company

It is the key step in the “rebirth” of a company on the tightrope

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The United States is immersed in the war for technological independence. They aim to be sovereign and produce most of the key components of their technology, but they remain so dependent on the rare earth from china like from Taiwan for advanced chips. At the same time, the strongest Taiwanese company, is planting its flag on North American lands with TSMC. In this scenario, Intel has become the great hope of the American foundry. And they just announced that their Intel 18A plan is ready for action. Self-imposed goal. Intel has been going through the deepest crisis in its history for years. Unlike NVIDIA, Qualcomm or AMD, which design chips but are manufactured by others –TSMC mostly-, Intel designs and manufactures semiconductors (although it also outsources part of its production). It is, as it is known in the industry, a foundry, and after being devastated in the mid-2000s, they have seen how his rivals ate his toast. Both in semiconductor production and in their design and in the market. For this reason, in 2021 they set a goal: to develop five nodes in four years. This strategy, baptized as 5N4Ywas a move to restore the company’s position at the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing. In between, they have acquired ASML’s latest generation machines, they have positioned themselves as the local foundry for the US to achieve technological sovereignty… and they have needed an unprecedented injection of money from the US government. Intel 18A. But well, the plans seem to be coming out and, if in September 2024 Ben Sell, vice president of technology development at Intel, commented that Large-scale production of node 18A would begin in 2025now it is the company that has declared that they are ready to start mass manufacturing products based on that technology. The result is two processors with a very different approach. Panther Lake – It is the architecture of the Intel Core Ultra Series 3the first System on Chip from the American company created with this photolithography. They are chips created in a smaller size, which allows for greater density (30% according to Intel) and 15% greater performance per watt. It is focused on mobile devices and integrates both CPU and GPU. Clearwater Forest – It is the other current leg of Intel 18A, a processor for data centers hyperscale, cloud computing and AI training. It will be the heart of the Xeon 6+ processors and shares those characteristics of higher density, more performance and lower consumption. Technological avant-garde. Things seem to be starting to go well at Intel and the interesting thing is not that they are already preparing for large-scale manufacturing of these processors, but rather the technologies which, for the first time in a long time, will allow Intel to be at the forefront in its sector. RibbonFET – It is Intel’s first new architecture in more than a decade and is what allows improved performance per watt compared to the previous node used by Intel. It is an improvement over the Classic FinFETs. PowerVia – It is the true revolution: it is an architecture that separates the power supply from the processor lines to deliver it through the rear. Power flow is improved and delivery is optimized, allowing better power flow that increases the processor clock frequency while consuming less power. American foundry. This last technology is a pioneer in the sector and, in fact, it is expected that its main competitor, TSMC, will not have a response until the end of 2026 and Samsung its GAA in 2027. And that is precisely what is positioning Intel as a good option for the big technology whales. Because there is no point in having technology if you don’t attract attention, and here Intel has an advantage. Fab 52, the Intel plant in Arizona where these new chips are manufactured On the one hand, and obviously, technology. But on the other hand, and just as important, being an American manufacturing in the United States, with what this implies when it comes to get government favors. I know point that NVIDIA and Apple are in conversations with Intel to have a certain range of their GPUs and SoCs manufactured by them instead of TSMC. Because that commercial success is the last frontier and attracting whales is what will mark Intel’s destiny in a war that is no longer just about having the best technology, but also about where you manufacture it. Images | Intel In Xataka | The world’s technology industry practically depends on a single road: the one that leads to the Spruce Prine mine

Taking an important call in a traffic jam is the order of the day. In 1990, a company in Barcelona already offered this service

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Nowadays, as soon as we have some down time, we turn to our mobile: either to scroll infinitely on Instagram or to catch up on email. Although what defined the basis of today’s smartphones was the first iPhone in 2007, the professional point began before, with the blackberry 5810 and your email in 2002 or we can even go back to Nokia 9000 ’96, which introduced the keyboard and its business approach. The late 90s were the beginning of turning the mobile phone into an everyday object. I’m driving and I need a call now. Of course, back in the 90s, carrying a cell phone in the car and answering a work call was unthinkable. Or not, because someone thought of it an exclusive telephone service for drivers in Barcelona pre-Olympic Games. The target audience was those people who were so busy that they could not afford to be disconnected while traveling through the congested business areas of the city. The operation. As they narrate on the Catalan regional television 3Cat, if in the middle of a traffic jam you were lucky enough to find one of those people in white overalls on a scooter, with a fanny pack and the phone stuffed in a shoulder bag, you could ask them. A uniform as characteristic as the backpacks of today’s delivery drivers, but much less common: at that time there were only five workers moving through the busiest traffic points in Barcelona, ​​although they wanted to increase it to 25. If you are standing, they leave you the headset. And if you move, they lend you the device and follow you until you complete the call. The price of the service was 25 pesetas and the minimum call price is 300 pesetas. Because? To begin with, because in 1990 if you wanted to call on the street what there was were booths and analog technology, in Spain specifically MoviLine: the first mobile operator to deploy the original 1G network, owned by Telefónica. And if we talk about devices, the mythical Motorola MicroTAC It was a status symbol for executives. A symbol measuring 23 centimeters and weighing 350 grams. Yes, there were some mobile phones, but they were heavy, with very long antennas and batteries that barely lasted a couple of hours in conversation. On the other hand, having a phone installed in the car was expensive and niche. But the business was not just the telephone, but mobility and time. As businessman Josep Marí says, his idea was “to create the need to find a mobile phone to be able to call to work, home or wherever.” Ahead of his time. This “Automatic Mobile Telephony” service was ahead of its time in that it had a vision of a future need, but faced a market that was not yet ready. As the 90s progressed, telephone technology became more refined and democratized. 1995 brought GSM to the Spanish state on the one hand and, on the other, the liberalization of the telecommunications market, which inaugurated airtel. The operators began to directly control distribution and technical service with franchises and distributors, leaving little room for local independent companies. Scooters before the scooter craze. And if the service itself is surprising, so is the means of transportation: a scooter with a gasoline engine, more specifically the Sport model. of the Go-Ped brand, but quite similar in design and concept to the electric ones that swarm our streets today. His virtue was exactly the same: moving quickly and agilely through the density of Barcelona’s traffic to be able to get in front of the client. In Xataka | This glorious imaginary version of the Galaxy Fold from the 90s is one of those gems that can only be found on the internet In Xataka | A story of pioneers: they already flirted, argued and liked on the party lines of the 90s Cover | 3Cat via Marc Vidal edited with Gemini

Who is Oesía, the Spanish technology company that has become the new major defense contractor

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Unless you closely follow the defense sector in Spain, surely the name Oesía will not sound too familiar to you. A few days ago, the company it was news because it will be in charge of providing “eyes” to the Pizarro infantry combat vehicles, and it is not the only defense contract it has recently won. What is Oesia?. It is a business group financed 100% with Spanish private capital, chaired by the Catalan businessman Luis Furnells, who in turn is the main shareholder. The company has taken an important turn in the last decade and has gone from offering consulting and digital transformation services to focusing on solutions and services for the defense sector through its different brands: Oesia Networks: is the original arm of the company dedicated to digital consulting and hyperautomation processes. Tecnobit: the jewel in the crown. It is the reference brand in optronics (infrared and night vision), tactical communications and simulation. Cipherbit: Oesía boasts that it is the first cybersecurity and secure communications brand certified by NATO. UAV Navigation: specialized in guidance, navigation and control systems for unmanned vehicles. Inster: focused on satellite communications on the move (SOTM) in land, naval and air environments. Who is Luis Furnells. He is a Catalan businessman and manager who has dedicated himself mainly to the technology sector. He has been in charge of the Oesía Group since 2012 and, since 2014, also of its subsidiary Tecnobit. On your resume We find companies such as BBVA, La Caixa and Telefónica, in which he served as Chief Information Officer. He also founded the consulting firm LUCARit, which was later integrated into Oesía. One of his recent objectives at the head of the group, embodied in the 2023-2025 strategic planwas precisely to consolidate its position as a reference company in the field of defense. And he is achieving it. Why it is important. Oesía, specifically its subsidiary Tecnobit, has been chosen by Santa Bárbara Sistemas to modernize the fleet of Pizarro combat vehicles. Tecnobit has also been selected for produce key components for the PAC 3 missileof Lockheed Martinone of the more advanced missile defense systems. Oesía will manufacture specialized wiring and harnesses, positioning itself as an important player not only in national territory, but in international defense programs. Oesía is not alone. The company is not alone in its entry into the defense sector. As they point out in Digital Economyone of the most important contracts they have signed with their subsidiary Cipherbit, was achieved through an alliance with Epicom, a company dedicated to the design of cryptographic and key solutions in National Security. Oesía owns 30% of Epicomanother 30% Indra and the remaining 40% belongs to the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI). cifras. He Rearmament report from the National Security Observatory includes the contract won as a result of the alliance between Cipherbit and Epicom, which is placed in 11th position with an amount of 167 million euros. Another Oesía contract of more than 25 million euros also appears in the same report. In the case of the contract with Santa Bárbara Sistemas to modernize the Pizarro tanks, we are talking about 264 million euros. According to Economía Digital, the awards to Oesía are of at least 192 million euros, almost what the company invoiced in 2024. Image | Army, Oesía In Xataka | A space war looms over our heads and Europe is the power that invests the least in defense technology

Moeve has a turnover of 1.8 billion euros. The Prosecutor’s Office asks to dissolve the company because, they claim, they did not pay 7.7 million in taxes

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Now Cepsa is Moeve. And now it is Moeve who has to fight against an accusation from the Public Prosecutor’s Office for fraud in the payment of taxes. The court case has been dragging on since 2022 but has its origins almost a decade ago. Now, the Prosecutor’s Office is asking for 28 years in prison for its board, targeting three senior officials of the Canary Islands Tax Agency and, in addition, the dissolution of the company. What has happened? In short, the Prosecutor’s Office accuses Moeve of tax fraud in the Canary Islands. According to their investigations, the company would have stopped paying 7.7 million euros to the Treasury by passing off diesel fuel as fuel oil when paying taxes between 2016 and 2021. The change is substantial because the tax rate on fuel oil (€0.56/tonne) is much lower than that on diesel (€222/1,000 liters). They stand out in Motorpassion that diesel has a tax 400 times higher than the change of units and, from there, would come the 7.7 million euros that the company would have omitted when presenting its taxes. What does the Prosecutor’s Office ask for? The Prosecutor’s request is harsh: That criminal proceedings be opened against the company The dissolution of the company Fine of 13 million euros for the company 28 years in prison and more than 25 million euros in fines for the board Two-year disqualification for three senior officials of the Canary Islands Tax Agency How did the events happen? As described in Fuerteventura Diarythe Prosecutor’s Office maintains that between January 2016 and October 2021, the then Cepsa, through its subsidiary Petróleo de Canarias (Petrocan), settled the taxes by passing off diesel fuel as fuel oil with “a clear intention of defrauding” the regional Public Treasury. According to their calculations, the company would have stopped paying the following amounts: 2016: 781,295 euros 2017: 404,134 euros 2018: 1.4 million euros 2019: 2.3 million euros 2020: 1.6 million euros 2021: 1.2 million euros In all that time, the Prosecutor’s Office accuses the Canary Islands Tax Agency of ignoring the complaints that came to it from the oil company. And the company IR Maxoinversiones, which manages various local gas stations, already reported the events in 2019, repeated it, expanding the complaint in 2020, and some time later filed a third complaint. The officials indicated by the Prosecutor’s Office, however, did not file any measures to investigate the events. What does Moeve say? Company sources point to Xataka that “the case is appealed. We reject the accusation and we hope that the actions of justice confirm the correct application of the taxation carried out by Moeve to the product called Diesel Oil, for industrial use and not linked to the activity of service stations.” They explain that Diesel Oil is a much heavier product than the diesel that we can consume for the car, so its use can only be industrial to start a machine or power a heater. That is, the usual use given to fuel oil. Thus, they point out that their taxation has always adjusted to what the Treasury has demanded at all times and that they are not trying to pass the product off as what it is not in their accounts. Disproportionate? Although the Prosecutor’s accusations are on the table and they say they can support them with data, it remains to be seen what the resolution of the case is. The claims refer to an alleged evasion of 7.7 million euros over six years, a very small figure for a company that only in the first nine months of the year 2025 (latest data published) earned 472 million euros in net profits and invoiced more than 1.8 billion euros in 2024. Therefore, beyond proving that Moeve did not pay the taxes due, it will have to be demonstrated that this omission was made with the intention of enriching himself and not because of a mistake when filing taxes, an element that seems essential for a judge to order the dissolution of the company. a company with more than 11,000 employees. Photo | moeve In Xataka | There is a hidden war to sell us the cheapest possible gasoline. One that Ballenoil and Plenergy already dominate

They kicked him out of the factory in 2020. Today, this tiktoker sells his company and an AI that replaces him for 900 million

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Khaby Lame, the tiktoker with the most followers in the world (160 million), has sold his company Step Distinctive Limited to Rich Sparkle Holdings for between $900 and $975 million. The operation was closed in January with shares, without cash, and represents one of the largest transactions in the new creator economy. Who is it. He Italian of Senegalese origin25, rose to fame after being laid off from his job as a machinery operator in the pandemic. He began to publish silent videos, favored for their comical expressiveness, where he dismantled one of the fashions then in vogue on the Internet: life hacks that he knew how to detect as ridiculously complicatedand whose artificiality he exposed with a gthis distinctive that became his trademarkand that helped him propose obvious solutions to problems that, in reality, did not exist. On June 22, 2022, she surpassed Charli D’Amelio as the most followed person on the platform. What does the deal include? Dubai-based Step Distinctive Limited handled licensing, partnerships and sales. Lame becomes a shareholder of Rich Sparkle Holdings but loses operational control. A key fact: according to Celebrity Net WorthLame only had 49% of his company. 51% belonged to partners such as the Chinese Anhui Xiaoheiyang Network Technology, of the Three Sheep conglomerate. Lame’s case is not isolated. Mergers and acquisitions in the creator economy grew by 73% in 2025, reaching 52 operations. The sector, valued at more than 200 billion in 2024could exceed one billion before 2033. Other notable cases: MrBeast’s Beast Industries was valued at 5 billion and earned 473 million in 2024. Logan Paul earned 1.2 billion with Prime in 2023, valued between 2,000 and 3,000 million. The formula pursued is obvious: convert your followers into buyers. Digital twins. The most striking thing about the agreement is the transfer of the digital twin made by Lame’s AI. This technology creates digital replicas capable of speaking different languages ​​without recording new content. In China, platforms like Douyin employ AI-generated streamers who sell 24 hours a day, reducing costs by 80%. This technology allows a person to “work” simultaneously in multiple markets without a break. Who buys? Prior to the deal, Rich Sparkle was a financial printing company with no history in social media or AI, and the deal raises questions about the financial effectiveness of these types of deals. Now, for three years, Rich Sparkle has exclusivity over Lame’s business operations but despite his fame, is it a good move? Creators build value with their identity, but when they are controlled by outside corporations they risk losing what made them unique. The creator economy is no longer marginal: it has become a sector that operates with the same amounts as traditional industries. What started in March 2020 with an unemployed worker posting videos has ended five years later in a nearly billion transaction involving AI and Chinese conglomerates. But… is such a purchase capable of maintaining the spontaneity and freshness that characterized Lame? In Xataka | TikTok has dodged the bullet of the US veto. Although it has not been free

Technology salaries in Spain do not depend on the skills of the employee. They depend on the type of company

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The technological salaries in Spain They no longer depend so much on how good you are at programming, but on the type of company you work for. The same senior profile can earn from figures typical of a small traditional SME to salaries that compete with the best engineers at Google or Meta, just for changing the type of company. At least that theory is what emerges from a salary analysis carried out by the technological employment platform Manfred, based on the observations of a former Uber engineer: in technology there is not one type of salary, but there are three, and it depends on the type of company in which you work. The “trimodal” model of technological salaries. The “trimodal” concept explains that the technology salary distribution It does not form a uniform continuous line that brings together the entire sector, but rather three distinct groups with little overlap between them. Depending on what type of company you are working for, this is how good your salary will be. The analysis is based on the observations of Gergely Orosz, former head of engineering at Uber, who analyzed on his blog the distribution of technological salaries in Europe and highlights that these groups arise from how each company decides to compare itself with the competition when setting compensation. If an SME only needs to compete against other SMEs, their salaries will be lower than those of large corporations that want to compete among themselves. Manfred has adapted that model to the reality of salaries in Spain and shows that a senior engineer can earn from 35,000 euros to 130,000 euros gross annually depending on his company group, even carrying out a job with similar responsibilities. This division makes individual talent matter less than the company’s salary strategy, creating huge gaps for equivalent profiles. Trimodal distribution of salaries in Spain. Source: Manfred Group 1: local companies with technology as support. The companies in the first group see technology as an internal service, similar to an IT department and, at a salary level, they are only compared with close competitors in your sector. In Spain, Manfred describes them as consultancies and large non-digital corporations, with basic selection processes and very hierarchical structures. This first group presents the greatest labor concentration of all of them, but offers the lowest salary rangeplacing 40,000 euros at its most common average. Given that their market is local, their salary structures are within the usual margins in Spain. In this group, the work is predictable, with a good balance between work and personal life, but without significant variable incentives, beyond a possible 10% of the base salary linked to the company’s performance. Group 2: “Scaleups” and technology companies. The second group brings together companies that compete with the entire local and some international technological fabric, raising their salary offers to attract talent or capture it among your competitors. This group includes technological startups that have already surpassed their maturity and are now seeking both national and international growth, with tougher and greater hiring processes. emphasis on autonomy. The salaries of these companies no longer only compete for the best talent at a local level, but also expand it to a European level, which is why they usually offer salaries above 60,000 euros and offer bonuses of up to 20% of the base salary in cash and shares to more experienced engineers, although not always on a general basis. That is, their remuneration is slightly above the average in Spain. Group 3: giants competing on a global scale. Companies in the third group measure themselves with the international market, attracting talent from anywhere in the world. We are talking about jobs in large technology companies such as Amazon, Uber, Google or Meta, as well as large financial entities that are developing large technological infrastructures. In this group they are shuffled international level salaries in order to attract the best qualified talent regardless of their place of origin. However, to access these positions you also have to overcome much more competitive selection processes. These firms offer salary ranges above 100,000 euros and cash bonuses of around 40% or 50% of the base salary are offered for those employees who achieve all their objectives and actions for all levels, even for junior employees. Not everything is money, what career do you want? Beyond money, each group offers a very different style of work. In Group 1, local companies prioritize stability and work-life balance, with schedules that allow for some flexibilityin addition to offering a greater number of job offers. Instead, Group 3 of global giants brings greater instabilitywith frequent rounds of layoffs when you don’t meet expectations and high turnover because they pay so much to attract only the best. Teleworking is a common practice in Groups 1 and 2, but the large corporations in Group 3 practically they have removed it of their offers and sometimes ask to move close to their main offices in Madrid or Barcelona. The number of job offers in Groups 2 and 3 are much lower than those in Group 1, so it is also more complicated to access a company with these characteristics, making it difficult to jump from one company to another within that same group. In Xataka | The harsh reality of salaries in Spain: the most common gross salary in 2023 did not exceed 16,000 euros per year Image | Unsplash (Sigmund)

At the age of 16 he created a picosatellite from his room in Madrid. Today your company is at the global forefront in IoT communications

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While the majority of 16-year-olds were thinking and doing other things, it occurred to Julián Fernández (La Línea de la Concepción, Cádiz, 22 years old) create a 250 gram picosatellite from scratch. That project and that ambition changed his life and ended up causing him to found Fossa Systems in 2018. Today, six years later, we are faced with a leading company in this market that has things very clear and a spectacular projection. From Gran Vía to space. Fernández commented in a recent interview on RTVE how Fossa is the Spanish company that has launched the most satellites into space: currently there are 24 satellites. The project of his company – based on Madrid’s Gran Vía street – is to create a constellation of 80 small satellites. They have that many licensed, and all of them are specifically designed for communications with IoT devices. This is not a Starlink. Comparisons are odious, but often useful, and it is inevitable to look at Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite network. The latest versions of its satellites weigh between 800 and 1,250 kg, while Fossa’s nanosatellites do not exceed 6 kg. Starlink’s need huge solar panels because processing their broadband communications consumes a lot of energy, while Fossa’s use batteries that can last up to ten years. Nanosatellites for IoT. The focus is also very different, because Fossa’s nanosatellites have the mission of moving small packets of data in an ultra-efficient way. They are designed so that a sensor on an oil barrel, cow collar, or cargo container sends short, informative messages such as “pressure level OK” or “location: X.” They are totally designed for those short and critical communications in the Internet of Things. Spain is beginning to truly emerge. Fossa has already raised more than 12 million euros between private and public financing, has more than 50 employees and headquarters in Madrid and Portugal—and soon in Asia. They have become an absolute benchmark in their segment. and although at the moment they are launching with SpaceX, they hope to do so soon with PLD Spacethe other jewel in the Spanish aerospace crown: “Spanish satellites on Spanish rockets.” Satellite sovereignty. Fossa’s technology is being especially used in the defense sector: more than 80% of its turnover comes from this segment. As Fernández explained in that interview, “we cannot depend on the US for a technology as critical as satellite communication and sovereign and independent systems are needed.” A notable bet. The fact that Spain is, for the first time, the fourth European country that invests the most in space. Along with Poland it is the one that has increased its contribution the mostwhich now reaches 22,000 million euros. Hello, “New Space” model. Fossa has taken advantage of a new paradigm known as “New Space” in which from large space megaprojects we move to agile developments in which miniaturization and cost reduction is enormous. Fossa Systems is capable of creating a new satellite and putting it in space in six months, but that satellite also costs hundreds of thousands of euros, not tens of millions of dollars. There is another fundamental advantage: Fossa Systems does everything except the design and manufacturing of the semiconductors and the launch of the satellites. That verticalization, that “not depending on almost anyone” is another of its strengths. The future: satellites (somewhat larger)… and licensing. From that initial picosatellite of 250 g we have moved on to the current FOSSASat FEROX of about 6 kg, but the future involves manufacturing somewhat larger satellites of about 20 kg. They hope to complete their constellation of 80 satellites before 2030, and while they do so, Fernández has another objective that he will surely have no problem completing: obtaining his degree in telecommunications engineering at the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, where he is currently pursuing that degree. In Xataka | PLD Space has a detailed plan to become Europe’s rocket factory. And the pieces have started to fit

There is a material on which the future of the iPhone and AI depends. And almost everything is manufactured by the same Japanese company.

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More than 100 years ago two Japanese textile companies called Fukushima Boseki Co., Ltd., and Katakura Seishi Iwashiro Bosekisho they joined forces to become Nitto Boseki Co. Ltd, also known as Nittobo. A century later we have encountered a giant on which a critical material for the future of our chips depends: glass fabric. Technological glass artisans. The Japanese company was the first in industrially producing carbon fiber. They did it in 1938, almost right at the same time as Owens Corning Fiber Glass in the US. Later, in 1969, they developed the “crystal fabric” or “glass cloth” (glass cloth), a material that began to be used in printed circuits Hello, T-glass. That material evolved and in 1984 they launched their T-glass, an even more specialized glass fabric that began to be used as a substrate in chips of all types. This material is different from the common fiberglass like that used in surfboards or in insulation solutions. Thus, it has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion, which ensures its good performance even when the chips are operating at maximum performance. Japan, we have a problem. As indicated on Nikkeiexperts warn that the lack of this material has become a major obstacle to chip manufacturing and the advancement of AI in 2026. Nittobo is practically the only company in the world capable of manufacturing this glass with the necessary quality. Its glass fabric is extremely thin, bubble-free and heat-resistant, which has made it a fundamental part of chips such as those used in iPhones. Apple, in fact, was one of the first major technology companies to reach an agreement with Nittobo to use this material. Everyone loves Nittobo. The good performance of this material has now made companies like NVIDIA, Google or Amazon also demand T-glass for their chips, and that has generated a worrying competition due to inventory that is quickly depleted and it is not clear that it can cope with demand. Apple asks for help. The situation is so tense that Apple has sent some managers to Japan and has even asked the Japanese government to intervene to ensure supplies from Nittobo. Once again the objective is to guarantee the launch of its key products, and at Nikkei they point directly to the expected foldable iPhone. The fiberglass fabric is a critical layer on the chip substrate and ensures that everything works perfectly even under heavy workloads. Source: Nikkei. Capacity will grow, but not immediately. At Nittobo they know very well what the situation is like, but they can’t do anything to remedy it, at least in the short term. A company executive quoted in Nikkei indicates that “if we do not have additional capacity, it means that we do not have additional capacity no matter how much pressure is put on Nittobo. The way I see it, the situation will only improve significantly when Nittobo’s production increase becomes a reality in the second half of 2027.” Looking for alternatives. Apple and Qualcomm are looking for plans B, and their initiatives to find new suppliers in China or Taiwan are already underway. However, the demand for the quality of this type of material is very high: an error in the quality of the glass of the chip substrate cannot be repaired, and would ruin entire batches of components. AI causes chaos again. We already saw it with memories: the AI ​​industry needs immense quantities of DRAM and NAND memory chips, and that has now meant that the rest of the world is suffering from a huge rise in prices. The same thing is happening with this glass fabric: AI chip manufacturers have an exaggerated demand for this material, which harms the rest of the “traditional” chip manufacturers and, therefore, the users. bad business. And as happens with memories, in the end the material is sold to the highest bidder, which are usually companies like NVIDIA that have exceptional profit margins. That leaves consumer electronics manufacturers in a vulnerable position and with declining sales forecasts. Nittobo does not want to saturate the market. And as happened with the memory market, Nittobo does not want to oversize its business in the face of this demand and prefers to be cautious. Japanese suppliers already suffered losses from overstocks in 2022, so they are now reluctant to expand their factories aggressively. It is precisely the same speech that Micron made, which already suffered from excess inventory after the pandemic: although they could now manufacture more memory chips, for them that means risking history repeating itself. In Xataka | A thousand-year-old mystery allowed us to put nanotechnology into modern screens. Today the discovery has a Nobel Prize

Alphabet has just overtaken Apple as the most valuable company in the world. The reason is in AI

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Alphabet closed Wednesday with a valuation of $3.88 billion, above Apple’s $3.84 billion. Your actions they have risen 2% while Apple’s have fallen 4% in five days. Why is it important. This advance reflects the financial consequences of two opposing strategies in the AI ​​race: Alphabet has bet big and Apple has hesitated. And the market is already punishing indecision. The contrast. Alphabet presented in November ironwoodits seventh generation of TPU chips as an alternative to NVIDIA, and in December it launched Gemini 3 with an excellent welcome. Meanwhile, Apple keeps postponing its “new Siri” until in a few months. The difference in development capacity and distribution speed is noticeable: Alphabet’s stock rose 65% in 2025, its best year since 2009. Apple’s barely grew 9%, below the 16.4% of the S&P 500. Between the lines. Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, has been able to translate the high demand for AI infrastructure into gigantic contracts. On the October earnings call with analysts and investors said that Google Cloud had signed more deals over $1 billion in the first three quarters of 2025 than in 2023 and 2024 combined. Apple, on the other hand, remains caught in uncertainty over when and how it will integrate AI into its consumer products. The new Siri has become entrenched, left victims along the way and has positioned Apple as a company that was caught on the wrong foot by the rise of generative AI, without taking risks. Decisive moment. This reversal of positions marks the end of an era in which Apple dominated due to the inertia of the iPhone and the beginning of another in which anyone who does not have a clear and convincing AI strategy risks being left behind, no matter how iconic their logo may be. The market never pays for the past. In Xataka | In the midst of the RAM memory crisis, Samsung takes a leap with its HBM4 memory. It does not imply good news for the pocket Featured image | Rubaitul Azad

Agentic AI was the new race for Big Tech and Meta was far behind. It has bought the company most capable of recovering

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Meta has closed the purchase of manusa Singapore-based artificial intelligence startup, for more than $2 billion. Throughout this year, Meta has reinforced its AI operations by acquiring several companies focused on different specialties. In July bought Play AIfocused on voice with AI. In August acquired WaveFormsan audio-focused startup. And in September was done with Rivosa company specialized in the design of semiconductors and RISC-V chips. Manus’s is already the fourth major purchase this year, and it is his hope not to be diluted in the race to dominate AI when all this time he has focused his efforts on Llama and his open weights approach. Why it is important. The Agentic AI (agents capable of performing complex tasks with minimal human supervision) has long become the new battlefield for big technology companies. Although companies like Microsoft or OpenAI had sufficient resources to develop in this field, Meta needed to strengthen its position in this segment if it did not want to be left behind. Manus came to reach 100 million dollars in annual recurring revenue just eight months after its launch, which offers Meta a product that generates money right away, something not very common in this sector. What does Manus do? The startup rose to fame in March with a video demo that went viral, showing how its AI agent was able to produce detailed research reports, build custom web pages, filter job candidates, plan vacations, and analyze investment portfolios. All using AI models developed by companies such as Anthropic and Alibaba. At the time, Manus even claimed to surpass OpenAI’s Deep Research. Currently, the company has around 100 employees, mainly in Singapore, offers subscriptions of $20 to $200 per month and already has a user base of millions. Initial success. Manus emerged a few months after the debut of DeepSeekthe Chinese model that shook the foundations of the industry due to its capabilities supposedly developed with less computing power than its American rivals. Just like account WSJ, the startup secured a $75 million funding round led by Benchmark in April, which valued the company at $500 million. Among its investors are firms such as Tencent, ZhenFund or HSG. Untying ties in China. The parent company behind Manus, Butterfly Effect, was founded in 2022 in Beijing by two Chinese entrepreneurs, including its CEO Xiao Hong, known as ‘Red’. Although most of its researchers and engineers were located in China, Manus launched outside the country because it used American AI models that are not available there. Shortly after securing its investment with Benchmark, the company officially moved its headquarters to Singapore. According to account WSJ, Manus has ruled out developing a version for the Chinese market. Goal declared to Nikkei Asia that, following the acquisition, Manus will have no ties to Chinese investors and will no longer operate in China. All existing investors have been excluded from the operation, according to they count from Bloomberg. What’s coming now? Meta plans to keep Manus running independently while integrating its agents into Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, platforms where Meta AI is available. According to WSJManus CEO Xiao Hong will report directly to Javier Olivan, Meta’s chief operating officer. “Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” Xiao stated in the official announcement. No return guarantees. Mark Zuckerberg continues his mission to prove that AI can deliver tangible returns. Goal plans to spend $600 billion in American infrastructure over the next three years, much of it related to AI. Just like assures Bloomberg, it is an amount that causes some skepticism in some investors, since there are no guarantees that this expense will generate significant income soon. Cover image | TechCrunch In Xataka | NVIDIA has paid $20 billion to “license” Groq’s technology. He actually bought it

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