factories

the factories of robots, electric cars and AI

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China is one of those destinations that I have marked on my vacation wish list: I hope to see the red pandas, the Xi’an Warriors and the Great Wall. Yes, I have been there twice already, but they were work trips where although I could see the spectacular night skyline of Shanghai, the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong or temples in Shenzhen, where I was most was in brand headquarters and their factories. Be careful, I don’t regret anything: they were wonderful trips where I discovered that China technologically lives in the future. Because China has an immense historical legacy, but a future and an industrial fabric that, quite simply, leaves you speechless. Highly recommended. Well, what for me were work trips have now become a tourist destination. And be careful, it is not a new phenomenon: technology has always aroused curiosity, but until now the most techie people had their mecca in Silicon Valley. Shenzhen, resort city. The GloPen tour operator offers 8-day tour packages through Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu to see first-hand companies, technologies and people in the world of AI and autonomous driving. Among the organizers is BYD. Tech Buzz China has “crash dives” for investors, executives and founders with direct access to AI labs, electric vehicle factories and robotics startups. China Study Tour has of seven-day programs that combine AI, electric vehicles, robotics, healthcare and sustainability for corporate and academic groups, with access to BYD, Huawei or DJI. The price range starts at $3,000 for travel not included, but if you are looking for something more affordable, on Viator there are boring options and one that is amazing: “Shenzhen Tech Tour: Explore the Future”a bilingual tour from 80 euros that includes a drone food delivery demonstration, a robotaxi ride, and visits to stores selling AI glasses. Why is it important. Because this sociological phenomenon shows something: the perception of who leads global technology is shifting from the United States to China. For a more specialized profile like an investor, the trip makes all the sense in the world: reading a PDF is not the same as being there on the ground and seeing it yourself. On a larger scale, these trips are helping to shape new economic alliances: giants like India or old Europe are updating their industrial strategies and these trips to see it in situ constitute a great reinforcement. An example: the trips of the president of Spain to China, where he visited the Xiaomi headquarters. Context. That China is where it is is anything but a coincidence: it has been directing its industrial policy towards robotics, electric vehicles and ICT as priority sectors for years with subsidies, goals and specific commitments, as an example of its ‘Made in China 2025‘. The result has been a brutal boost to the industry, the development and manufacturing of complex high-tech products. What is visited today on tours is the result of that strategy that has been maturing for a decade. Furthermore, China and the United States are immersed in a technological war with vetoes and tariffs. When standard channels of collaboration and communication are closed, showing up on the spot becomes one of the best ways to not be blinded to what is happening on the other side. And China is making it easy, both through these private and institutional initiatives: in 2025 it opened its doors to almost 50 countries, including France, Germany, Spain and Russia, which can access China without the need for a visa. In detail. Technological tourism is aligned with China’s interest in getting closer to the world, because the Asian giant is truly unknown to the outside world and obviously these types of tours are a magnificent sales and image showcase, an authentic soft skill that sweeps social networks. And since a picture is worth a thousand words (which in this case is not even painted), YouTuber iShowSpeed ​​will ride a flying car in Shenzhen or the German Chancellor Merz saw robots doing kung-fu It makes fantastic advertising. Someone sees the technology that is being made in China on social networks, becomes curious and that leads them to book a tour. A virtuous circle. Yes, but. We continue with the obvious: in a tourist package sponsored by manufacturers you will see only what they want you to see, just like those dream Google officesand they can perfectly be showcases designed to impress that do not have to represent the entire Chinese industry: one thing is the showroom and another is reality. On a five-day trip to Shenzhen you can see the tip of the industry’s iceberg in cutting-edge factories, but not the working conditions or its environmental policy. Although that is not something exclusive to China: on a visit to Meta in San Francisco or Stellantis in Zaragoza they are not going to tell you that either. In Xataka | China stripped Japan of its tourists in hopes of causing an economic hole. Nothing could be further from reality In Xataka | Young tourists from China have begun to visit random places en masse. There is an explanation: Xiaohongshu Cover | Jose Garcia and Joel Danielson

Spain has lost 17 factories in two decades

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Not too long ago, Spain had a powerful household appliance industry: Balay, Corberó, Fagor… Between the 1950s and 1970s, manufacturers proliferated that manufactured refrigerators, washing machines and ovens “made in Spain” that constituted the middle class’s access to the comfort of the modern era. That era passed away: in the last two decades 17 plants have disappeared (they have closed or relocated) and barely a dozen remain in the entire state, according to APPLIA datathe Spanish Association of Appliance Manufacturers and Importers. Their turnover is 4.5 billion euros per year and they employ 8,000 people, modest figures for a state the size of Spain. They are, literally, low and hanging by a thread. what’s happening. In a word: relocation. Manufacturing outside the old continent is more profitable than doing so within, where the costs associated with production, regulatory and environmental costs are higher. More specifically, there is a star location: Asia. La Vanguardia collects the statements of Augusto Río, spokesperson for APPLIA and sales director of the German company BSH in Spain: “There are certain regulations in Europe aimed theoretically at improving the European industrial environment, but their application makes it more complicated to manufacture within the EU.” An example: the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) taxes the steel necessary for these appliances, but does not apply to imported appliances that arrive already finished. In other words, if you import a ton of steel from Asia, they charge you the tax. But if you use that same ton of steel in Asia to make an entire washing machine there and bring it to Europe, the washing machine enters without paying that green tax. Why is it important. The first consequence is direct and obvious: losing jobs. The not so obvious one is to become strategically dependent on third parties for essential domestic goods. Keeping these companies alive and operational supports local economies under a stable and quality employment model. At least, more than the precarious service sector that usually replaces it. From a technological point of view, the R&D&i ecosystem linked to the industrial fabric is broken: without factories, technical knowledge goes outside and feedback on innovation is lost. Paradoxically, the loss of these industries does not respond to a crisis in consumer demand: according to Renub Researchthe European home appliance market will go from 112.33 billion dollars in 2024 to 147.98 billion in 2033, an annual growth rate of more than 3%. But in this forecast report prepared by Mordor Intelligence We see that the quintet that leads the appliance market is the German BSH, the Swedish Electrolux, the British Dyson, the North American Whirpoool and the Chinese Haier. Precisely another Chinese brand, Midea, was the one that acquired the Teka Group between 2024 and 2025. Context. Historically, the manufacture of household appliances in Spain was a reflection of economic developmentalism and the adaptation of the “American Way of Life” to mass consumption in the mid-20th century. The families established a relationship that went beyond the purchase: they acquired the devices, but they also manufactured them, generating a strong bond and worker identity. I don’t remember one of my student apartments in Zaragoza where there wasn’t something by Balay. The globalization of the late 20th century and early 21st century put an end to it: multinationals moved their factories to countries with lower labor and environmental costs. Added to this context of relocation are specific legal asymmetries: Spain requires three years of guarantee of manufacturing compared to the two required by general EU regulations. Likewise, it is mandatory store spare parts for a decadewhich generates inventory costs that in practice the import avoids. Europe’s (only) great asset. To survive the fierce competition in the Asian market, the strategy of the European industry that is still resisting is to abandon the price war and differentiate itself in quality, as the German Mittelstand serves as an example. That is the plan of the CNA group, owner of the Cata brand and with a factory in Torelló. Santiago Torrent, its executive president, details: “The challenge is not to grow, but to do so with more added value” and that they must focus on quality, innovation, durability and better performance. This also includes after-sales and repairs, two areas in which the European Right to Repair Directive It requires them to have increasing responsibility for the product life cycle. Yes, but. The problem with this value-added strategy requires time, investment and a market that is willing to pay more for a European product, something that does not have to happen. And even less so in an inflationary scenario like the current one. On the other hand, China has already publicly shown its discontent with the protectionist European tariff measures, responding that he will take “the necessary actions.” And Europe’s dependence on China goes far beyond washing machines: it encompasses semiconductors, batteries and rare earths, structurally limiting how far Brussels can squeeze without harming itself. In Xataka | Europe’s passenger car industry, in a revealing map that makes it clear who is the real “engine” of the EU In Xataka | Europe is divided in two: the devastating map of deindustrialization Cover | Homa Appliances and Mati Flo

The price you will pay will be the dismissal of 100,000 employees and the closure of more factories

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Just a year and a half ago, Volkswagen reached an agreement with the unions to lay off “only” 35,000 employees to ensure the continuity of some factories, ensuring their operation until 2030. a bad drinkbut acceptable in order to preserve the employment of many other Volkswagen employees. Today the German group has announced that this pact it’s broken. The numbers don’t work. The German magazine Manager Magazine advanced that the group’s CEO, Oliver Blume, had presented a new adjustment plan to the board of directors. The number of layoffs is the highest that the German manufacturer has ever announced: up to 100,000 layoffs worldwide, and four factories in Germany with closure on the table. The size of the problem. Volkswagen closed 2025 with more than 662,000 employees all over the world. Losing 100,000 jobs means losing almost one in six workers. As and as highlighted the agency EFEthis is the largest restructuring in the group’s 89-year history. The plants designated for closure are those in Hannover, Zwickau and Emden, all three of the Volkswagen brand, plus the Audi factory in Neckarsulm. The plan also includes a 15% reduction in investments for the next five years and a general spending cut of 11 billion euros before the end of the decade. The accounts don’t add up. The numbers for the first quarter of 2026 explain this drastic move by Volkswagen. Operating profit fell by 14% year-on-year to 2.5 billion euroswith a margin of 3.3%, while sales fell 7%. Analysts expected almost 4,000 million in operating profit. Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz left no room for doubt in the seriousness of the situation in the results report for the first quarter of the year: “We must radically transform our business model and achieve structural and sustainable improvements.” The group has already reduced around 29,000 positions from 2023 and cut its production capacity from 12 to 9 million vehicles per year. For management, these measures are not enough to compensate for the drop in sales. Chinese pressure and tariffs. There are two sources of pressure that have accelerated the deterioration of Volkswagen’s situation. The first and most obvious are the Chinese manufacturers. In 2025, cars made in China reached 7% of sales in the EUexceeding one million units for the first time. At the same time, European exports to China plummeted by 43%. Volkswagen, which has one of its largest markets in China, has been losing share there for years due to the unstoppable push of local Chinese brands. The second key factor comes from the opposite extreme: the United States. The tariffs that Trump has imposed on European vehicles have hit hard a group that has most of its factories in countries affected by the tariffs. Blume he recognized it at last week’s general meeting of shareholders: “Never before has the risk situation been so high.” To gain liquidity, the German manufacturer has just closed the sale of 51% of its Everllence marine engine division to Bain Capital for 7.4 billion euros. This could be just one more of future asset sales to obtain more liquidity. The union wall. As might be expected, the plan has not been well received by unions. The late 2024 agreement with IG Metall promised that there would be no factory closures or forced layoffs in Germany until at least 2030. The new plan blows up those commitments. Daniela Cavallo, president of the Volkswagen works council, and Christiane Benner, head of IG Metall, reacted with a joint statement of frontal rejection of the announced layoffs: “If these plans go ahead, we will stop them with all our forces.” On July 9, the supervisory board of the Volkswagen group will debate this workforce adjustment plan, which would affect one in every six of the company’s employees. The decisions made at that meeting will decide the future of Volkswagen. In Xataka | Volkswagen cars are no longer as popular as they used to be, so Volkswagen wants to start making… missiles Image | Volkswagen

“token factories” with their own hardware

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The AI ​​race is no longer explained just by looking at which company launches the most powerful model or who gets access to the most advanced chips. That part is still important, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. What is beginning to emerge is a much broader dynamic to ensure the necessary resources to continue competing. China is pushing that idea with a formula it has called “token factories.” In action. The most recent example comes from Wuxi, a city in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. According to Global TimesHonflex and the Wuxi High-tech Zone have promoted the first computing supernode there Huawei Ascend 384 of the province. The idea is to use that infrastructure as a starting point for a large-scale installation aimed at offering AI capacity measured in tokens to the market. Demand grows. If more and more applications use language models and AI agents, someone has to stably provide the capability to run them. Xinhua points out that at the end of March 2026, daily requests for tokens in China exceeded 140 billion, more than 1,000 times more than at the beginning of 2024 and 40% more than at the end of 2025. That is where the concept of “factory” makes a little more sense. Meaning of the label. In practice, AI data centers already function as token factories. They execute models, receive requests and return responses. What changes here is not so much the technical nature, but the way of converting it into an industrial product. It presents computing power as something measurable and sellable for those companies that need AI without building the entire infrastructure on their own. In detail. The Wuxi facility will start with four Huawei Ascend 384 servers. The promise here is to create a high-performance cluster based on domestic chips and models. In parallel, China Mobile announced on May 17 that it had built a computing center in Hubei for the center of the country with locally developed AI infrastructure and intelligent computing capacity exceeding 2,200 petaflops. A reading of technological sovereignty. In both projects, emphasis is placed on Chinese infrastructure, Chinese chips and national models. There are no mentions of American technology as the basis of the deployment, nor of NVIDIA chips, although the American company continues to be a global reference in AI hardware and has had a very relevant role in China. This framing fits with the Asian giant’s efforts to gain autonomy in a strategic technology. The initiatives also seem to point in that direction. The race continues. If we take the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 as the starting point of this new AI race, little time has passed on the calendar, but a lot of time has passed in the industry. The US is not exactly the same actor as it was then, neither is China, and in between we have seen export restrictions, regulatory comings and goings, development of national alternatives and growing pressure to secure the technological base that allows us to continue competing. In this context, the concept of “token factories” appears. Now we have to wait to see if it will translate into a real advantage. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | If the question is whether AI data centers end up increasing temperatures in a region, the answer is: 2.2ºC

With AI saturating TSMC’s factories, there’s someone ready to take over: Chinese foundries

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Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, or SMIC, is the backbone of the semiconductor industry in China. Together with Huawei, he is the architect of the great government plan so that Chinese companies and data centers stop depending on foreign chips that, since punch on the table given in mid-2023 with the SoC of Huawei Mate 60 Prohas called a lot attention on the international scene. So much so that SMIC itself points out that there are already foreign clients who are changing orders so that they can manufacture them themselves. The reason? In the midst of the semiconductor crisis, China is one of the few places with available production capacity. Bottleneck. SMIC, and Chinese foundries, are in a different war: volume over sophistication. While TSMC, Intel and Samsung are fighting for superiority in the 2 nanometer war, China does not seem interested in that battle of the advanced nodes. The reason is simple: they barely represent 20% of the global chip market and producing them is extremely expensive. That strategy of being out of the forefront of the spotlight is working out well for them. It is estimated that between January and February, China has exported integrated circuits worth more than 43 billion dollars. It represents a growth of 21.8% and the reality is that, at this time, China cannot compete in technology with the one that dominates the segment: TSMC. The Taiwanese company is developing the most advanced nodes for clients such as Nvidia and Apple and a few years ago they stated that they could not handle all the demand. Today, that demand has skyrocketed with AI and TSMC is already saying that there may not be something for everyone. That is why there are 64 new factories planned to unblock the situation, 58 of them located in China. Orders. Returning to SMIC, Zhao Haijun, the company’s co-CEO, pointed out a few days ago during the earnings call that China is one of the few regions that has manufacturing capacity, which is motivating “many foreign clients to redirect their orders.” This is not news if we take into account the world situationbut the manager assures that some of these products “were previously manufactured in foundries abroad and are no longer produced there.” That is the relevant point in all this, since it states that, although SMIC as the largest national foundry is receiving the largest burden of these orders, there are other smaller companies that are also benefiting from the situation. This situation is occurring out of necessity, out of TSMC’s need, according to data from TrendForce. Because the Taiwanese company plans to reduce part of its capacity in mature nodes (to focus on cutting-edge ones), it is diverting part of that production and excess orders to Chinese suppliers and second-line foundries. This will also cause the wafers to be used to the millimeter and that from an average utilization rate of 80% in eight-inch wafers, the industry will go to 90% in 2026. Chips are needed and they will have to be scraped from wherever they can. domino effect. The situation is going well for a SMIC that reported revenues of 2,505 million dollars in the first quarter of this year, 11.5% year-on-year that will be surpassed in the second period of the year, with revenue growth of between 14% and 16%, well above the 7% that Wall Street expected. But it seems that not only SMIC is having good news within the current catastrophic situation in the components, memory and other segment. We already commented a few months ago that “crisis” could be synonymous with “opportunity” for the Chinese semiconductor industry because there were foreign manufacturers that were approaching them to have supplies, especially of RAM memories, which could cause the international flourishing of this industry traditionally overshadowed by the Samsung – SK Hynix – Micron trident. As we see in SCMPHua Hong is another Chinese foundry that is smaller than SMIC, but also saw its revenue grow 22.2% year-on-year due to increased wafer shipments and a higher average selling price. These companies that make NAND, DRAM and NOR memory chips are seeing their business grow, and analysts expect other domestic foundries focused on logic chips to also continue to grow over the coming months. not so untouchable. In any case, it is evident that the market leader continues to be TSMC, but if before it was an undisputed giant, now it is still that Goliath… for which its David is emerging. Several, in fact. Apple is no longer the preferred customer of a TSMC that has in mind Nvidia to your best ally and it has been ringing for a while that Intel could fill that spot in the heart of Apple. And, returning to 2 nanometers, AMD has been deeply involved in the battle for both consumer and AI segments for a few years and is looking for advanced chips. And, as in the case of Apple, since it is now Nvidia that has all the privileges of TSMC, AMD has looked a little further east to manufacture its 2nm chips. The lucky one? Samsung. Image | ASML In Xataka | ByteDance has already chosen its partner to manufacture its own chip. And it is a harsh message for China’s industry

More advanced chip factories are being built in China and Taiwan than anywhere else. It’s only good for them

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According to SEMI, an international organization that looks after the interests of the electronics and integrated circuit industries, only six of the 64 new factories of semiconductors that are going to come into operation in Asia before 2029 will reside in Southeast Asia. The remaining 58 They will be located in China and Taiwan. These two countries have compelling reasons to strengthen its chip industry and develop its integrated circuit production capacity. It is essential for China to set up new plants equipped with cutting-edge photolithography equipment. And that is precisely what SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor and other Chinese chipmakers are doing. Currently this nation is limited by the difficulty of going beyond 7 nm without being able to use the extreme ultraviolet lithography (VVE) of ASML. Even so, Huali Microelectronics, the division of Hua Hong Semiconductor specialized in manufacturing chips for third parties, is preparing to start the production of 7nm integrated circuits at its Shanghai plant. Taiwan also needs to expand its semiconductor industry, although its motives are very different from China’s. The two largest Taiwanese integrated circuit manufacturers, TSMC and UMCthey need to develop more cutting-edge plants in order to satisfy the growing needs of their customers. TSMC’s 2 and 3 nm nodes in particular cannot cope, so it is essential for this company to expand its production capacity in the midst of the boom in data centers for data applications. artificial intelligence (AI). SEMI is concerned about the vulnerabilities of the chip industry Ajit Manocha, the executive director of SEMI, assures that “we want to see more centers emerge in related countries. We want more plants to be established to reduce the risk derived from vulnerabilities.” What worries the spokesperson of this organization is that the geopolitical tensions maintained by the US, China and Taiwan end up threatening the integrated circuit factories that reside in these last two countries. TSMC’s in Taiwan are especially sensitive to a possible conflict with China due to the undoubted strategic importance that they have not only for Taiwan, but also for the US and its allies. Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand are candidates to host new cutting-edge chip plants Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand are strong candidates to host new cutting-edge chip manufacturing plants. In fact, Several centers already reside in Malaysia Intel’s advanced packaging and verification software. However, Manocha You are also concerned about other types of vulnerabilities. The most critical of all is the shortage of critical minerals, as well as bromine and helium, two fundamental gases in chip manufacturing processes. What is happening with helium in particular is very worrying. This gas is a byproduct of natural gas processing, and its price skyrocketed in March shortly after the war that the US, Israel and Iran have been fighting since then began because Qatar was forced to stop production of liquefied natural gas. In the current unstable scenario, SEMI argues that Southeast Asian countries should aim to build more semiconductor manufacturing plants over the next decade to help the sector diversify and reduce supply risks. Image | TSMC More information | Reuters In Xataka | The US’s problem in the AI ​​and humanoid race is not China: it is all of Asia and it is greatly disadvantaged

There are drone factories in Europe, and Spain is on the list

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Possibly, the case of the oil tankers is one of the clearest examples of how wars work. In 2019, several were attacked in the Gulf of Oman hundreds of kilometers from any declared front, in an area where, on paper, there was no open war. That episode made it clear that modern conflicts no visible lines needed To expand: simply point to a point on the map to make it part of the board. A war that changes the map. Russia ends to take a step more in the Ukrainian war by moving the conflict from the front to a much broader map that includes directly European territory. It has done so through the Ministry of Defense, publishing detailed lists with names and addresses of companies linked to the production of drones for kyiv. Where? Cities appear on that map like London, Munich or Madridwhich transforms industrial infrastructures into possible military objectives in official Russian discourse. This movement is not only symbolic, but redefines the space of the war: it is no longer limited to Ukraine, but draws a network of nodes in Europe that Moscow presents as an active part of the conflict. Europe enters the military equation. Moscow’s message is clear: increase production and supply of drones to Ukraine is equivalent to getting directly involved in the war. From that perspective, countries like Germany, Belgium or Spain appear in this industrial ecosystem that combines local companies with Ukrainian technology, which reinforces the idea of ​​increasingly closer cooperation. This industrial network not only seeks to sustain the Ukrainian war effort, but also shows how Europe is going from being logistical support to becoming in structural piece of the conflict, something that Russia appears to be using as an argument to justify its rhetorical escalation. First six factories on Russia’s threat list From factories to potential objects. Plus: publishing specific brand addresses a turning point in the war conflict, because it turns civil spaces in the heart of Europe into potential targets within the Russian narrative. In fact, figures like Dmitry Medvedev have reinforced this idea by openly qualifying these lists as possible targets for the Russian armed forces, although without announcing imminent actions. If you like, this type of message, halfway between a warning and a threat, seems to point to generate pressure both on European governments and on their own societies, introducing the idea of ​​direct vulnerability within their borders. Spain inside the board. As we said, among the locations indicated by Moscow Madrid appearswhich places Spain within that expanded map of the conflict that Russia has decided to make public. This is not necessarily an immediate target, of course, but a significant inclusion in a list that redefines who is part of the war effort from the Russian perspective. This also reflects the extent to which war has evolved into a industrial and technological dimension in which the countries that participate in the supply chain, even indirectly, become considered relevant actors. More rhetorical than operational (for now). Be that as it may, and despite the threatening tonethese types of movements fit into a strategy that Russia has used on a recurring basis: public warnings or threats designed to deter without yet crossing the threshold of a direct attack against NATO territory. However, the context has changed, and the combination of greater European involvement, multi-billion dollar defense agreements and technological cooperation means that these warnings have a different weight. The key is that the conflict is no longer only fought with missiles and troops, but also with maps, lists and narratives that expand its borders without having to fire a single shot. Image | Sasha Maksymenko In Xataka | Russia is no longer surrendering to Ukrainian soldiers, but to machines: the rules of war are being redefined In Xataka | Europe has its particular “strait of Hormuz” and the war in Ukraine has put it at the center: the Gulf of Finland

China’s factories are learning to live with Donald Trump and his tariffs

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Donald Trump’s return to the White House on January 20, 2025 and the massive deployment of a very aggressive tariff package put many Chinese companies on the ropes. The US Administration attacked most of the countries with whom it maintains commercial relations, but, as Trump had anticipated, he attacked China. Xi Jinping’s government responded activating export controls very strict on their critical minerals and rare earths, and it worked. Donald Trump and Xi Jinping They met in October and agreed to relax the aggressive exchange of tariffs that they had during the first months of the year, but many Chinese companies had already been forced to react. Some of them chose to develop new plants in countries close to China that were not initially subject to such aggressive tariffs by the US, such as India or Malaysia. However, this solution was partial. It allowed them to avoid tariffs to a certain extent, but it did not solve their structural problems. China’s infrastructure is irreplaceable Agilian Technology is a Chinese company based in Dongguan that specializes in manufacturing products for third parties. Most of its clients are Western companies that need to produce their products in China, but do not have the necessary business volume to support the manufacturing of a huge number of products. Like many other Chinese companies, Agilian suffered a lot due to the tariffs that the US deployed at the beginning of 2025. Agilian Technology has emerged victorious. In fact, it hopes to increase its income by 30% over the next three years. In fact, their problems actually began before Donald Trump returned to the White House. The threats from the current US president put a good part of Agilian’s clients on notice, so the latter chose to anticipate and asked it to send large quantities of products to North America. before the tariffs went into effect. Other Agilian clients suggested that he set up manufacturing and assembly plants in other countries that presumably were not going to be as affected as China by US tariffs. Agilian, like many other Chinese companies, accepted its customers’ conditions, although some of them canceled their orders. After carefully weighing which would be the ideal places to which they could divert part of their production, Agilian managers opted to launch a factory in Dharwad (India) and another in Penang (Malaysia). However, they soon realized that their Dongguan plant would remain indispensable. The slow pace of bureaucracy in India greatly slowed the start-up of the Dharwad plant, and pre-production testing in Penang took months to begin because everything in Malaysia is much slower than in China. Dongguan continues to be the engine of Agilian, but thanks to the expansion of its infrastructure in response to pressure from the US this company is now much better prepared to withstand future clashes that the Chinese and American Administrations may have. Agilian Technology has emerged victorious. In fact, trust increase your income by 30% for the next three years. And its model is identical to the one that many other Chinese companies that are dedicated to manufacturing products have embraced. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | Reuters In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

China looks at Spain and Spain is willing to be a European delegation of Chinese factories

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Renew or die. That is the maxim that the Government claims to follow in its plans and projects related to the automobile industry in our country. Some plans include the electrification of current plants and attracting more investments. Investments that, everything indicates, will come from China if the rumors take shape. Sweeping for home A few days ago, the Government ended up confirming the details of the Auto+ Planthe new aid system for the purchase of electric cars. With them it is confirmed that, now, The maximum discount for an electric car will be 4,500 euros But to obtain it it will be necessary to meet two requirements: the car has to be assembled in Europe and its battery too. Shortly after, Jordi García Brustenga, Secretary of State for Industry, defended the Auto 2030 Plan during the event Future: Fast Forwardorganized by 50 companies directly related to the automobile industry. There he presented the main lines of the future of the Spanish automobile: electrification and embrace of new investments. Wherever they come from. an obsession. “We are in favor of electrification and we will continue taking steps in the coming years in this obsession,” defended García Brustenga in statements collected by Europa Press. In them he stressed that the Government acts with the certainty that the electric car is the vehicle of the future. And to walk that path, the Government says it is open to taking the hand of anyone who does so in that direction. Asked about possible investments by Chinese manufacturers, the Secretary of State for Industry responded: “The Government’s position is to welcome these investments and we want to do it well, not with quick permits, but rather with compensation that represents advantages for both sides. It is important that these competitors have the Spanish value chain, technology and workforce” Because? The automobile industry is, after the agri-food industry, the one that produces the most in our country and it is the industry that it exports more products than it produces. Its weight translates into 10% of GDP and we are the second largest vehicle manufacturer in the European Union, only surpassed by Germany. It is logical, therefore, that the Government maintains its attention on the sector, which has focused enormous amounts of money in the form of subsidies taking advantage of European funds. The latest project, the Auto 2030 Plan, is based on 25 measures that focus on attracting investments to produce batteries and components for future vehicles in our country, new factories and the modernization of current plants. The project seeks to maintain the privileged position of our country. And between 2019 and 2024, 400,000 vehicles per year have stopped being manufactured on our soil, according to the information published by Anfac in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry. Furthermore, competitiveness has been lost in the market and we have suffered more with the cuts, since our industry is based on assembly and not so much in product development. Chinese interest. In the recent past, Spain has undoubtedly attracted Chinese interest in landing in Europe. Our country has repeatedly been considered one of the main candidates to host a new BYD European factory. The latest rumor is that Ford would be interested in sharing space with Geely in Valencia. But beyond collaborations, CATL does have it going the construction of a plant to produce batteries in Zaragoza and feed the Stellantis factory. Precisely, on the land of the latter the Leapmotor carsthe Chinese company that this automotive group distributes in Europe. And from 2024the Chery Group keeps the old Nissan plant in Barcelona alive with Ebro. Later Jaecoo and Omoda models should arrive. And not only from a manufacturing point of view. Spain has turned its ports into China’s gateway to Europe. 81% of vehicles exported from China to Spain and 13% to Europe They entered through Barcelona during 2024. He port of Santander was chosen by BYD in the first steps it took in our country. An approach. The Government’s position has been varying. So much so that we have gone from supporting tariffs on Chinese electric cars, that are still validto abstain from voting and put ourselves in profile so as not to compromise investments. Investments that China, everything indicateshas ordered arrests in the countries that finally supported this protectionist measure and that have remained in Spain after a Pedro Sánchez’s trip to the Asian country where he praised the Chinese automobile industry. Spain was risking the future of new investments and the future of the Iberian pig in one of its most important markets. Yes, but. For now, it is clear that Spain has made a strong commitment to attracting Chinese investments. The plan, everything indicates, has gained strength taking into account that it only proposes to deliver the maximum purchase aid to those who manufacture on European soil. Despite this, there are those who are questioning that these investments really impact the economy or, at least, impact as much as we are told. And CATL, like BYD is doing in Hungaryseems to give the bulk of your labor pool to Chinese employees. Likewise, at the moment at Nissan plans remain unconsolidated for Omoda and Jaecoo to drive cars through their doors. On the table was the intention to give the final assembly to cars that They arrived in kits already almost assembled. It is the same thing that is proposed for the Santana factory in Andalusia. Those plans have been delayed after the European Union has not ensured that serve as a bridge to skip current tariffs. Photo | Moncloa In Xataka | “They assemble Chinese cars with Chinese components and Chinese personnel”: the EU is beginning to suspect the manufacturers’ plants

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

by

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

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