Europe

22% of the electric cars we buy in Europe are produced in China. It’s just the tip of the iceberg

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One in five electric cars purchased in Europe are Chinese. Chinese of origin, but it does not mean that their manufacturers are Chinese. However, it is a fact that does not explain the entire story. Chinese companies continue to gain ground in Europe and tariffs are clearly not slowing down their expansion. 22%. The data is brought Benchmark Mineral Intelligence in a report explaining how much ground Chinese manufacturers are gaining in Europe. According to them, 22% of the electric cars that have been purchased in Europe between January and April 2026 come from China. The figure is striking because it grows compared to the 19% that was registered last year. But, above all, because it grows by 27% compared to the same period in 2025. In the first four months, 400,000 electric cars from China were sold in Europe. Chinese and non-Chinese. As we said, the data includes all the electric cars that we have bought in Europe arriving from China. This is relevant because the European Union imposed tariffs to the cars that came from there alleging that the Chinese manufacturers are financially doped and that they do not compete on equal terms. But those trade barriers They also prevailed over European manufacturers who bring their cars from China. Tesla also suffers from it with every Tesla Model 3 sold in Europe. The consequences of these policies have been especially harmful for Seat SAwith a Cupra Tavascan that has barely been sold and that has had to eat the tariffs to be able to have a competitive price. Duty? As we pointed out, the European Union already imposed a 10% tariff on all cars that arrive from China to our market. Defending that many of the brands that came to play on price, They imposed new specific trade barriers for each brandpunishing more those who, in their opinion, had received the most aid from the State or had collaborated the least with the investigation. Rodhium Group shows that they have had a limited deterrent effect over time. When they were lifted in October 2024, China had exported 44,000 electric cars to Europe in a single month. Immediately, the figure plummeted but in February the same sales level was reached again in Europe. But, in addition, the number of plug-in hybrids has skyrocketed. While the sale of purely combustion cars from China has grown, the plug-in hybrid has experienced brutal growth, going from 7,000 units in October 2024 (when the tariffs were applied) to 26,000 units in February 2026. Among the best sellers. In addition to these general market figures, some Chinese manufacturers have managed to make a breakthrough in the markets where they have the most hope. They collect in Autovista24 that BYD was the fourth company in Europe that sold the most electric cars between January and March 2026. Its market share in this space reached 6.8% and is only surpassed by Volkswagen, BMW and Tesla (the latter with 7.3% and BMW with 7.4%). BYD is also, of course, the one that is growing the most, marking 154.7% more sales than last year in the same period. Among the 10 best-selling electric cars in Europe, the Leapmotor T03 It also sneaks into the list. If we look at plug-in hybrids, BYD has the best-selling model. The BYD Seal U is the car with this mechanic that has placed the most units on the market between January and March 2026 with 21,494 units. He is followed by Jaecoo 7 with 17,434 units. And BYD manages to place Atto 2 as the tenth best-selling plug-in hybrid in Europe. The market share. In global terms, S&P Global points out that in 2025 the market share of Chinese manufacturers in Europe was 5.8%. But Automotive News points out that last March, when Chinese manufacturers broke their export record to Europe in terms of volume, the market share already shot up to 9.41%. If we talk about quota, the record from December 2025 (9.48%) still stands. The vast majority of analysts assure that these figures will continue to grow over the years. In S&P Global They believe that by 2035 the market share of Chinese manufacturers will reach 15.5%. Because? What we are seeing, according to analysts, is the tip of the iceberg. BYD is a good reflection of how China has discovered a loophole through which to enter Europe. The brand came with the idea of ​​bringing only electric cars, it tried the BYD Seal U in its plug-in hybrid version and has discovered that it is a success. The Chery Group has not hesitated to bet on this technology. Geely has also come up with a plug-in hybrid upon arrival. And the same thing happens with Deepal, from Changan. These cars have no tariffs and it allows them to gain market share because they can push their prices much higher. In addition, it allows them to give a relatively easy exit to cars that are overproduced for the Chinese marketwhich has slowed down and is beginning to see itself unable to assimilate more growth in its sales. Without forgetting that more and more companies are looking for produce in Europe or Türkiye to skip tariffs. BYD will manufacture in Hungary and in this last country. The Group Chery already operates in Barcelona. Leapmotor will also do it in Spain and everything indicates that the number of models will increase destined for our country. Xpeng already uses factories in Austria. And one fact: S&P Global It anticipates that 44% of the Chinese cars we buy in 2035 will be manufactured in Europe or Türkiye. Photo | In Xataka | The plug-in hybrid is China’s Trojan horse: we looked at the electric car and its great weapon was the combustion engine

The joint mission between Europe and China is already in space. The really important thing comes now

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Finally, despite the postponement last April, SMILE has been launched successfully. The mission that unites China and Europe To study how the solar winds interact with the Earth’s magnetosphere, it departed from the Kurú Space Port, in French Guiana, at 03:52 GMT (05:52, Spanish peninsular time). He has at least 3 years of work ahead of him, but before starting his work he must take some preliminary steps. Journey to final orbit. During the first 25 days of the mission, SMILE You must start your engines 11 times. This will allow it to gradually lengthen its orbit around the Earth’s poles, until reaching 121,000 km above the North Pole and 5,000 km above the South Pole. Once in its final orbit, around June 13, it will be time to tune up all its instruments. The final deployment. Remotely, from Earth, mission engineers will check that all SMILE instruments are working properly. For that, some must change their conformation. Specifically, it will be necessary to deploy the magnetometer arm and open the X-ray camera shutter and the UV camera cover. Each of these points is essential for the proper development of the mission. The first images. Once the experiments have been verified, SMILE will begin its work. The first images will be sent to Earth for analysis three months later. The mission. SMILE will study the interaction of solar activity with the shield that the Earth uses to protect itself from it. Although other missions have carried out similar tasks, it will be the first time that global images of this interaction have been taken, both in X-rays and ultraviolet. This will give us better knowledge than we currently have about solar storms and how they affect our planet. And not only They draw us beautiful auroras in the sky. They can also affect telecommunications, sometimes worryingly. It is important to understand them and know how to predict, as far as possible, the harmful effects they could cause. At least three years. The nominal duration of the mission will be 3 years. This means that it is designed to achieve your main objectives in this time. The economic investment of the European and Chinese space agencies has focused on guaranteeing this duration. However, that does not mean that within three years the ship will be deorbited or that all its instruments will be turned off. If it continues to function properly, its useful life could be greatly extended. The case of Cluster. Cluster it was a mission ESA whose objective was also to measure the Earth’s magnetic environment. In a way, it could be considered a predecessor of SMILE. It was launched in 2000 and remained active until 2024. However, Its nominal duration was initially 2 years. Once the retirement date arrived, it was found that Cluster was completely fit, so it was decided to invest in it for much longer. Maybe something similar will happen with SMILE. For now, we will have to go step by step. To begin with, it must reach its operational orbit. Once there, the magic begins. Or rather: science. Image | THAT In Xataka | The Webb and Hubble telescopes simultaneously observed Jupiter’s auroras. The problem is that they didn’t see the same thing

There is a Chinese manufacturer eating the entire electric motorcycle pie. And his next goal is Europe

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The increase of fuel prices caused by the iran war It is being the perfect excuse for one of the most relevant electric motorcycle manufacturers in China to focus away from its territory. Given the growing demand for economical and electric motorcycles outside Asia, the focus is clear: Europe. Yadea. Yadea is, by sales volume, the world’s largest manufacturer of scooters and electric two-wheeled vehicles. Its success is given by the very high demand for this type of motorbikes both in China and in Southeast Asia and South America. And now it’s time to conquer Europe. Since the conflict with Iran raised oil prices and created obstacles to its transit, international sales of Yadea They are growing at a rate of 70% year-on-year compared to 2025. The new. Yadea is not a new player in Europe. They have been present in Spain since 2022, distributing affordable mopeds and electric motorcycles. A discreet operation that wants to begin to consolidate and grow starting this year. Yadea is closing the opening of a factory in Hungary to produce within the European Union and protect itself from tariff tightening. It is not a new practice: China is starting to manufacture in Europe to make their products competitive, and the electric motorcycle is no exception. Why it is important. Of the almost 60 million electric scooters sold in China, 16 million correspond to Yadea. If there is a manufacturer with enough muscle and knowledge to flood Europe with two-wheeled vehicles at an affordable price, it is this one. Why now. Wang Jiazhong, vice president of Yadea, has made it clear in his statements that the current situation is the best possible opportunity to begin expanding into more markets. “The situation in the Middle East presents a good opportunity for us to enter the market and guide consumers towards the use of our electric vehicles, as they can clearly feel how much fuel prices have increased.” Not so fast. Europe is a peculiar and complicated market for electric two wheels. It represents around 9% of global volumes and is skewed towards premium models. It is not a volume market like Asia, at least today. Quite the opposite happens with the combustion motorcycle: China is sweeping and soon the top 3 best-selling motorcycles will be led by Chinese motorcycles. Therefore, the company is exploring joint ventures and collaborations with local companies to adapt their offer culturally and aesthetically. What giants like NIU, Super Soco or Silence have not achieved (example of the resounding failure of the electric motorcycle in Spain, with the SEAT MO), Yadea wants to achieve it. In Xataka | Spain loves one thing: cheap motorcycles. Europe doesn’t like something else: cheap motorcycles.

Andalusia has been buying and burying garbage from the rest of Europe for decades. And now he has said “enough”

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Four years ago, 40,000 tons of contaminated soil and stones were blocked at the doors of the Nerva landfill in Huelva. They came from Montenegro and no, it is not an isolated event. During the last 25 years, Andalusia has been a massive recipient of hazardous waste. More than 100,000 tons traveled kilometers and kilometers each year to be buried south of Sierra Morena. That just ended. It’s good news and a huge problem. What has happened? On April 26, 2026, the last authorizations that still allowed companies from outside Andalusia to discharge hazardous waste into Andalusian landfills expired. Three years after the approval of the Andalusian Circular Economy Lawthe restriction on sending hazardous waste whose final destination is the landfill is now complete. It is not an absolute moratorium, of course. The entry of dangerous substances is still allowed for ‘recovery’: if waste from outside is recycled, regenerated or thermally treated on Andalusian soil, it can continue to be introduced into the community. That, according to the Association of Waste and Special Resources Management Companieshas left more than 100,000 annual tons of hazardous waste in the air that until April had been managed (‘burying’) in Andalusia. Hence the problem. Because hazardous waste landfills are rare and very expensive infrastructures; as they explained in Civio“any reordering of flows has an immediate impact on the economic viability of the plants.” These months are critical for the industry. However, the Andalusian movement is not well understood without some context: the Andalusian decision begins in the same place as this article, in Nerva. What exactly is Nerva? He Andalusia Environmental Complex, in the Río Tinto basin, has operated since 1995 and for decades it has received hazardous waste from the Huelva Chemical Pole, Campo de Gibraltar, the rest of Spain and abroad. It is, as a consequence of this and before this, a dangerous place. In Huelva, the main public health problems they associate to prolonged exposure to heavy metals and toxic compounds derived from decades of industrial activity (and from storing hazardous waste from other places). In fact, the two main focuses are the phosphogypsum ponds (about 500 meters from the city) and the Nerva landfill. I have to correct myself: they are not associated with that. Technically yes, health wise yes: but, in reality, the main public health problems are associated with the negligence of administrations, the lack of management and the recklessness that comes with just worrying about money. The Andalusian ban was necessary. Because, despite the legal tension (the fact of facing community law), at some point the administration had to assume its own responsibilities. This does not solve Nerva’s problem, as is evident. But it forces the industry to take charge of everything that has been going on for years without anyone watching. Image | Joe Patres In Xataka | China was the world’s dumping ground, today its problem is different: it does not have enough garbage to burn

If Europe wants to bet on its agriculture, it is doing it wrong

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In the last decade, the European Union has lost three million agricultural holdings. That is almost 25% of all those that existed in 2013. And it is curious because, in its last cycle alone, the Common Agricultural Policy is spending 387,000 million euros. What are we spending all that money on? A poorly posed question. I recognize it. When one sees the enormous amount of money that the CAP moves and its central role in the Union’s debates, one tends to assume that this “silent” transformation of the European field is taking place. despite of Brussels policies. However, when we look at the data, doubts arise. According to the European Court of Auditors and the Commission20% of the beneficiaries take around 80% of the funds. To the extent that the CAP distributes direct payments based on hectares, we can say that those 20% are the large landowners. In Spain, for landing the datathe 1% that receive the most help concentrate 28%; 10%, 62%; and 20%, 79%. It is a scheme that strongly encourages concentration. And it shows. Continuing with the Spanish case, the country has lost 180,000 farms in the last 15 years. Only between 2020 and 2023, 12.4% were lost. In this he has had a lot to see about the pandemic and the Ukrainian Warbut everything takes on a new prism when we realize that macro agricultural holdings grew by 6%. The result is that that 20% that accumulates 79% of the CAP represents 7% of the agricultural area. We are seeing it in the crown jewel of the Spanish countryside: the olive grove. As Datadista and Greenpeace explained, the accelerated entry of investment funds has disrupted the sea of ​​olive trees. We are moving from a traditional dry-land olive grove to a super-intensive hedgerow olive grove on irrigated land. But… is this a problem? To answer this question, it is best to look at the Netherlands, the European “crystallization” of what is at the end of the trend that drives the CAP. Netherlands is second (or third, depending on the year) agri-food exporter in the world and it is in a territory smaller than Galicia, with 1.81 million agricultural hectares and only 52,106 farms. That is to say, its productivity per hectare is crazy. For this reason, the concentration of the CAP is also extreme: 1% takes 40% of the funds. The problem is that it is not environmentally sustainable: between 2022 and 2024, nitrogen emissions caused an unprecedented political crisis. Something that, with the slurry ponds either the crises of the Mar Menorwe are also seeing in Spain constantly. And now what? That is the central question. Because this CAP lasts only until 2027 and just now we are starting to discuss what we want for the future. Considering how quickly things have changed in recent years, that future may be completely different from anything we know. Image | Rob Mulder In Xataka | In California, the funds discovered that there is no investment more profitable than farmland. Now it’s Spain’s turn

Europe throws away 16 billion a year in electronic waste. Spain has just turned on the first oven in Europe to recover them

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Those cell phones, computers and small devices that are gathering dust in a drawer and ending up in a landfill contain valuable minerals such as copper, silver and platinum inside, which also end up there. Every year in the Spanish state almost 930,000 tons of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) are thrown away, which makes Spain the sixth state on the continent in generation of this type of waste. according to data from the UN E-waste Monitor by 2024. Of these, less than half is documented and recycled waste. In a context in which rare earths and critical minerals are a strategic resource of which Europe wants to achieve sovereignty, Spain has taken a step forward with a CSIC pilot plant pioneer in the old continent: a furnace capable of melting that electronic waste to extract valuable metals from it. The pioneer oven. A few days ago the National Center for Metallurgical Research of the CSIC inaugurated in Madrid the first European pilot plant capable of recovering critical metals from electronic waste using a submerged lance furnace, which exceeds 1,200 °C to melt electronic waste. The milestone was formalized with the first experimental casting of metals obtained directly from electronic waste and obtained materials such as copper, gold, silver and platinum in a clean and efficient way. In conventional furnaces, the heat comes from the outside, but in this case a metal lance is introduced that injects oxygen and fuel directly into the molten bath, which generates intense turbulence that mixes and homogenizes the material, accelerates chemical reactions and improves energy efficiency. Why is it important. Because every year Europe generates millions of tons of electronic waste containing copper, gold, silver, platinum and strategic minerals necessary for the energy transition and digitalization. A part of them is not recovered: it is lost or used outside the continent. The facility in question is an advance in advanced pyrometallurgy and the management of waste from electrical and electronic equipment that shows that it is possible to treat this waste in Europe, thus preventing the associated economic value from leaving the continent, which allows the raw materials to be reincorporated into the European production chain itself. In addition, it connects directly with the Critical Raw Materials Law of the European Union, which fixed that at least 25% of the critical raw materials consumed by the EU by 2030 must come from recycling. The EU is currently heavily dependent on imports of critical raw materials, often from a single supplier, which poses a serious geopolitical risk in the form of dependence on strategic sectors such as renewable energy, digitalisation and defence. Context. The generation of WEEE is out of control and breaking records. According to the UN international waste observatoryin 2022 the world generated 62 million tons, 82% more than in 2010, but less than in 2030, when the estimated figure is 82 million tons. Europe takes the cake: in 2022 it was the region with the highest volume of WEEE per inhabitant with 17.6 kg per person, of which only 7.3 kg were recovered. But that garbage is money: the UN E-Waste quantifies the economic value of those 62 million tons at 91 billion dollars a year. If of this global total of WEEE, 13 million tons of garbage per year They belong to Europe. Calculated proportionally, it would be equivalent to losing about 19,000 million dollars annually due to poorly managing these materials (about 16,340 million euros at the exchange rate). While we search for deposits and accelerate their exploitation in a sector dominated by China, we have a deposit pending to be exploited: the “urban” mine with WEEE recycling. The situation regarding WEEE in Europe in 2022. UN E-Waste 2024 How it works. He submerged lance furnace is based on the ISASMELT processso that the raw materials only need to be pre-mixed, there is no need for fine grinding or drying, which simplifies the feeding with materials as heterogeneous as WEEE. The separation of materials is based on the difference in densities: once the waste is melted, copper and precious metals such as gold or silver tend to sink to the bottom of the reactor due to their greater density, while the slag (which is non-metallic) floats on the surface, which makes extraction simple. The project has been possible thanks to a public-private collaboration between CENIM-CSIC and two companies, the European copper smelting giant Atlantic Copper and the metallurgical company Glencore Technology. Yes, but. The CENIM facility is a pilot plant, not an industrial plant, and this leap in pyrometallurgy is not exactly small: engineering issues must be resolved such as the management of the gases emitted in the process or the useful life of the furnace’s refractory materials, among others. And this project may find its political framework in the Critical Raw Materials Act, but this It’s more of a statement of intent. than anything else: it does not have a roadmap nor has it made available new funds to accelerate these initiatives. However, the biggest problem is not in the oven, but in recycling or the absence of this: 46% of WEEE and the critical materials it contains are lost before reaching any recycling facility, simply because collection is poor. There is little point in developing highly efficient recovery technology if electronic waste ends up mixed with organic waste in the brown container. Or if it is exported outside of Europe. The real bottleneck remains collection. In Xataka | Mortadelo and Filemón work for the CSIC: TIA agents explain the history of science to us with their comics In Xataka | The CSIC wants to create quantum solar energy capable of self-regulating its temperature. His inspiration: painting Cover | yasin hemmati and Nathan Cima

The problem of depopulation and the incredible demographic polarization of Europe, on a bleak map

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Europe is experiencing a silent paradox: its total population is growing in recent decades and yet, half of its towns and cities today have fewer inhabitants than in the 1960s. Special mention deserves cities like Madrid, Athens or Lisbon, truly out of control in front of the wastelands that are right next door. It is the consequence of decades of rural exodus, falling birth rates and migratory flows. Beyond colors and figures, this has a direct consequence in those municipalities that are dying: schools that close, doctors without substitutes and trains that no longer stop at stations. The map shows the population change municipality to municipality in Europe between 1961 and 2024. Green indicates growth and red indicates loss of inhabitants. Be careful because there are places where the growth is 500% and others where the drop reaches 80%. It covers around 100,000 municipalities in 32 countries: all EU states plus the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. This magnificent map is the work of Correctiv with data from the Eurostat Joint Research Center (JRC) based on a 63-year municipal historical series with homogeneous borders. How has he achieved it? The JRC has used satellite images of residential building volume as an indicator of where people lived in each era, and cross-referenced that information with harmonized Eurostat censuses. We recommend visiting the website of Correctiv for an in-depth view of its infographic with animations, where it also allows you to filter by two periods: from 61 to 91 and from 91 to 2024 and more or less around that time there is a historical milestone that marks the future of the East: the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the 32 countries analyzed, one in five rural municipalities has lost more than half of its population in these 60 years. Is the consequence of the urbanization of the 20th century: industry concentrated employment in the cities and the service economies that came later gave the finishing touch. Rural areas, on the other hand, live in a vicious circle: the more services are closed, the more depopulation, and so on. We are talking about bank branches, bakeries, consultations… The demographer Claudia Neu warns that the aging of European societies is the greatest challenge and that health and care costs will fall on this young generation, let us remember is increasingly scarce. The Europe of Schrödinger: grows and empties at the same time Population change in Europe: 1961 – 2024. Correctiv Europe is the oldest continent on the planet: has a birth rate average below 1.5 children per woman, looking from afar at that 2.1 that stipulates the replacement level. In Italy and Spain it is 1.3. The budding demographic pyramid in a system designed to function under constant growth, that is, the pressure of health, care and pensions falls on a base that narrows each year. In fact, the Center for European Reform He already says it loud and clear: only immigration can save us. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of European borders triggered a large migratory flow from the former Soviet bloc to the west. 88% of municipalities in eastern Germany have lost population since 1991, compared to only 26% in the west. Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia lead a unique decline in European history without wars involved. In fact, Bulgaria takes the cake: the Vidin region has lost 61% of its population. In Lithuania there is a contradiction: while 73% of its municipalities have shrunk, the capital has tripled. But what am I going to tell you if you live in Spain. Spain is the maximum expression of this trend. Correctiv Because Spain embodies the paradox of the map like no one else: Eight of the ten fastest growing municipalities in all of Europe are municipalities on the outskirts of Madrid. Meanwhile, Villarroya in Rioja has lost 98% of its inhabitants since 1961. Spain emptied. Be careful, Spain is not emptied as a whole, but it is polarized: it grows on the coasts and the big cities and bleeds into the interior. The immediate future does not invite optimism: the INE projects that the Spanish state will always have more deaths than births during the next fifteen years and that the percentage of people over 65 years of age, which today is 20.4%, will exceed 30% by 2055. The only safety valve to sustain the numbers is immigration: net inflows are projected to be around 375,000 people per year until mid-century, that is, by 2050 4 out of every 10 residents of the Spanish state will be born outside In Xataka | There is a very simple reason why it has taken Spain so long to have fiber optics in rural areas: this map In Xataka | Empty Europe: this is how the population has moved from the countryside to the city in just ten years Cover | Correctiv

Europe and China are at risk in the race for the first gravitational wave observatory in space

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Terrestrial gravitational wave detectors, such as the famous LIGO, have made very interesting discoveries in the last decade. However, there is a great consensus that it would be very useful to detect this cosmic phenomenon directly from space. For this reason, some space agencies are already getting to work to launch their own projects. One of them is the Taiji mission, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with which, in fact, a great step forward has just been taken. Everything ready for Taiji 2. The Taiji mission consists of three phases. The first was already launched in 2019. For the second, a piece called the full-function interferometer optical core had to be tested. The tests carried out on Earth have gone perfectlyso it is considered that the second phase could be launched as soon as possible. In fact, its launch It was initially scheduled in 2024but it has been suffering delays. Luckily, it seems that now all the pieces are ready. Three ships in total. The Taiji mission is made up of three ships, strategically placed in space millions of kilometers away. They will all be connected to each other through laser interferometry, so that slight changes in these distances that could be associated with gravitational waves can be detected. The first phase of the mission, in which the interferometry system was analyzed, was launched in 2019. It is expected to send the second part as soon as possible, in which the first two ships will be put into space. As for the third, in principle the established calendar places its launch in the 2030s. Better in space than on Earth. Gravitational waves are waves produced in space-time as a result of a catastrophic event. These types of events could be, for example, the merger of neutron stars or the collision of black holes. When this occurs, space-time experiences a disturbance similar to that produced when a stone is thrown into a pond. Those are gravitational waves. The terrestrial observatories, like LIGOthey can detect them, but they have a small limitation. And there could be confusion with seismic noise and other terrestrial interference. In space, that problem disappears. Taiji to the rescue. According to the tests that have been carried out on Earth and the analyzes of the interferometry system that have already been carried out in space with Taiji-1, this mission is capable of greatly reducing interference. Furthermore, the optical core that has just been tested is capable of detecting disturbances on the order of picometers. That is, on Earth you can discern displacements equivalent to one ten-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair. Although those distances would change under spatial conditions, it is still highly accurate. Therefore, it is expected to detect even gravitational waves caused by intermediate mass black holes. Other similar missions. The European Space Agency It also has its own mission aimed at detecting gravitational waves in space. This is LISAa project with which it is planned to do something similar: launch three ships connected by laser interferometry into space. In this case, the launch of all ships is scheduled for 2035, so China could have some advantage. Of course, until the complete triangle is in space, the mission cannot be considered completed. Perhaps Europe will be able to overtake the Asian country. Image | NOIRLab In Xataka | What happens if you fall into a black hole, explained simply in an overwhelming NASA simulation

As Europe builds data centers to achieve independence, its power grid enters the hunger games

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Europe finds itself at a crossroads. If you listen to the CEO of Mistral, you should start investing big to stop being the technological vassal of the United States. That implies investing and part of that investment is in data centers. But American Big Tech is also moving and, if in the US they find frontal opposition to the construction of data centersthey move and there are countries like Spain that are favorite destinations. But there’s a huge problem: it’s not so much about money as it is about energy. And European macroplans are colliding with the reality of the electricity grid. Full speed ahead. The United States has the most brutal data centers on the planetbut Europe has a plan to arm itself and achieve that technological sovereignty. The plan goes through energy thanks to geothermal energy and, above all, renewables. Europe is a power in this and Spain has already shown its plumage to attract European and Big Tech data centers. esteem that there are 5,400 in the US and 3,400 in Europe, and Europe wants to close the gap. There is a very small problem: renewables are not enough to satisfy the voracity of data centers. We are constantly seeing it: data centers need constant power, but when they enter intense computing phases, the expense is so high that they need energy spikes that renewables cannot satisfy. That’s where they come into play. nuclear, gas and even coaland a Europe that cannot play that due to environmental policies is where it has its weak point. Spain. There are several points to analyze. As we say, Spain is one of the countries that is presenting itself as one of the best assets to host data centers. Aragon, specifically, is a community that is pushing hard in this direction and serves as an example. AWS is going to put some gigantic data centers in the community, adding more than 10,800 GWh of energy per year. To contextualize, it is more than all the current electricity consumption of the community. But it is not only happening in Aragon and the fear is that the saturated Spanish electricity grid will now have to deal with those data centers that they can collapse the network. He blackout ghost it’s still there and it’s already been warned in the Official State Gazette that an increase in installations that are not capable of withstanding voltage dips pose a very high risk for the network. the hunger games. Because first the principles of agreement came and, now, the different EU countries are realizing that, perhaps, it is not such a good idea. One of the most recent cases is that of Energinet, the state operator of Denmark’s electricity grid, which, in March, suspended all new large-scale connection agreements by receiving requests that would reach 60 GW, with 14 GW of them being for data centers. As in the case of Aragon, it must be put in context and, according to According to CNBC, the country’s maximum demand is 7 GW, so that total of 60 GW exceeds the country’s consumption almost nine times. It is not about canceling plans, but about an extension until we discuss what to do with that demand, but there are already those who point out that the extension cannot be ruled out because, simply, the country’s network may not be prepared. Estimation of increased energy demand for data centers FLAP-D. But they are not the only ones. Amsterdam, London or Dublin can no longer absorb the brutal energy consumption of artificial intelligence and the technology industry has set his eyes on the northern countries (in which wind energy is the protagonist) and in those in the south (with solar as a guest star). They are three important names because they are part of the FLAP-D, the conglomerate of Flankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris and Dublin that, historically, have been the dominators of the data center sector. Because these facilities have existed before the arrival of AI, but with the conversion to computing centers for AI is when their consumption has decreased. shot and when these metropolitan areas cannot meet demand. Those needs are so exaggerated It is estimated that data centers accounted for almost 80% of Dublin’s electricity consumption, forcing Ireland to impose a de facto moratorium on new data centers in its capital until 2028. braking. The situation, of course, is not the most promising for those who are building the AI ​​infrastructure at the moment. The boss of SMIC, one of the Chinese companies that is leading the country’s technological transformation, pointed out a few weeks ago that the AI ​​Big Tech companies are building all the infrastructure they will need over the next decade. in just one or two yearswhat is generating that plug in stock components worldwide. But then there is the energy plug which, as we see, is not small. And, obviously, it also generates delays in supply. According to the calculationsa decade to connect the new facilities to the electrical grid. If Microsoft, or whoever, builds a data center by 2027, but can’t pull the plug until 2037, something is clearly wrong. What is clear is that regulators are going to look at these projects with a magnifying glass because there is a physical limit that is that energy and connection requests. In fact, it is already recommended that before coming with a monstrous data center and then looking to see if there is a plug, construction plans take into account consumption and connection planning to national networks from the beginning. But there’s another problem: You can build a data center today that consumes x energy, but when you upgrade to more powerful platforms, those calculations may blow up. Either that… or self-powered data centers, as already stated made in Dublin. In Xataka | Data centers are real “heaters”. And they are settling in regions as hot as Aragón

Europe has been depending on Amazon, Google and Microsoft for its most critical data for years. You are about to cut off their access

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The European Commission is taking action. This organization is expected to present its “Technological Sovereignty Package” on May 27. This directive will include a series of measures aimed at boosting the EU’s strategic autonomy in sensitive areas, and that means something unique: stopping depending as much as possible on US hyperscalers to store critical data. The fear of the off button. The measures are being applied due to growing political instability and some recent cases that have demonstrated the power that the US has over the European technological infrastructure. In May Microsoft “cancelled” the email of Karim Khan, a prosecutor who had been directly cited in an executive order from Donald Trump. Microsoft he denied itbut the damage had already been done, and these problems have raised fears that Trump could use a kind of “off button” against European institutions that depend on the hardware and software infrastructure provided by companies like Microsoft, Google or Amazon. Legal espionage. The CLOUD Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act) is a 2018 US law that allows law enforcement to force US-based technology companies (such as Google, Microsoft or Amazon) to provide data, regardless of where it is stored, whether inside or outside the United States. This law updates the Stored Communications Act to prioritize data control over its location. Or what is the same: if you use the services of US hyperscalers, the US may end up accessing your data. And since you’ve accepted their terms of use, you agree to let them legally spy on you if they “need to.” If you want my critical data, you’ll have to protect it. The new regulations require service providers who want to work with critical European data to demonstrate that they are not subject to requests from non-EU governments. This automatically excludes Microsoft, Google or Amazon, because all three are subject to the CLOUD Act. Europe is thus looking for providers that guarantee that critical data will not be in the possession of companies that then have to transfer it to foreign powers. Europe depends on the American cloud. The reality is that today Amazon (AWS), Microsoft (Azure) and Google (Google Cloud) currently control more than 70% of the Cloud Computing market in the old continent. Losing these institutional contracts would mean a significant financial blow, but it also sends a powerful signal to European private companies: if Brussels does not trust the US with its secrets, why should European corporations? The domino effect could be huge. Europe has its own clouds. This directive would give an important opportunity to initiatives that seemed stalled like GAIA-Xbut there are also companies with their own infrastructure such as OVH (France) or T-Systems (Germany). There are significant technical challenges in that area, because US hyperscalers have been refining their offering over the past two decades. However, Brussels seems willing to accept a somewhat less efficient or complete service in exchange for greater autonomy. The options existno doubt, but the challenge is enormous. Migrating is going to be expensive. It is one thing to make the decision and quite another to complete that migration that will require moving decades of data and systems to a different infrastructure. Current data centers would have to be expanded to meet demand, they say some analysisand that would mean a cost of between 14,000 and 24,000 million euros. Consulting companies like Forrester they don’t see anything clear that the EU can achieve cloud sovereignty, and other experts also make it clear that Europe will not abandon the hyperscalers. Traceability. In addition to changing suppliers, the board also wants to impose strict requirements regarding transparency. AI systems that have access to that data must be auditable by the newly created EU AI Office. The Commission wants to know who has access to the code, who maintains the servers and who has the technical capacity to manage and even intercept such data transfers. Data too sensitive. In comments to CNBCEU officials explained that there are active debates demanding that financial, judicial or health data used at the government level and in the public sector have a sovereign cloud infrastructure. That’s also true for military data, of course, and There are already movements in that direction. Fragmented Internet. The move confirms that the world appears to be heading toward a future with a fragmented internet and one that will have important geopolitical boundaries. While the US tries to defend its technology against China, Europe and the entire world are trying to avoid or at least mitigate their excessive dependence on American technological solutions. Image | İsmail Enes Ayhan and François Genon In Xataka | Europe no longer trusts Google. That is why several start-ups are designing an independent payment system on Android

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