factories

“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

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

22,000 million in the air and two other factories canceled

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A little more than five years ago, a star was born. FCA and PSA announced their merger under the name of Stellantis. The result was a gigantic conglomerate. In these five years Stellantis has never managed to position itself as an alternative to Volkswagen or Toyota by sales volume but its structure is enormous, with 14 brands in its portfolio. The first steps were hopeful. The company marked record yearswith profit margins that They were the envy of the sector and a strategic plan that embraced the electric car. A decision that even before the merger of both automotive groups seemed like the right path. Carlos Tavares led a reconversion based on the reuse of platforms for their generalist brands and deep electrification. So much so that they pointed to a date: In 2030 they would only sell electric cars in Europe and half of sales in the United States would also be electric cars. The strategy was in line with the plans of the European Union. But manufacturers have not offered products that live up to what the customer expected in terms of price and/or autonomy. European regulators, after much pressure from automakers (from which Tavares distanced himself on several occasions), have ended up making the rules a little more flexible. The ban on selling combustion engines is maintained in 2035 unless they are met some very strict exceptions. Yes indeed, the path to get there has been made slightly more flexible. All of this has had a direct consequence on a company that focused on finances and regulations, forgetting about customers, that regulators had room to change their minds and about their own history. Yestellantis tried to sneak in the electric Fiat 500 with a shoehorn in the United States. Eliminated mythical V8 engines of Dodge or RAM in that same country to comply with emissions. He threw 3,000 million euros into the trash with the development of electric cars for Maserati that will never see the light of day. And now, with Europe accepting the electric car at a more contained speed than expected, Stellantis assumes a amortization of 22,000 million euros in its accounts and the cancellation of new factory openings in Germany and Italy. The last chapter Of a story that has no end. At the moment it is the last chapter written but it will by no means be the last one that we have news of. And Stellantis and the electric car continue to leave enormous rivers of ink in their wake. Last Friday, February 6, Stellantis shares fell up to 27% in a fateful day for the company. The movement in the stock market was the immediate consequence of show some not very optimistic numbers. When presenting results, the company confirmed that an adjustment of 22,000 million euros was going to appear in its accounts. Those 22,000 million euros have a culprit: electric car. And it is that the company confirmed that in 2025 they would present losses in their income statements, assuming an impact on them of around 22,000 million euros. Actually, of those 22,000 million euros, 6,500 million are hard cash. Cash. Real money, to put it simply. These are the 6.5 billion euros that the company will have to pay in the next four years to those affected who will suffer the cancellation of their plans or the readjustment in the production of electric cars. The rest of the money corresponds to the forecasts that Stellantis expected for the future. That is, sales that will not be consolidated because, simply, these new models will not be manufactured or their production will be reduced. These types of announcements have a direct impact, again, on the stock market because the company not only sends the message that its profits will be slimmer in the future, it also confirms that its real value is lower. “The charges announced today reflect the cost of overestimate the pace of the energy transition that distanced us from the real-world needs, means and desires of many car buyers,” said Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa in words reported by Financial Times. Among the cancellations, Stellantis confirmed that it was canceling the construction of two new gigafactories in Europe, specifically those in Termoli (Italy) and Kaiserslautern (Germany). For the first of them, Stellantis planned a conversion to produce electric cars while building a gigafactory next to it. Now, this second option has already been ruled out and it remains to be seen what the future is of a factory that has been producing engines for Fiat for more than half a century. One of the options that Stellantis had chosen was to once again produce Fiat 500 hybrids and thus keep this engine plant alive. Both this factory and the second canceled plant, the German one, not only impact Stellantis. The company had a 45% stake in ACC, a joint venture made up of TotalEnergies (30%) and Mercedes (25%), which was going to be in charge of building three gigafactories in Europe. For this they had raised 4,000 million euros in capital but the Italian and German project have been paralyzed since 2024. Now, ACC has confirmed its cancellation and that the French plant will begin with a production equivalent to 13 GWh, very far from the maximum of 40 GWh for which it is designed. That is to say, Stellantis planned to embrace the electric car that was not being produced. To do this, it intended to build up to four gigafactories in Europe (Spain, France, Germany and Italy). Of them, only the Spanish and French are still running. Photo | Stellantis In Xataka | If Tavares is out of Stellantis it is because of a giant problem in the United States. One that already forces us to give away electric cars

Hyundai imagines factories full of humanoid robots. A Korean union has said ‘not so fast’

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Hyundai has been building a very specific story for months about the future of its factories, one in which humanoid robots go from being a distant promise to a real industrial tool. The image is powerful and connects with a global race to automate increasingly complex processes, but in South Korea that discourse has already found its first limit. Even before robots enter production lines, the union has come forward to make its position clear and warn that any changes that impact employment will have to be negotiated. A clear warning. Hyundai Motor Union has made it clear that “Without an agreement between the company and workers, not a single robot can enter South Korean plants,” stressing that any decision with an impact on employment must go through the negotiation table. The message connects directly with the current collective agreement, which requires all measures that affect work to be subject to debate and joint approval. With this positioning, the introduction of humanoids is emerging as one of the possible reasons for friction between worker representatives and the Asian corporation. Fear that South Korea will lose prominence. The union links automation to a broader movement of industrial reorganization, marked by the growth of manufacturing in the United States. As they explain, the planned increase in capacity at the US plant could end up subtracting volume from factories in South Korea, and they maintain that two centers would already be suffering from a lack of workload. In this context, humanoids are interpreted not only as a technological tool, but as an element that can accelerate job adjustments if it is not accompanied by clear guarantees regarding the maintenance of employment. The starting point of the discussion. This comes after Hyundai introduced Atlas, the humanoid robot developed by Boston Dynamicsas a key piece of its medium-term industrial strategy. The firm assured that it plans to progressively integrate it into its global network of factories starting in 2028. It also explained that these robots are designed to take on general industrial tasks and work alongside people, with the aim of reducing physical effort and taking on potentially dangerous jobs. Of course, he avoided specifying how many units he will deploy in the first phase or how much the project will cost. First in the United States. The manufacturer has already begun to draw how it wants to industrialize this bet. The group has explained that it will build a specific plant in the United States for the production of robots, a factory dedicated to producing Atlas on a large scale in the coming years. The first operational destination would be at the Georgia plant, known as HMGMAwhere humanoids would initially be used in very specific tasks, such as classifying and sequencing parts for the assembly line. The small labor print. Hyundai’s commitment is part of a much broader race to bring humanoid robots to the industry. Companies such as Tesla, Amazon or the Chinese manufacturer BYD have announced similar plans, although with different degrees of maturity. Some projects have already gone from demonstration to real work, such as the robot Figure 01 in a BMW plantwhere he performs support tasks autonomously. These are still limited and highly supervised experiences, but sufficient to show that the leap from the laboratory to the factory has already begun. Images | hyundai In Xataka | 100% autonomous factories where it is not necessary to turn on the light: China is already considering manufacturing cars only with robots in 2030

chip factories will have to use 50% national technology

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Since the US allowed NVIDIA to sell its H200 chip to China, there have been two reactions. On the one hand there are the Chinese companies, such as Alibaba or Bytedancewho want to get hold of them as soon as possible. On the other hand, the reluctance of the Chinese government whose main objective is to stop depending on the US. Now they have taken another step in that direction. what has happened. According to one Reuters exclusivethe Chinese government has imposed a new rule on semiconductor manufacturers that want to expand their production capacity: they must do so using at least 50% equipment manufactured in China. It is not a public standard that is included in an official document, but they say from Reuters that manufacturers that have recently expanded their factories have found themselves required to demonstrate that half of their equipment was ‘made in China’. If they do not comply, it is normal that they will be denied. Why is it important. It is further proof of Beijing’s determination to prioritize national chips, but it goes even further by requiring that the necessary machinery also be national. In this way it impacts the entire supply chain, not just the chips. The striking thing is by making the minimum 50% it is causing manufacturers to have to prioritize Chinese technology even in areas where they could be done with foreign technology. The goal is clear: total self-sufficiency. The winners. Before the ban, Chinese chipmakers like SMIC typically used American equipment and Chinese manufacturers were their last option. Now they have no choice but to turn to companies like Naura Technology and AMEC, whose demand for lithography machinery has increased exponentially and with it its income. Furthermore, this demand has caused them to improve their technology more quickly, something that is reflected in the registration of patents. In 2025 Naura registered 779 patents, more than double that of several previous years. Self-sufficiency. The biggest challenge is in semiconductors; Without access to the most advanced lithography machines, Chinese chips are several years behind the most advanced ones made by companies like ASML or TSMC. In parallel to all these policies to prioritize national chips, China is promoting projects to ‘hack’ that technology and be able to place themselves at the same level. At the level of AI chips, they are also promoting companies that They seek to be ‘the Chinese NVIDIA’ like MetaX or Moore Threads. They still have a long way to go, but it is no longer a question of if, but when. Image | Nick Woodedited In Xataka | Huawei and SMIC find the key to creating 7nm chips: do an ‘Ikea ​​hack’ to the oldest ASML machines

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