factory

BYD pours cold water on its hypothetical factory in Spain

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BYD does not have a plan on the table to open a factory in our country. At least, that is what Alberto de Aza, general director of BYD for Spain and Portugal, maintains, who in an interview with EFE has stated that the company is focused on its Hungarian factory. According to De Aza, there are neither production problems nor are there intentions to open a plant in Spain. BYD is interested in Spain. Spain has sounded strong on two occasions to be the home of a BYD car production plant for Europe. He did it first in 2023 when it was learned that the company was touring Europe looking for a location to a factory. Before the end of that same year, we knew that Hungary had been chosen. Now, information has suggested that BYD is once again studying the opening of a factory. And, according to ReutersSpain was once again one of the first candidates. Its operating costs and good performance in the country seemed to be two incentives to take into account for the future. There are no plans. That is what Alberto de Aza, general director of BYD for Spain and Portugal, answered in an interview with EFE. The head of the company in our country has indicated that “there is no specific plan at this time to implement a production center in Spain.” The response is a bucket of cold water to the information that indicated that Spain was the first on the starting line of this new race. In fact, just a few days ago the Generalitat of Catalonia confirmed that they had held conversations with company representatives. And shortly before, in October, the De Aza spoke of Spain as “an ideal place” to expand the company’s European manufacturing. For now, Hungary. At the moment, BYD seems to be focused on opening its plant in Hungary. Everything indicates that “you’ll see later.” And the company has started very strongly in our country but a good part of the European market is resisting. The commitment to plug-in hybrids at attractive prices, such as the BYD Atto 2 DM-i It is confirmation that they try to find solutions and alternatives. To this we must add that the company has faced some complications related to its Hungarian plant. The first is whether you are using enough local employees. The second is whether it is going to create a sufficiently dense industrial network around it. complicated lace. BYD is not the only company that is in the eye of the European Union for how they manufacture (in this case, hope to manufacture) their cars on European soil. At the moment, electric cars coming from China are taxed with specific tariffs for each company but not so with plug-in hybrids. To avoid this specific and general tariff (10% on imports arriving from China), Chinese manufacturers talk about producing in Europe. However, the European Union closely monitors how these cars are manufactured. And there is talk of producing vehicles using almost assembled kits that arrive in Europe by boat and are given the finishing touches on European soil. Something like if a puzzle of 1,000 pieces arrived assembled without joining four large groups of them. This, European regulators assure, might not be enough to skip tariffs. It is a practice that already has delayed the arrival of the electric Omoda 5 to the Barcelona factory, for example. Spain, why? To the above we must add a detail: Spain has moved into a complicated game of balance with China. In addition to the fact that our country offers lower operating costs (labor or energy) to manufacturers compared to other European nations, the truth is that there is another point of view. In the final approval of tariffs on Chinese electric cars, Spain veered from a resounding “yes” to abstention. Shortly after its application, it was leaked that the Chinese State had ordered its manufacturers stop all investments in the countries that supported those tariffs. Italy, for example, would have been one of the most affected countries. Since then, it has been leaked that BYD was interested in Spain to house a new European factory. But also CATL reached an agreement with Stellantis to launch a battery production plant in Aragon. It is no coincidence that Spain has pampered its relations with China lately. Photo | Mercedes and Xataka In Xataka | “They assemble Chinese cars with Chinese components and Chinese personnel”: the EU is beginning to suspect the manufacturers’ plants

BYD has built a megafactory in record time. And it’s not just a car factory: it’s a city

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The chinese automotive industry has one goal: flood the west with their cars. BYD is one of the companies that, while wanting to take over the national market, wants a good slice of the international pie. For this you have as many employees as a small countryand to carry out its vision it has the most beastly car factory you can imagine. This is the Zhengzhou plant, and more than a factory, it is a city. Gigafactory? Best Uberfactory. Everything that surrounds the Zhengzhou plant It is imposing. Starting with the times, BYD and the Henan government they signed the project in September 2021, in just one month the works began and less than two years later the factory began production. His ability It is imposing and, already in its first operational phase in April 2023, it demonstrated that it could have a ability 400,000 vehicles annually. Not only did they get it up and running in record time: its dimensions are also impressive. The plant is estimated to have an area of ​​10.68 square kilometers in factories alone, but when the project comes to completion, it will occupy about 130 km². Context. Ten times more than Tesla Gigafactory in Nevadawith its 12 km², and larger than the area of ​​the city of San Francisco (it is approximately 120 km²). It is not unusual for large technology companies to have “cities” under their control and, without leaving China, Huawei has a similar campus (and another that copy different European cities). But BYD is overwhelming. More than cars. The factory is a “living” project of which four phases have been completed so far. The first two have focused on the production of cars, but as we said, we are talking about a factory that goes beyond vehicles. The third phase launched a plant for the battery manufacturing and the fourth has the necessary facilities for the production of semiconductors. They are underway new phases to expand production to two million vehicles annually and it is estimated that the facility generates a complete vehicle every 50 seconds. Technology. This is achieved thanks to an automation rate of 98%, one of the highest in the automotive industry worldwide. For example, the welding process is carried out with 91% robot labor and there are hundreds of them operating in other sectors, such as assembly or logistics. It is not due to a lack of human work, since the factory currently employs about 60,000 people, 90% of them coming from Zhengzhou or its surroundings and there are plans to reach up to 200,000 employees in 2026. Imagine all of Salamanca working in the same factory. Independent Republic of BYD. That is why we are not just talking about a factory: it also has housing and everything necessary is being built to make it a full-fledged city. Apart from housing blocks for employees, the megafactory has canteens, commercial areas, recreational facilities such as soccer fields and other areas for playing sports, as well as an internal transportation system. It also has additional facilities to carry out tests on their vehicles, such as a 1,758 meter circuit with nine curves, sand dunes to carry out off-road tests, a 70 meter pool (this is where you can see the Yangwang U8 in action) and multifunctional areas to carry out braking, acceleration and other more specific tests, such as autonomous parking. Apart from testing, it is like an amusement park for those who want to see the benefits of the brand’s EV cars. International connection. In the end, it is a mix between ambition and space (something that is abundant in China), which gives rise to a city focused on a single task: producing new energy cars with which China is setting the standard globally. In addition, it is an economic engine for the region and such a strategic element that, in 2024, Zhengzhou inaugurated the International Land Port with a one kilometer railway line to the BYD base. In this way, BYD can produce cars and instantly send them by train to the international market. It is also easier to load them into RO-RO boats with capacity for reach Europe in three or four weeks. Such is the importance of Zhengzhou for the company that its seventh ship car carrier was named after the city. Images | BYD In Xataka | Volkswagen is determined to copy China to make its electric cars attractive in Europe: put a gasoline engine in them

A factory in Ireland made a fortune selling baby formula to China. Until the Chinese stopped having children

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If China’s demographic crisis is not reversed, if the world’s factories shrink and nothing stops the bleeding, its decline will drag and have effects throughout the world: from cost increases in consumer goods (telephones, footwear, electric vehicles) to inflationary pressures due to lower manufacturing efficiency. As an example, a “button”: thousands of kilometers from China, an entire population is already suffering from the lack of babies in Beijing. In Ireland, no one imagined a situation like this. Industrial mirage. For years, the small Irish town of Askeatonin County Limerick, found his redemption in a factory that produced gold dust. It wasn’t a metaphor. Infant milk was produced on Nestlé production lines for the chinese marketa product so profitable that some workers nicknamed it “the white cocaine” of the town. Overnight, that business transformed a town forgotten by modernization into a prosperous enclave, where credit flowed easily and employment was synonymous with stability. But when the Swiss managers arrived two years ago with the closure announcementdisbelief took over everyone. Nobody could conceive that such a modern plant, the result of a million-dollar investment, would simply be closed. Rely on China. Nestlé attributed the decision to a macroeconomic reason: he birth rate crash in China. The number of births had fallen from 18 million in 2016 to just nine million in 2023, and demand for foreign infant formula was sinking. However, The New York Times said that among the 1,100 inhabitants of Askeaton the official version did not convince. There were those who suspected that the multinational was simply responding to a Chinese demand: to move production to Asian territory itself. The argument made sense. For years, Nestlé had closed markets in Europe and the Middle East to concentrate exclusively in China. “We put all our eggs in one basket.” remember the diary Oliver Scanlon, one of the veterans of the place. And although the business experienced its golden age with that turn, everyone understood too late what it meant: China was not only buying the product, it was also learning how to manufacture it. Silent learning. The workers recount how every year Chinese auditors arrived, curious to the extreme, writing down every technical detail of the industrial process. Sometimes they even visited neighboring farms, taking an interest in dairy production methods. “They came to learn,” counted rancher Tim Hanley. “They can produce everything, and their goal is self-sufficiency.” Ultimately, what happened at Askeaton was the consequence of a repeated pattern: the initial enthusiasm for the Chinese market ended with the transfer of knowledge and the relocation of production. In November 2023, just a month after announcing the Irish closure, Nestlé obtained authorization to open a twin plant in Suzhoueast of China. While justifying the closure due to the drop in birth rates, the company proclaimed that the Chinese market “continued to be the largest in the world by absolute number of newborns.” Jobless. The Times remembered that the closure of the plant has left a visible scar. The machines stopped last month and, unless someone purchases the facilities for the 22 million euros at which Nestlé has valued them, the doors will close permanently in March. Layoffs, severance packages and outplacement programs have not compensated for the sense of loss. The factory was the invisible engine that made local businesses run, from Seán Moran’s hardware store to the credit union, which for years granted loans with only a payroll as collateral. “It was a good salary and the town prospered,” admits Patrick Ranahan, head of the entity. “But we knew it could disappear from one day to the next.” From globalization to dependency. He Askeaton’s case It is an example of the vulnerability of local economies in the era of globalization. The sudden success, sustained by Chinese demand, masked the fragility of a model based on a single customer and a single market. What began as a story of international cooperation ended up being technology transfer disguised as prosperity. In the process, China not only bought the product, but also the knowledge, and when it was ready to replicate it, it simply cut the tie. For Askeaton, the “crown jewel” has become a symbol of a bitter lesson: in global commerce, the shine of success can fade as quickly as the foam on the powdered milk that fed them for half a century. Image | Nestle In Xataka | The great paradox of China’s demographic crisis: its origin is due to a policy that worked too well In Xataka | China knows that its population is going to collapse but it already has a long-term plan to solve it. Of course, thanks to AI

The most pacifist city in Germany lived off its legendary train factory. Now they will make it from a gigantic tank factory

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Görlitz was known for its neat historic center, its post-war memory and a practical inclination towards pacifism. For decades, the city on the eastern border fit on the German map as a haven of caution and resigned industrial melancholy, a place where work and tradition maneuvered away from military power. But that calm is beginning to show cracks that force its inhabitants to rethink what it means to maintain peace when the world seems to want just the opposite. From the steel of peace to that of war. For more than a century and a half, the town of Görlitz, on Germany’s eastern border, lived off the rhythmic sound of trains. The wagon and locomotive factories They provided work for entire generations and defined the identity of this working-class region of the former East. But that era is coming to an end. After 176 years of railway production, the historic Alstom industrial complex is being converted by the arms consortium KNDS to manufacture components Leopard II tanks and Puma armored vehicles. What was once a symbol of civil mobility and reconstruction, today is transformed in gear of the German military machine. This metamorphosis does not arise from nowhere, of course: it responds to the country’s strategic shift towards rearmamentmotivated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fear of a withdrawal of American security guarantees and a economy in decline desperately looking for new sources of employment. Between pacifism and necessity. I was counting last week the new york times that, in Görlitz, industrial reconversion divide feelings. The population, aging and punished by decades of deindustrialization since reunification, sees the production of tanks as a lesser evil. In this area where the far-right AfD party (openly pro-Russian and opposed to helping Ukraine) concentrates almost half the voteseven its local leaders have accepted the change with resignation. “It is not a cause for celebration, but we cannot oppose having work either,” recognizeaware that the loss of employment would be even more devastating than the moral dilemma of manufacturing weapons. Reconversion. The factory, which once had more than 2,000 employeesbarely kept 700 before the sale, and KNDS agrees to keep half of them and plans to multiply it in the future. In fact, the unions, led by IG Metall, were the ones who promoted the idea of ​​reorienting the plant towards the defense sector to avoid its definitive closure. In a territory marked by youth exodus and economic frustration, the arms industry has ended up offering something similar to a second chance. German military reindustrialization. The Görlitz case reflects a broader phenomenon: German rearmament as a driver of a new industrial reconversion. Since 2020, Berlin’s defense spending has increased about 80%exceeding 90,000 million euros, and the demand for specialized labor has skyrocketed. Companies such as Rheinmetall, Diehl Defense, Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems or MBDA have added more than 16,000 workers since the start of the war of Ukraine and plan to hire 12,000 more before 2026. The sector’s profits are so high that its managers increase dividends while exploring the purchase of automobile plants in decline, as that of Volkswagen in Osnabrück. The “logic”. The message from its CEO, Armin Papperger, summarize the logic of the new defense economy: if taxpayers’ money finances national security, jobs must stay in Germany. In this context, the factory conversion like Görlitz, it is perceived as an industrial policy with a dual purpose: to sustain the productive fabric and strengthen the country’s strategic autonomy. The moral dilemma. Despite the economic relief that the renaissance of the arms sector represents, it persists in German society a deep tension between the pacifism inherited from the post-war and the need to guarantee European defense. For many East Germans, who already experienced a first deindustrialization after the fall of the Wall and now suffer the loss of energy and manufacturing jobs, manufacturing tanks is a bitter way of survival. Some fear that the weapons produced will end up on the Ukrainian front, others that the rise of the business depends on the continuity of the war. “Will it be sustainable to manufacture tanks? I hope not. I hope the wars end soon,” admitted to the Financial Times a union representative. However, the reality of the market and geopolitics point in another direction: defense has become the new industrial hub European, and Germany (due to history, technological capacity and allied pressure) leads that transition. Goodbye train, hello tank. Thus, the old Görlitz factory, with its warehouses blackened by decades of metallurgical work, symbolizes the change of era that crosses Europe. Where wagons were previously welded to transport passengers, steel shells will be assembled for combat vehicles. What began as a strategy to save jobs threatens to redefine the industrial soul of the country: from civil ingenuity to military power, from the steel that united continents to that which now armors them. And a profound paradox: in a fractured political landscape, where the fear of war coexists with the need to prosper, the workers of Eastern Germany are once again the involuntary protagonists of history. Its destiny, between nostalgia for trains and the pragmatic acceptance of tanks or battle tanks, summarizes the dilemma of a nation that tries to reconcile its pacifist past with a present that pushes it, once again, to manufacture weapons to ensure its future. Image | Norwegian Armed Forces, State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labor, Energy and Climate Protection In Xataka | The US no longer has to worry about Spain or the rearmament bill in Europe. Germany had a plan B In Xataka | The “rearmament” of Europe has begun at a Volkswagen factory in Germany: instead of cars they will produce tanks

Ford had 20,000 workers in the Colonia factory. Ten years later they are 7,600 because their electric cars are not bought

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Three years ago, Ford presented its short and medium -term road map for Europe. Then they announced seven new completely electric modelsof which they were commercial vehicles. Of the other three, only one was a Ford. And, in fact, it has ended up becoming the electric variant of a combustion car. We talk about Ford Pumaan electric car in which they have had to juggle to put an electric motor train. A car limited to the city because platform restrictions Combustion barely leave space for a 43 kWh battery. With its more than 34,000 euros of departure, it has become a difficult car taking into account that it moves on the highway between 200 and the 250 real kilometers of autonomy. The other two, as we said, are not Ford cars. The Ford Explorer and Ford Capri They are electric cars mounted on the Volkswagen platform. In both cases we have stressed that, dynamically, cars have a slightly more interesting tuning than that of the Germans, with more hard suspensions and a slightly more direct direction. However, if you mount one and another it is easy to verify that both models are mounted on the Volkswagen MEB platform. That is disguised with the vertical displaceable screen in depth and a speaker arranged as if it were a sound bar. But that’s it. The interface of a good part of the menus is Purely Volkswagen And, specifically, it is evident that it is a hardware and software mounted on the MEB platform. And that is bad news. For your touch controls or for your usability decisions. And they are also bad news for Ford. So much that it will fire a thousand German employees because their electric cars are not buying. The results of a failed strategy A thousand employees. That is the number that Ford will say goodbye to its neighborhood plant (Germany). They argue that “in Europe, the demand for electric cars is still well below the forecasts of the sector” and that, therefore, the plant will pass to a single shift in 2026, reducing its productive capacity, in words collected by Motorpasion. They explain in the middle that so far this year, Ford has sold 19,000 Ford Explorer units and Capri is still below. In fact, you have to go down to the fourteenth place between best -selling electric cars in Europe in the first half of the year to find the Americans. Cupra, Byd or Peugeot were above them. We could talk about bad results but Ford invested 1,000 million euros in Colonia to modernize the plant and get its electric cars out of there. With a productive capacity of 250,000 vehicles per year, the factory works at half a gas. Nor is it a good time to receive this news since The company is losing money this year and suffering with American tariffs. So much so that last year he earned 1.8 billion dollars and this year plays in red numbers. The result is also the consequence of a risky strategy: to offer two clearly differentiated products. In October 2024, Jim Farley, his CEO, said that the company was “leaving the market of boring cars to enter the market of iconic cars” to the magazine Car. The statements They coincided over time with the abandonment of classic vehicles in the European market such as party, Mondeo or Focus. And it continued: “We are good making a quick car (about Ford and the bronco sub -jack) and authentic SUVs. Look at the Raptor, we brought it from Mexican competitions and turned it into a car that can be used in the street. It is a great example of where I think our passenger cars should go (…) We can face Porsche with the Mustang, it is the best -selling sports coupe in the world. and be stronger and stronger “ In those words, Ford’s strategy was hidden. European emission regulations They aimed at 2025 of Milmillonarias fines. Finally, the sanctions were delayed to 2027 but, if applied, Ford needs to sell many more electric and few cars like the ones Farley mentioned since they exceed the maximum proposed emissions of 93 gr/km of CO2. The answer was the hug to the Volkswagen MEB platform. This has been criticized harshly by critics and the public. In their eagerness to reduce costs, decisions have been made as a profusion of tactile controls They bother in place of adding. And cars have not highlighted precisely for good autonomy or a groundbreaking price. But, in return, Ford has obtained two electric cars in the market with a minimum investment. The risk is almost limited to the modernization of the colony plant. So, There are two clearly differentiated business lines In Ford: Cheap cars (developed on the work of others) and expensive and representative cars that do not even refer to Ford. It is no accident that the Mustang, Bronco or Raptor have lost the Ford logo on their front. They are, in themselves, as families that work almost independently. The problem is that the public has not bought Ford’s bet. The Ford Explorer or Capri are not bad electric cars but you have to assume the youth errors of the MEB platform paid, in addition, at a high price. In what we have been, in Spain, 649 units have been bought between the sum of these two models. 649 units of the almost 21,000 registrations that Ford is registered at the end of August. The damage is especially bleeding in more powerful markets. In Germany, Volkswagen has managed to overcome with the ID.3a car that seemed dead but is the best selling in the electricity market. He is followed ID.7which also uses the MEB platform. The Volkswagen ID.4 and ID.5 They are positioned in the fourth position (add up to the same bag because ID.5 is only the Coupé variant of ID.4). You have to go down to the twelfth position to find the Ford Explorer. Capri is not among … Read more

China’s last US hint threatens a TSMC chip factory ahead

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On December 31, it will be a very important day for semiconductor manufacturers that have plants in China. From that date they will not be able Its facilities in this Asian country. And they cannot do it because The US does not want chips manufacturing equipment that resort to American technologies and innovations They arrive in China. Not even integrated circuit factories that do not belong to Chinese companies. In 2022 the US Department of Commerce granted a temporary exemption to several manufacturers of foreign semicondators who have plants in China so that they could equip their facilities with the machines they needed. But this permissive period is about to expire. From now on any chips manufacturer who has plants in China will have to request a license from the US Commerce Department to be able to install in its factories machines with US components or technologies. Intel has sold Your Dalian plant (China), so this measure no longer affects it. However, there are three foreign companies of enormous relevance in the semiconductor industry that will be affected by this measure of the US government: South Korean Samsung and Sk Hynixand the TSMC Taiwanese. The latter has a chips factory in Nankín, in the province of Jiangsu (China), in which as of December 31 it will not be able to install advanced lithography equipment. The US and TSMC strip and loosen The semiconductor production plant that TSMC has in Nankín is important for this company, but it is not a toe. In fact, it manufactures mostly chips in its 16 and 28 nm nodes. This installation currently represents only 3% of TSMC’s total production capacity, but this does not mean that it is not relevant within the manufacturing infrastructure of this Taiwanese company. In fact, in 2021 announced an investment plan of 2,870 million dollars that in 2023 allowed expanding the manufacturing capacity of the plant to about 40,000 wafers per month. These presumably “restrictions” will condemn “in the short and medium term to this factory to the production only of mature chips During the last weeks, the TSMC Directive dome has met with the US Department of Commerce in an attempt to protect the interests of its Nankín plant, But it has not been successful. These presumably “restrictions” will condemn “in the short and medium term to this factory to Production only with ripe chipsalready long term will probably lose its relevance in the Integrated Circuite Production Infrastructure of TSMC. Whatever this is only One more episode in the awkward relationship that support the US and TSMC government for years. For this chips manufacturer the country led by Donald Trump is very important because a good part of his best clients is American. Nvidia, Apple, AMD, Broadcom or Qualcomm, among other companies, get the chips they design in TSMC’s lithographic nodes. However, this currency has a second face. And it is currently the USA cannot do without TSMC. Intel is American, and It has advanced lithography nodesbut the competitiveness of his Taiwanese rival is difficult to match. TSMC has cemented its leadership on the tuning of a range of Very advanced high integration technologiesand, at the same time, On a colossal production capacity which is only possible reaching a very high wafer performance. The US government knows very well the strength of this company. And also how important it is for US companies that I have mentioned in the previous paragraph. Image | TSMC More information | SCMP In Xataka | Intel was about to snatch Apple as a client from TSMC. Having achieved its story would be another

The fastest factory keys in the world

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On the southeast coast of South Korea there is an installation that has somewhat redefined what the mass production of cars means. And it is that the Hyundai plant in Ulsan is not only the largest vehicle factory in the world if we talk about extension, but has managed to integrate manufacturing, quality control and global distribution in such an efficient process that today is capable of producing A new car every ten seconds. The figures speak for themselves. With a manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million vehicles annuallythis installation almost doubles all the production of vehicles of countries like Italywhich has about 23 different factories. To put this productive capacity in perspective, the ULASAN plant could have covered 98% of all sales of new cars in Italy during 2024. Image: Hyundai The secret is in integration. What makes Ulsan unique is not only its size, which reaches more than 485 hectares (the equivalent of 680 soccer fields), but its revolutionary concept: it is the only automotive plant in the world Integrated own port. While other factories must transport their vehicles to external ports, here the cars pass directly from the production line to the ship, eliminating dead times and logistics costs. Mass production. The installation houses five operational factories plus a motor and transmissions plant, with production lines that work 18 hours a day. 17 different models are manufactured, from the Hyundai Santa Fe and Tucson to the entire Genesis range. In fact, a sixth exclusive plant for electric vehicles will open during the first quarter of 2026 To produce genesis. From the line to the ocean in minutes. After passing the quality controls, the newly finished vehicles are directed to a huge parking lot next to the dock. There, specialized drivers They carry them on huge transport ships by steep ramps. Once the load is finished, these same drivers run away on foot and go up to an Hyundai Saria to go to the next vehicle lot. Complete urban transformation. The magnitude of the project has completely transformed the region. When Hyundai began the construction in 1968, Ulsan was a fishing village of 30,000 inhabitants. Today it houses 1.1 million people, and has become the industrial center of South Korea. The presence of Hyundai is so significant that there is even a highway with the name of the company’s founder, and hospitals, schools and restaurants proudly carry the name of the brand. Giant numbers. Every 24 hours A loaded ship comes out of the port of Ulsan. 75% of the annual production is exported to more than 200 countries, with destinations such as California, which receive up to 6,000 vehicles in a single ship after 13 days of crossing through the Pacific. The plant uses 34,000 people directly, more inhabitants than the entire city had when the factory was founded. An unrepeatable model. “This unique way of producing and exporting cars saves as much money and time, and it is the key reason why Hyundai can manufacture so many vehicles every year,” assured A person in charge of the plant. An efficiency model that began in 1968 as a small assembly installation where Ford Cortina was assembled by hand, and today represents the cusp of large -scale automotive production. Cover image | Hyundai In Xataka | “In five years there will only be five brands”: the XPEng CEO is clear about the future apocalyptic of Chinese cars

A “key molecules” factory “

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He James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has given us another image for memory, but this time, beauty hides a fundamental discovery about the Chemistry of the Universe. An international astronomer team ha used the powerful webb infrared eye To unravel the complex NGC 6302 structure, better known as the Butterfly. Trying to solve a great astrophysics question. The team of scientists has found in this nebula what could be the first direct evidence of a place of training of Policy aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in a planetary nebula. These molecules, carbon compounds and fundamental for Prebiotic chemistrythey are an essential ingredient in the cosmos, and understanding where and how they are created is one of the great questions of astrophysics. A chemical puzzle in the heart of the butterfly. The butterfly nebula, located about 3,800 light years awayis the spectacular remnant of a dying star much more massive than our sun. In its center is one of the most known hot stars, with a surface temperature of approximately 220,000 Kelvins. This star bombards with ultraviolet radiation the remains of gas and dust that she expelled, creating the intricate and bright ‘wings’ that give her her characteristic name. However, NGC 6302 presented an enigma that brought scientists heading. Your spectrum It showed the simultaneous presence of oxygen rich dust (such as crystalline silicates) and carbon rich molecules (the PAH). This is extremely unusual, since the chemistry of an evolved star usually opts for one of the two elements, depending on whether in its atmosphere there is more carbon or more oxygen. Finding both in abundance was like mixing water and oil. The Webb turns on the light in the dark. Using the Miri instrument (MID-Infrared Instrument) of the JWST, the researchers led by Mikako Matsuura of the University of Cardiff, managed to create a detailed chemical map of the heart of the nebulose, a dense and darkened area by dust. This map deserved an article in the magazine Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society where a much more dynamic and complex structure was revealed than was thought. An astronomical treasure. The study confirmed the existence of a dense album of dust and gas that surrounded the central star. And the album is a real treasure, because it not only contains a huge mass (between 0.8 and 3 times the mass of our sun), but is composed of grains of large crystalline silicates. This supports the theory that this dust was formed in an environment of high intensity and slowly, conditions that would be given on a stable album, perhaps influenced by a companion star, and not in the rapid and chaotic stellar wind. Violent bubbles and a PAH factory. One of the most surprising findings is that the nebula is not being formed by a continuous and soft stellar wind. Instead, Webb reveals that the central star has generated a series of hot gas bubbles in violent and intermittent expulsions. It is precisely on the edge of one of these “internal bubbles” where the “Eureka” moment occurred. The scientists observed a clear stratification of the materials. Specifically, an inner layer of highly ionized gases was seen, such as magnesium and silicon, very close to the star. More outside a layer of ionized hydrogen. And coinciding with this layer, or slightly more outside, a layer of molecular hydrogen. But the most interesting thing is that the emission of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) is even more outside the layers. Something unusual to what is already known. This provision is different from that of other regions of Well -studied star traininglike the Orion bar. The researchers argue that the shock wave generated by the expansion of the hot bubble creates the perfect conditions of radiation and temperature in the material that is right in front. This shock front triggers a chemistry that allows the formation of PAH molecules in that specific strip. Instead of being remains of the star’s past, these complex molecules would be manufactured right now, as a result of the violent nebula dynamics. Why is it important? With this research, a first step has been taken to decipher the origin of Complex molecules in our universewhich are considered fundamental construction blocks for the precursors of life. Understanding where and how they are manufactured in the cosmos is crucial to understand the carbon cycle in the universe and the availability of prebiotic ingredients in galaxies that give a new life. The study also demonstrates that the butterfly nebula was not formed by a soft and continuous stellar wind, but by a series of violent and energy bursts. This changes our understanding about how stars die like the sun and how their elements return to space, demonstrating that the final phase of the life of a star can be a much more dynamic process than was thought. Images | POT In Xataka | Spacex has just published unpublished images of the “Rostized” Starship. A unique perspective of his shock after the toughest reentry

The TSMC factory in Arizona is going well, although its chips are more expensive than those of Taiwan

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Lisa her, the general director of AMD, He has just confirmed what we suspect since the beginning of this year: semiconductors that It is already manufacturing The new TSMC plant in Phoenix (Arizona) are Between 5 and 20% more expensive that the comparable integrated circuits produced in Taiwan. AMD will receive its first chips manufactured in this plant at the end of 2025, and given the increase in costs with all likelihood its market price It will be taller than that of semiconductors from Taiwan. Even so, Smooth his He maintains that the existence of this factory in the US is good news for all, for companies and users, because it contributes to the diversification of the supply of the chips and the strengthening of the distribution chain. According to histhanks to this plant and those that will arrive in the future will be more difficult for it to occur again A semiconductor crisis As serious as the one that triggered the Covid-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2023. Despite all the performance of the TSMC factory in Arizona it is high According to financial journalist Walter BloombergTSMC will increase the price of integrated circuits produced by 30% in the US to compensate for the costs triggered by tariffs on the production equipment of imported chips from Europe and Japan. Of course, the Government led by Donald Trump has not yet revealed how the import tariffs of photolithography machines used by TSMC, Intel or Samsung plants in the US will affect the importation tariffs. N4 and N4P lithographs are part of the TSMC Finfet Integration Technologies Family In mid -April 2024 CC Wei, the executive who at that time held the reins of TSMC, advance that the increase in costs derived from the manufacture of integrated avant -garde circuits in the plants that the company has outside of Taiwan It would be assumed by both TSMC and its customers: “If my client wants to manufacture in a specific area (out of Taiwan) then TSMC and the client himself will have to share the increase in costs (…) We are already discussing it with our customers.” Whatever it is beyond the costs linked to the production of chips in the US, The TSMC factory in Arizona is fine. This plant is manufacturing semiconductors in the N4 node (5 Nm). Lithographs N4 and N4P are part of the TSMC Finfet integration technologies family, although on paper the N4P process is a bit more refined. In any case, the plant we are talking about will not be the only one that this company will have in Arizona. The second factory will be operational in 2028 and will produce integrated circuits in N3 (3 Nm) and N2 (2 Nm) nodes. And finally, the third factory will not be listed at all until the end of this decade and It will produce chips in the node N2 (2 nm). TSMC can manufacture integrated 2 nm circuits In its US plants, although the Taiwanese administration will cauture the use of this technology in the country led by Donald Trump. “Private companies must make their own commercial decisions covered in their own technological progress (…) TSMC is building factories in the US with the purpose of serving their US clients because 60% of the world’s chip designer companies are based precisely in the US.” These words of Jw KuoMinister of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, are a declaration of intentions. It will be interesting to verify how the relationship of the US and Taiwan governments in the future prosper. Image | TSMC More information | SCMP In Xataka | The US confesses its worst nightmare: if China invades taiwan and controls TSMC the US economy will go to pique

A huge secret factory is tilting the balance in the Ukraine War. Russia is multiplying a relentless army

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The war in Ukraine has entered a stage of tactical saturation where volume, rather than sophistication, has become The decisive weapon. Russia It has increased And much the use of Shahed drone swarms in Russian territory under the Geran denominationmanaging to pierce Ukrainian defenses at an unprecedented rate. How much? A video has revealed what is about to happen. Swarm war. I remembered The Financial Times that, according to official data, between April and June 2025, the percentage of drones that managed to impact their objectives reached 15%tripling the success rate of the previous three months. It We count: On the night of July 9, he marked a record when Russia launched 728 Drones and Shahed, along with Kinzhal and Iskander Balistic missiles, in a clear attempt to saturate and overflow the Ukrainian aerial defenses. This tactic demonstrates that the massive use of cheap platforms can overcome expensive and sophisticated defense systems, exposing a critical point: the imbalance between cost and effectiveness in modern combat. Gera-3 and a lethal machine. The technical improvements introduced by Moscow in their drones have raised their effectiveness notably. Among them stands out The Geran-3a vturbocharged arizing capable of reaching speeds of up to 800 km/h in chopped, which makes it almost invulnerable to the traditional anti -aircraft weapons mounted in trucks, such as heavy machine guns. In addition, current shahed can fly to greater altitudeavoiding the optimal impact areas of terrestrial defenses. This change, rather than reflecting Ukrainian weakening, shows the Russian capacity to quickly adapt its attack doctrine and exploit the weaknesses of the adversary. The Night wavespersistent and combined with more sophisticated missiles, they seek to wear not only the technical defenses of Ukraine, but also the moral of their population and force political concessions through exhaustion. A horror factory. And this is where Russia’s last announcement appears. Moscow He has revealed to the world which describes as its greatest and more Secret drone plant: Alabuga’s industrial complex, in the Tartaristan region, where Geran suicide drones are assembled. The plant, located in the Yelabuga Industrial Park and officially launched in 2023, appears In a video of the Russian military channel Zvezda, who does not spare to show adolescents operating work stations and manipulating technological pieces in assembly lines. According to Timur ShagivalievExecutive Director of the Special Economic Zone of Alabuga, the installation has multiplied by nine its planned production, reaching a monthly rate of 5,200 units Between attack drones and lure models, which converts it, he says, “the largest plant of its kind in the world.” The scene, no doubt, is disturbing: teenagers building weapons designed to kill a great distance, while the Kremlin presumes a relentless manufacturing capacity. Geran-2, cheaper. If the third version is the most advanced, its predecessor, the direct version of the Shahed-136 Iranian, is the drone Factory Key. We talked about a 3.5 -meter device with a 50 kg eye, a cruise speed of 300 km/Hy a range of 1,800 km. Its estimated cost of between $ 35,000 and $ 49,000 makes it an affordable massive destruction tool, ideal to saturate enemy defensive systems. Compared to western interceptors such as Patriot missile (valued at several million dollars per unit) The Geran-2 embodies an asymmetric disruption: cheap, resistant, easy to manufacture in mass and with a devastating psychological effect. New strategic threshold. To the Russian drone industry, with that Alabuga factory At the head, news has been added that has put Ukraine alert. Russia prepares to achieve unprecedented attack capacity: the simultaneous launch of 2,000 drones against kyivaccording to the German general Christian FreudingHead of the Working Group for Ukraine of the Ministry of Defense of Germany. This figure, which completely redefines the scale of the unmanned war 2 million FPV and 30,000 long -range drones or lure, According to reports of Ukrainian external intelligence (Szru). Overwhelmed defense. Ukraine, meanwhile, has responded to all this machinara with a combination of classic techniques In interceptor drones. In fact, Zelenski recently announced a according to Eric Schmidtformer executive director of Google and current leader of Swift Beat, for the co -production of hundreds of thousands of drones, including interceptors. According to the Ukrainian president, these devices are already Broving dozens of Shaheds In each attack and begin to demonstrate good results, with hundreds of confirmed eliminations in just one week. In any case, to be effective against the new flight profile of Russian drones, these interceptors must reach speeds of at least 200 km/hy altitudes of up to 6 km, capacities that allow to counteract saturation attacks that easily overflow the Ukrainian mobile units armed with technology from the mid -twentieth century. Adaptation without truce. The scenario is part of a dynamic of continuous evolution Between offensive and defensive: A cycle of innovation and counter-innovation that accelerates exponentially. Andrew Turner, former Air Marshal of the Royal Air Force and current director of Saibre Capital, summed up in the Times This dynamic as a “persistent staircase and countermeasures that in Ukraine is renewed every 14 days.” Thus, the conflict has become an accelerated laboratory of unmanned air war, where the decisive factor is no longer the number of fighters or tanks, but the ability to produce and adapt swarms of autonomous machines at a faster pace that the enemy can respond. A single color. In short, the drone war In Ukraine it has reached a new level of complexity. On the one hand, Russia has managed to integrate successfully volume, speed and saturation to create a constant threat that escapes traditional air defense schemes. On the other, Ukraine, with foreign aid, begins to build a defensive layer equally decentralized and reactive based on interceptor drones. In this confrontation of swarms, the balance does not lean simply by the number of weapons, but by the speed with which each side Learn, adapt and scale Your production. The aerial battlefield has become an industrial and algorithmic competition, where software, distributed manufacturing and AI are replacing cannons and missiles as decisive tools of … Read more

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