires that renewable energies Represent 52% of its capacity installed in 2030. At this time its percentage is 45%so, to get to the estimated, he wants to achieve it through green hydrogen. Among the companies selected to lead this initiative are Spanish companies. The project. A Moroccan Government Committee has selected five consortiums to develop six green hydrogen projects which will allow the production of ammonia, steel and industrial fuel. The investment has reached a total of 319,000 million Dírhams (32.5 billion dollars), which includes the participation of companies from different countries, including Spain: ACCIONA and CEPSA. This meeting enters within the framework of the “offer of Morocco”, where these works will take place in the three provinces of southern Morocco, which include the areas of Dakhla-Rio de Oro, LaAyoune-Sakia El Hamra and Guelmim-Noun, all located in the Occupied Western Sahara. The agreement with Europe. We all know that Europe is going through a deep crisis with The gas situation. Recently, the possible reopening of the controversial Nord Stream 2 creates more headaches, because He will get caughtbetween the United States and Russia. However, the EU member states are still sought alternatives to supply gas and there Green hydrogen. Morocco You have seen a chance To participate in the Green Pact of the European Unionwhereby an objective of importing 10 million tons of renewable hydrogen is established by 2030. In this way the Norafrican country becomes a key actor for the EU. An investment with contradictions. Despite Morocco’s attraction as a partner in the energy transition, Your recent decision To give to Israel 34,000 km² in the Atlantic for gas exploitation has generated a strong controversy in Spain. This measure has aroused diplomatic tensions, since the ceded waters could conflict with areas of interest with the Iberian country. In addition, Spain has different points in its green hydrogen orography becoming a direct rival. In fact, almost 40% of the 5,200 MW In hydrogen projects presented in Europe they come from Spain. The problem is even bigger. However, the projects are not free of controversy and that the Moroccan government has announced that it will offer up to 30,000 hectares of land to each project once a preliminary agreement is signed for the construction of electrolysis plants. The territory where They will operate is a disputed area And now the Spanish companies, acts and Cepsa, will work in this area, which could increase diplomatic tensions With Spain and the Sahara. In addition, the fact that Morocco is exploiting areas in Western Sahara for international projects could generate even more conflicts in the political and territorial sphere. Other companies at stake. The development of green hydrogen in Morocco has also attracted a variety of international companies, each with its own strategy. On the one hand, on Europe side will be a German company, Nordex, specialized in renewable and two French energies, extremely known in the world of energy, totalenergies and Engie, which will focus on producing ammonia from green hydrogen. On the other hand, in the area of ​​the Arabiga Peninsula, there is the Taqa company of United Arab Emirates that will invest in the production of ammonia, fuel and steel, and the Saudi Acwa Power will focus on the manufacture of steel. On the other hand, as the presence of China could not miss with the EUG and China Three Gorges companies dedicated to ammonia production; While the United States, with the Ortus company, will focus on the production of green ammonia. Image | Pxhere and Flickr Xataka | Cheaper, durable and ecological: a new material with the help of ruthenium wants to change the rules of green hydrogen

The Singapore government has revealed which companies are involved in the delivery of GPU from Nvidia A Deepseek

by

Depseek continues to be the artificial intelligence (AI) of the moment five weeks after its irruption. And is that the debate about the hardware used by this Chinese company to train your AI model Keep on the table. High-flyer, your parent company, is A quantitative coverage fund specialized in trading algorithmic. This simply means that this company uses advanced mathematical models and computational algorithms to address investment decisions with the greatest possible success guarantees. Deepseek was born as a high-flyer secondary project to take advantage of its computer resources and “put one foot” in the AI ​​industry. Its creators say that in the training of their model they have used only 2,048 chips H800 of Nvidia. However, Some analysts defend that, in reality, its infrastructure brings together 50,000 GPU H100 bought through intermediaries. This is the problem. High-flyer could legally buy the H800 chips to the entry into force of US sanctions of November 16, 2023, but the H100 GPUs should not be in their possession. Singapore is the entrance door to China of the chips for the most advanced Nvidia The US government has suspected for many months that Chinese companies and research centers dedicated to AI acquire the most advanced NVIDIA GPUs through Singapore and Malaysian intermediary companies. This possibility is no longer just a hypothesis. And it is that the Singapore government has confirmed that it has identified those responsible for diverting to China, and presumably towards the Deepseek parent company, servers that contain the high -performance GPUs produced by NVIDIA. The US now has the opportunity to tighten its fence a little more about China This information was revealed last week by the television channel Channel News Asia, and today the Minister of Internal Affairs and Justice of Singapore, K. Shanmugam, He has confirmed it. Interestingly, it has not specified what the GPUs that incorporate these machines, but it has made public a very important fact: The name of the companies They have manufactured the servers. And they are two very important Nvidia customers: Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computer. If it is finally confirmed that Depseek, or any other Chinese company that is dedicated to AI, is getting the Nvidia avant -garde GPUs acquiring servers of these companies in Singapore or Malaysia, USA will have the opportunity to tighten your fence a little more. However, this would not demonstrate the guilt of Dell and Super Micro, although its indirect involvement in the traffic of the Nvidia chips. This circumstance would put on the table the need to control with more precision where their servers will stop, something that, on the other hand, It is not easy. Whatever the Singapore government claims to be willing to collaborate with his American counterpart to end the illegal vanguard GPU traffic. Image | Nvidia More information | Reuters In Xataka | We can forget an AI without hallucinations for now. The general director of Nvidia explains why

There was a time in which the big oil companies raised “transition” to renewables. BP just kill the plan

by

The British giant BP has announced a radical turn in its corporate strategy: from the green commitment to fossil fuels again. Short. A year after be appointed CEO of BPMurray Auchincloss has dismantled the plan to reduce the production of hydrocarbons that had promoted his predecessor, Bernard Looney. Auchincloss described his new strategy as a “fundamental restart” In the company’s plans: to cut the investment in renewable energy to increase the production of oil and natural gas. A turn in the middle of the investment pressure. The latest BP results did not excite their investors. During the fourth quarterthe net profit of the group fell to 1.2 billion dollars, less than half as in the same period of the previous year. With a collection of dividends of just eight cents per share, Elliott Investment Management, which accumulates a participation Of almost 5,000 million dollars in BP, it has intensified the pressure on the group to improve the return of its shareholders. Given this scenario, BP has decided not to get away from fossil fuels, but to enhance its production. When your neighbor’s beards see cut … Shell, Exxonmobil and Totalenergies, three of the main competitors of BP, They have been improving results Thanks to its commitment to the production of hydrocarbons, whose demand continues to increase slightly despite the energy transition. As the divergence in the performance of both strategies became more noticeable, BP shareholders, especially Elliott, have been demanding drastic improvements in the structure and strategy of the company. How this affects renewables. It is not encouraging news. BP plans to increase its investment in hydrocarbons to about 10,000 million dollars annually until 2027, with the aim of produce between 2.3 and 2.5 million barrels Petroleum and natural gas newspapers by 2030. To be able to do this while returning capital to shareholders, BP will substantially reduce spending on less profitable projects, such as renewable energies. The group will adjust its investments in these areas with a very selective approach, prioritizing transition projects that require a lower disbursement. Its Offshore wind division will become independent from the group. Even so… BP says to continue committed to its goal of achieve carbon neutrality by 2050a legal objective established by the United Kingdom government, which was one of the first to formalize and support with legislation the commitment to reduce net greenhouse gases to zero emissions. BP’s change of strategy can help her be more profitable in the near future, but only a transition. It will clearly be inevitable If climatic policies are maintained or become more aggressive. With the improvements in efficiency and safety of nuclear energy, advances in electrification and increasingly cheaper renewables, excuses are over to continue betting on fossil fuels. Image | BP In Xataka | European oil companies readjust their strategy: they leave aside the green transition before market pressures

The companies of AI know that competing is of losers. All seek to become the AI ​​monopoly

by

“If you are creating a company, what you will aspire to create a monopoly and avoid competition. The competition is of losers“. Those words were pronounced by Peter Thiel In a talk that gave Stanford students on October 7, 2014. Who gave way to talk, by the way, It was Sam Altman. During those 50 minutes Thiel – Paypal and Palantir co -confounder, billionaire, successful investor, and obsessed with rejuvenation– It raised precisely that fundamental idea: that all companies aspire to become a monopoly. They do not say it publicly, of course – that entails legal and regulatory problems – but the goal is that. It has happened in multiple cases in the world of technology. Windows is a de facto monopoly in desktop operating systems, Android and iOS are an accepted duopoly in mobile platforms, and Google is an indisputable monopoly in the world of searches. In all those cases, those who have tried to compete – and there have been attempts – have failed. The competition was indeed of losers. Another monopoly in sight: that of AI And here we are facing a situation that reminds us of all the above. In the world of AI we are living fierce competition. One in which dozens of companies try to develop their models and applications of AI to win the items to the others. To become monopolies. OpenAi carries the lead. The question is whether you can maintain that leadership. What model of AI is better than others? It is not entirely clear. The appearance of Grok 3 seems to have opted the balance in its favor, but its theoretical superiority in some tests sounds like the same as other previous releases sounded: if it is really the best, it will not last long to be. In fact, competition between these models has made us in a situation in which, sincerely, they are all quite good. There will be, of course, use cases in which some will stand out on others – this best program, this writes better, this looks better – but everything seems to point to the differences will be less and less evident. The improvements we are seeing in the market are getting smaller and, above all, more expensive. Grok 3 has been trained in the Gigantic Supercluster of XAI with at least 100,000 GPUS H100 of NVIDIA, but despite all those resources and that investment, which has achieved the startup of Elon Musk is to put themselves at the level of its compeditors, not to offer A product that suddenly is remarkably better. The same With the imminent GPT-4.5. What are Ia companies trying now? Two things: Try to make your products simpler to use: Less variety of models, or at least hide that variety, as Openai proposes in the future and simplified chatgpt version. As traditional models do not advance so much, they raise New models reasoning (Deepseek R1, O3-mini) or agents (Operator) that encourage us to pay for increasingly faces. That strategy is once again intended for the same: that their products stand out on the competition and achieve the desired objective: create the next great monopoly. In that race there is for now an outstanding protagonist, at least if we take into account the number of usuals of each model. According to CNBC data and others collected By Ed Zitronthe estimated current situation is as follows: ChatgPPT: 400 million weekly active users Deepseek: 27 million active users monthly Gemini: 18 million active users monthly COPILOT: 11 million active users monthly Perplexity: 8 million active users monthly Claude: 2 million active users monthly Especially the few users that Claude has theoretically, but what is evident is that Today for millions of users IA = chatgpt. Arriving the first here has made the difference for Openai, which has also constantly iterated to maintain that leadership. Will they keep doing it? Will they become the de facto monopoly of AI? Of course they have ballots for it, but it is still very soon to be able to say it. The frantic advance of this technology makes it more difficult than ever who will win the race … if there is only one winner. In fact, here the situation is very different because there are forces that Openai does not control. And they are too relevant forces. Windows: there is 1,400 million active PCs with Windows worldwide. That number includes both Windows 10 Machines with Windows 11. Android: there is 3.5 billion active devices based on Android. iOS/iPados: there is 2,350 million IOS active devices. Do you think Microsoft, Google and Apple are going to let Openai take the cat to the water? Not much less. They will do everything they can so that the AI ​​we use on their devices is yours. That’s why The idyll between Microsoft and OpenAi FLUQUEAand that’s why Google and Apple are little by little –too little by little In the case of Apple – integrating more and more functions of AI in its mobile phones. These companies, de facto monopolies already in their markets, have as clear as Peter Thiel that competition is for losers. They probably have it much clearer, especially because they have been since before Thiel gave their famous talk. We are therefore facing a situation that is analogous to that of the rest of the digital businesses with which we have lived. In the spotify audio streaming world it is almost a monopoly (31.7% share), while in the video the thing is much more distributed for the moment although Netflix stands out. In the world of Electronic Commerce Amazon marks the passage, on social networks to Facebook there are almost no one to have more examples such as Uber, LinkedIn, Match Group (Tinder, Okcupid), or PayPal, which are also clear leaders in their respective markets. Is there competition? Of course. Does competition change things? Normally, not too much: Firefox has not changed them In browsers, mobile operating systems that They tried to give options … Read more

These are the 18 companies that Xi Jinping has chosen to compete with the West

by

The recent one Technological Symposium held in China It was not one more meeting. For the first time in years, President Xi Jinping met with the country’s great technological leaders, Including Jack Ma, the co -founder of Alibaba who had disappeared from public life since he faced the authorities in 2020. The disposition of the seats, an important detail in Chinese culture and protocol, spoke for itself, gave subtle messages about the power of each company. Huawei and Byd occupied the central positions, close to Xi Jinping. It was a sample of the importance that China gives telecommunications and electric mobility. In a way it is an award and recognition. And beyond the protocol, the relevance of the meeting is in the fact that it has occurred, in an early sign on a change in government attitude towards the private technological sector. The convened companies reflect Chinese power in technology today. Some better known in the West, others still unknown but with a global potential. These are: Deepseek. The New Chinese star in generativewhich competes with OpenAi models at a much lower cost … and open source. Its presence is symbolic: China is giving great importance to the Global AI race. Tencent. The giant of Gaming and social networks have its action at maximum. The reason? Has introduced Depseek R1 in Wechatits “superapp” with more than 1,000 million users. Iflytek. Natural language processing leader in China. Its voice recognition technology is winning integers in the development of AI in China. Qihoo. Outstanding leader in Chinese cybersecurity at the domestic level, of an end user. It is a sector considered sensitive to the desired Chinese technological autarchy. Xiaomi. No secret: smartphones manufacturer that has triggered its relevance in the last decade and is an important example: the ability to innovate in affordable hardware keeping margins restrained. Will Semi. Specialized in chips for the automobile industry. Again, the type of key company for self -sufficiency. Or at least to reduce the dependence of foreign suppliers. Byd. World leader for sale of electric cars, ended 2023 even above even Tesla, although this recovered the throne in 2024. And unlike the Musk company, not only sells electric cars, so its total is much higher. It is a perfect example of the sublimation of the Chinese strategy: to dominate future industries. Huawei. Victim of the Commercial War, has managed to get up after the western sanctions and is reaping A great success with your phones in your gigantic domestic market. In addition, it maintains its position in 5G telecommunications and has diversify its business, with a recent opening towards business software. New Hope. Chinese “new hope” in agriculture: modernizes this type of traditional sectors through AI and automation. UNITREE. Robotics. It has domestic robots Of various types and prices, including some quadrupeds reminiscent of Boston Dynamics. This is a very interesting type of company: it is an example of a category traditionally dominated by the West. And now China also makes its way in it. Chnt. Key figure in Chinese industrial automation, a sector with a +++ priority in the country’s modernization strategy. Feihe. Holding company of production and sale of dairy products. What do you do on this list? Bet on digitalization and modernization. And incidentally serves as an example for other traditional and more analog sectors. Alibaba. The Chinese electronic commerce giant. Or one of them, because there are already several. In addition, it is the company of the enigmatic Jack Ma, which It had almost a missing five years of public life. This presence is a track of a possible thaw between the government and giants like him. Catl. World Dominator of the battery market and recent investor in Spainanother fundamental component for the energy transition and towards electric mobility. Transfer. Chemical group that is digitizing its industrial operations. Case similar to Feihe or New Hope. Koce. Leading company in machinery and smart manufacturing. Case similar to the previous one. Meituan. Giant of electronic commerce at the local level, with strength in delivery services. Compete with Alibaba nationwide. He has aggressively expanded his digital services in second and third level cities, but for the moment not in international key. GERTEK. Manufacturer of acoustic components and audio technology for manufacturers such as Apple. Again, model company for its ability to master important niches in the global technology supply chain. This symposium is one of those moments in Chinese technological history that can be very remembered within a few years. Especially if time confirms it as a turning point in the relationship between the Chinese government and its technology. Years of strict control, completed with The cancellation of the IPO of Ant Group And with the virtual disappearance of Jack Ma, they now change inertia with Beijing apparently willing to give some more air to their private companies. Two reasons seem the main causes: The rise of AI as an opportunity to lead a global industry with which to achieve definitive recognition to the position that China has occupied in the world. Competition with the United States in the context of a markedly nationalist and protectionist country and culture. Always under the premise expressed by XI: “Serve the country.” China is in full readjustment of its technological strategy: it maintains state control, but allowing more space to the private sector. Especially in areas such as AI, where speed is as important as innovation to compete. In the end the message is as clear as expected: Chinese technology can and should grow … but as long as they remain aligned with national priorities. In Xataka | Deepseek exposed: how money earns and what role does the Chinese government have in this AI Outstanding image | Wikipedia Commons

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.