Google

Google is going to build a mega data center in a state where the drought is atrocious. Your cooling plan: use air

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The American state of Texas has been dealing with heat wavesdroughts and a increasing pressure on its aquiferswhich makes it on paper one of the worst places to set up a data center. Well, Wilbarger County in Texas is just the place chosen by Google to set up your next data center. But big tech hides an ace up its sleeve: it is not going to use water for cooling, but air. Context. Briefly, a data center is an industrial facility full of servers where information transmitted over the internet, such as AI responses or your Google photos, is stored and processed. And if your personal computer requires cooling when it has been working with a certain intensity for some time to dissipate heat, more of the same with servers, which operate 24/7. The usual thing in these plants is to use thermal dissipation systems with water, either with chillers, evaporation or direct cooling with immersion, thermally efficient solutions, but problematic if water is scarce. The problem? That Texas is an oven that is not for buns: its drought is pressing. But Texas is not a foreign place for Google: it has been in that state for more than 15 years, where it has operational centers in Midlothian and Red Oak and already plans to build two more campuses in Armstrong and Haskell Counties. It’s very serious. The project. The Wilbarger County data center will reduce water use so much that it will restrict its application to basic campus uses such as kitchens and services. As? Google has not provided details of the technology, only that it will be advanced air cooling. Cooling with air in such a hot scenario implies greater energy consumption, so the problem now becomes electricity. What Google proposes is a “Power first” model. In short: the data center goes hand in hand with its own renewable electricity generation plant. Google’s energy partner for this project is AESone of the largest producers of renewables in the US, with whom it has a 20-year energy purchase agreement at an agreed price. This is how both win: AES has stability to build the plants and Google has the guaranteed supply and price. Furthermore, according to Google, they already have the land and the interconnection signed, which saves bureaucracy and launches the project into the construction phase. Why is it important. Because according to EESI estimatesa medium-sized data center can consume 416 million liters per year for thermal dissipation alone, the equivalent of a thousand homes. And if there is a shortage of water, allocating it to meet the needs of a data center is hardly justifiable. Wilbarger’s project solves this with air cooling, removing the precious commodity of water from the equation, but also from the electrical grid itself: Google cooks it and Google eats it (with the help of AES). Given that the demand for computing continues to grow, a model that does not consume water or overload the network emerges as a solution to a resource management problem. In figures. For Google, Wilbarger County is not a pilot plant and its size demonstrates this: 0 liters of water for cooling. The project will provide 7,800 MW of power to the Texas grid. The agreement between the technology and energy companies is for 20 years. Google advertisement an investment item of 40 billion dollars for Texas in November 2025 and has provided a $30 million fund to boost energy initiatives in Texas from 2026 to 2028. It won’t be easy. Although Google has been cryptic when it comes to reporting what the technology, its capacity and needs will be, the reality is that when cooling with air in a hot climate, the pressure is transferred to the electrical grid. On the other hand, and although this specific project points the direction of a possible solution to this problem, we will have to see if and how it can be scaled, because there are more and more data centers and the climate is increasingly more extreme. In Xataka | Google doesn’t have rockets, but it is going to install data centers in space. SpaceX and Blue Origin rub their hands In Xataka | Data centers in space are the finger, Google’s purchase of an electrical company is the Moon Cover | Google Data Centers and Ganapathy Kumar

Xiaomi is testing the mother of AIs for its cars, mobile phones and home. And there is no trace of Google or OpenAI

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Xiaomi long ago stopped being simply a mobile brand and became one of the giants of the Chinese technology ecosystem. The company It no longer goes to volume, it goes to aspirationand to achieve this they want a remarkable user experience. A deep integration of artificial intelligence is inevitable to achieve this, and that is where MiClaw comes to life. Mike? Xiaomi has published on its website the details about MiClaw, your next step in exploring AI agents. It begins as a small-scale closed test, but it represents the pillars of what we will see in the near future on the company’s devices. What is. Xiaomi is testing with MiClaw the execution capabilities of its large AI models (MiMo) within the mobile-car-home ecosystem, both at the conversational level and in terms of execution capacity. It is a deep model, one with full access to every single event on the device, and able to reason for itself what action needs to be taken. What are you doing. The agentic AI prepared by Xiaomi follows a four-step model: Perception Association Decision Action In the text itself, Xiaomi gives us some examples of how its agent can make our lives easier. A refrigerator that can automatically check which consumables are missing at home, connect to our calendar and create a reminder that we have to make the purchase. You buy a train ticket, the agent reads the confirmation SMS, consults our calendar, and automatically prepares and schedules the trip. Why is it important. That Xiaomi is redoubling its efforts in AI is no coincidence. The company wants to be a benchmark in the ecosystem and conquer regions like Europe. Leading in artificial intelligence will be key for any of its product pillars: cars, home devices and mobile phones. Xiaomi wants to move away from the current interpretation-execution proposal, to integrate an agent capable of carrying out up to 20 consecutive and independently executed actions. At the moment, MiClaw works under closed beta on devices like the Xiaomi 17 Ultrabut Xiaomi’s idea is to develop an agent capable of working on any of its devices. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Is the newest the best for you? We compare the Xiaomi 17 Ultra against the Xiaomi 15 Ultra to see which is a better buy in 2026

Google wants you to spend more time in its app store. So he’s going to turn it into TikTok

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At the end of 2023, Google warned: at some point the discovery of applications through short videos in the Play Store would be enhanced. A pilot test began in the United States under the name “Play Report”, giving maximum prominence to certain selected applications through short videos in vertical format. What began as a pilot test appears to have worked successfully. The company just announced a package of news that will come to Android and, among them, is this type of videos. The fact that. Google is going to introduce Google Play Shorts. Their name does not deceive: they are short format videos in which we will be shown the content and operation of the applications. As soon as we open the application, we will see them playing, so the first question we ask ourselves is whether it will be possible to eliminate its autoplay to save data. Because. Google is not hiding, it wants us to be able to check how an application works without having to leave the Play Store. Until now, if we wanted to consult about any app we used to close the store, look for information in another source, and return to download it. The objective of the Play Shorts is that we have enough hook with the video, and we go on to download the application directly. As. The videos will be integrated into the apps section itself, they will not have an independent section. Or, in other words, a priori they seem inevitable. We will open the Play Store and at the beginning we will have these Play Shorts. They will be integrated into the app files themselves but, to boost downloads, there will be an installation button in the video itself. When. “Soon.” The key here is that the function has come out of pilot testing and will soon arrive on Android. Over the next few weeks, and through a server update, these new ads will progressively appear. TikTokizing Play Store. While the European Union puts infinite scroll in the spotlightGoogle has just added it to its most used application. Once we enter Play Shorts, we can slide down to see more and more applications, a format identical to that of TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Image | Google In Xataka | The science of “doomscrolling”: how technology hacked psychology so we can’t let go of our phones

There are alternatives if you don’t want to depend on Google Drive or other US clouds. Internxt is one of them and it only costs 16 euros per year

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Having cloud storage is ideal for giving your cell phone or laptop a break. You upload your photos, your videos or your files there and you always have them at hand. Most people tend to go directly to the most popular clouds like Google Drive or iCloud, services that have nothing wrong, but there is something in common: They are owned by US companies. There is a trend that increasingly attracts more people than Try to depend as little as possible on services from this country. If you are one of those people or this is something you have been thinking about for some time, then you might be interested in betting on a European cloud service like Internxt Drive: if you use the code ‘XATAKA‘ you have 1 TB of storage per 16 euros per year. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A cloud of Spanish origin that includes VPN and antivirus Internxt is a company of Spanish origin and is ideal if, as we said above, you are looking for a cloud service that is not from the large US tech companies. The cheapest option costs 16 euros per year and includes 1 TB as we said a little above, but includes VPN and antivirusmaking it a very complete package at a very attractive price. What can we highlight about this cloud? Internxt uses what is known as ‘Zero-Nowledge’ or ‘Zero Knowledge’. This means that their servers store your photos or files, but they cannot access these files in any way. In fact, Because they don’t store, they don’t even save your password. You will not lack privacy. Then there is the issue of end-to-end encryption. This company encrypts your files before uploading them to the cloud. This way, even if someone intercepts your data while you are sending it to the cloud, they will not be able to access it. In fact, its service is already prepared to even combat against quantum computers when these arrive in a few years. If you are concerned about the whole issue of privacy, it is also worth noting that Internxt is open and transparent sourceso anyone can access it through GitHub. What does this mean? That its entire architecture is transparent, so it cannot hide any type of function or secret way so that your data ends up in the hands of third parties. Premium Plan: 3 TB of storage, VPN, antivirus and cleaner per 31 euros per year (or 377 euros for life) Ultimate Plan: 5 TB of storage, VPN, antivirus, cleaner and meet per 47 euros per year (or 507 euros for life) Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Internxt In Xataka | Google Drive alternatives: the best cloud storage services for your files In Xataka | Best VPNs 2025: guide with the 17 best services to protect your online privacy

What is and how does the Google application work to take photos with filters from old camera rolls?

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Let’s explain to you what it is and how to use Snapseed Camerathe new camera application created by Google. This is a Snapseed feature that has so far reached the iPhone first, and it remains to be seen how long it will take to also reach Android. We are going to start the article by explaining what exactly this application is, or rather this function within an application. Then, we will tell you step by step how you can use it to give your photos a touch of personality. What is Snapseed Snapseed is an application created by Google to edit your photos and to be able to improve them. It is one of the oldest applications there is for this function, to edit all aspects of the photo such as brightness, contrast, saturation, etc., and also to crop it. One of the features that has always made Snapseed popular is that it is designed for one-handed use, with all settings being accessible and very easy to use with just your thumb. But of course, we live in times in which the processing of photos in the camera applications of any mobile phone already improves them automatically, so this type of applications has had to innovate. First, Snapseed has introduced a feature to enhance photos with AI without having to do anything. The app is simply responsible for making all the settings. And then, Snapseed Camera has also arrived. What is Snapseed Camera Snapseed Camera a feature within Snapseed. Specifically, it is a function for take photos directly with the appso it tries to be an alternative to the camera application on your mobile. The main feature of this camera is that it has preset filters to take the photo with them. You choose a filter, you see the result in a real image, and you decide to take the photo with them. But Snapseed Camera goes beyond that, because offers vintage camera filtersthose old photo reels. It also has some presets with preset settings, and allows you to make changes to textures and other types of adjustments before taking the photo, as if it were a professional camera. How to use Snapseed Camera To use Snapseed Camera, you have to enter the Snapseed app. In it, At the top right you have a camera iconand when you click on it you will go to Snapseed Camera with its options for taking photos. Now you will go to a screen where you simply have to slide to the sides to explore the filters of different movies that you have available. Every time you select a new one you will see the changes on the screen. And that’s it. Once you have selected the filter, you just have to take the photo and it will be added to the application gallery. You can also activate a pro mode to make changes to zoom and other aspects. In Xataka Basics | ChatGPT Images: what it is and how to use it to create images with artificial intelligence from your photos

Google is once again leading the AI ​​race and has something that no rival can match

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Google has launched Gemini 3.1 Proan incremental update of its flagship model that comes loaded with surprises. And according to its benchmarks, the model has much more to say than it seems. In abstract reasoning, Google wants to start setting the pace on Anthropic and OpenAI. But their ace in the hole is not just that, because they have something that other startups cannot replicate: their entire ecosystem and how they are integrating AI into it. What just happened. Just three months after launching Gemini 3 ProGoogle has published Gemini 3.1 Pro. The curious thing is that the jump is much more impressive than it may seem if we only looked at that “.1” in front of it. According to the company, the new model significantly improves the reasoning of the previous one and represents the intelligence base that already fed the Gemini 3 Deep Think update, presented last week. It is available today in the Gemini app, in NotebookLM (for Pro and Ultra subscribers), in the API through AI Studio, and in enterprise environments through Vertex AI. Data. In the ARC-AGI-2 benchmark, designed to evaluate the ability to solve completely new logical patterns, without the possibility of having seen them during training, Gemini 3.1 Pro has achieved 77.1%. To put it in context: Gemini 3 Pro stayed at 31.1%, while Claude Sonnet 4.6 marked 58.3% and Opus 4.6 68.8%. That is, Google has not only closed the gap, but has gone over it. It should be noted that never before has a mid-term review of its models recorded such a pronounced advance in reasoning. What the numbers say in the rest of the benchmarks. In the comparative table that accompanies the advertisementGemini 3.1 Pro tops the majority of categories evaluated: it obtains the best result in Humanity’s Last Exam without tools (44.4%), it leads in GPQA Diamond with 94.3% in scientific knowledge, and it doubles the previous model in APEX-Agents, the benchmark for long-term tasks. It also excels in MCP Atlas (multistep workflows), BrowseComp (agent search) and MMMLU (multilingual question and answer). It should be noted that, according to these benchmarks, it is not better in everything: in GDPval-AA Elo, which evaluates tasks in real-world work environments, Claude Sonnet 4.6 surpasses Gemini 3.1 Pro with 1,633 points compared to 1,317. And in SWE-Bench Verified, the programming test with agents, Opus 4.6 scores 80.8% compared to Google’s 80.6%. However, in the global calculation, the balance clearly favors Google’s new model. In Arena Leaderboard (the classification based on user votes) still places Claude Opus 4.6 ahead in text and code, although here “the sensations” of each user take more prominence when it comes to rating, than anything else. A clear competitive advantage. The strongest argument in favor of Google does not even have to do with the power of its latest model. The company doesn’t need to convince you to use its AI: it’s already where you are. Search, Gmail, YouTube, Android, Docs, Drive, Google Photos, Maps… Its AI does not depend on you opening a specific application, but is integrated into the ecosystem that millions of people already use daily. For the rest of the startups (OpenAI, Anthropic…), they need you to use their models in specific environments (ChatGPT, Claude). Google is simply already there. It’s a moat that perhaps not even the best model in the world could sweep right now. And then there’s the price. Gemini 3.1 Pro comes to users with a subscription to Google AI Plus, Pro and Ultra, although you can also try it on a limited basis in the free plan. It should be noted that it is currently in a preliminary version. The narrative that Google wants us to have in our heads is that, for a modest price, you have access to that model, plus everything the company offers in its ecosystem, including storage. That, right now, is very difficult to overcome. Additionally, for developers, the API is also offered at a very competitive price. So, from a practical point of view and from the pocket, Google is giving everything so that all its users continue using its ecosystem, with or without the best AI. The “.1”. The AI ​​race has been at a frenetic pace for months. And the most interesting of all is that Google, which arrived late for the racehas had a hell of a year in which he has structured all the mess he had with his AI. The jump from Gemini 3 to 3.1 in reasoning is greater than what many rivals have achieved between full versions. And it has done so while maintaining the advantage of being the company that controls the most relevant entry points to the Internet. It remains to be seen how they solve monetizing your artificial intelligencebut they have certainly put in the work. Cover image | Alex Dudar and Google In Xataka | The scientist who made the AI ​​we know today possible has just raised 1 billion. His new goal is to teach him to see space

A Google Pixel cheaper than ever, Xiaomi headphones for 10 euros, last year’s GOTY and more. Hunting Bargains

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If when Friday arrives your body asks for a new Bargain Hunting, pay attention because today we return with another assortment of the best offers we have found all week. There is plenty to choose from, but we have chosen the five best deals in technology and entertainment. Do you want to know more? Well, we leave you these cell phones, headphones and more. Google Pixel 9a by 369 eurosthe lowest price we have seen on this mobile to date. Xiaomi Redmi Buds 6 Play by 9.80 eurosvery cheap headphones that come with a good battery. Honor Magic8 Lite by 313.65 euros When you add it to the cart, an excellent mobile phone if what you are looking for is a good battery. ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘ by 39.90 eurosa tighter price for the winner of GOTY 2025. Bose QuietComfort by 199 eurosone of the best prices these headphones have received to date. Google Pixel 9a After the presentation of a new mobile phone, it is normal that we see better offers on its previous generation, and this is what has happened between the Google Pixel 10a and the Google Pixel 9a. The latter has dropped even further in price and can be found on MediaMarkt for 369 euros in what is the best offer we have seen so far. Although it is true that there are changes between generations, for the price of the Google Pixel 9a we get a good mobile. It is small (6.3 inches), offers good performance at almost all times and Its photographic section gives very good results. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Buds 6 Play Xiaomi has many devices in its catalog, and some have very low prices. The Xiaomi Redmi Buds 6 Play They are a good example, since on Amazon we can find them by 9.80 euros. They come with noise cancellation on calls and have a great battery of up to 36 hours with the charging case. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Honor Magic8 Lite If there is a mobile phone that has managed to stand out in recent weeks, it is the Honor Magic8 Lite. It has arrived in stores with several offers, the one from MediaMarkt being one of the best because when you add it to the cart it remains 313.65 euros. The interesting thing lies above all in the 7,500 mAh battery, which in practice gives a autonomy of between two and three days. Not bad for the price it has. Honor Magic8 Lite (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ ‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘ Not only was it the GOTY of 2025, but it received a wide variety of awards beyond the Best Game of the Year, and it is not surprising. It was launched at a reduced price, but is now available for purchase. 39.90 euros. It is a turn-based RPG with a very interesting story, although what keeps us glued to the controls is its combat system and, above all, the soundtrack that still resonates in our heads. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PS5) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Bose QuietComfort If the Xiaomi headphones do not convince you because you are looking for something much better, pay attention because the Bose QuietComfort They have lowered the price again at MediaMarkt. By 199 eurosthis is one of the best deals we’ve seen on these headphones that have excellent active noise cancellation. Their autonomy is up to 24 hours and they are very comfortable. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Google, Xiaomi, Honor, Sandfall Interactive, Bose In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best sound bars in quality price (2026). Which one to buy and seven recommended models from 99 euros

How to create songs in Google Gemini using its Lyria component

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Let’s tell you how to create music with Geminithe artificial intelligence from Google. Gemini has just implemented the Lyria model within its AI assistant, which is capable of generating songs from your prompt of text. With this, Gemini begins to compete with Suno and other tools for create songs with artificial intelligence. It is true that Lyria in Gemini is still a little far from what the competition offers, but it is capable of generating amazing results. It will create both the music, the lyrics and the voice of a song. You just have to describe what you want, and the AI ​​will sing in your language without problems. The songs it generates are just 30 seconds longsmall musical clips that you can share. How to create music in Gemini Let’s tell you the two methods you have to create music using Gemini. One of them is a method with which the AI ​​tries to help you step by step to configure your musical style, so that it is faster, and the other is just invoking the creator with a prompt Make music with Gemini from its tools The first method is choose the option Create music from the Chrome tools menu. Simply click on tools and choose the option Create music. The option may also appear in the suggestions that appear below the writing field when you start a new chat. This will take you to a screen where you will be able to choose musical style that you want to use for your song. Each of these styles or pre-generated songs to work from has a button to listen to them, and you will only have to click on the style you want to continue. Now you simply have to write a prompt describing the song what do you want to do. When you do, you’ll see Gemini start thinking and summon Lyria, and then she’ll generate a song for you that you can play and even share. You will also have the option to regenerate the result or write a new prompt in which you request the changes you want to make. In this prompt you can give all kinds of details, such as musical style, subgenre, language, rhythm, theme, and you can even add the letter or tell it only words or phrases that you want the lyrics to include. You can specify structures, music speeds, whatever you want. Create a song in Gemini with a single prompt The second method is simply directly writing a prompt with everything. Here, the only important thing is that at the prompt indicate that you want a songand then describe how you want it to be. When you do this, when processing your request Gemini will realize that you have requested music or a song, and will directly run the Lyria tool to generate it. In just a few seconds you will have your song. Then you will be able write more prompts to request changes on the created song, or directly to compose a new one. In this prompt you can give all kinds of details, such as musical style, subgenre, language, rhythm, theme, and you can even add the letter or tell it only words or phrases that you want the lyrics to include. You can specify structures, music speeds, whatever you want. In Xataka Basics | How to Improve Gemini Answers: 14 Steps to Ensure Higher Quality and Better Sources

The 256 GB Google Pixel 10 cheaper than ever, an Honor with eight gifts, offers on Xiaomi headphones and more. Hunting Bargains

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Today is Friday and that means we’re back with a new Bargain Hunting. This week we have found very good offers related to technology, especially in phones and smart watches. If you were waiting for that great offer to renew your mobile or other devices, today we are going to review the best of the best that we have found during these last few days. Honor Magic8 Pro by 1,234.05 euros with coupon, a mobile phone with gifts valued at more than 800 euros. Google Pixel 10 by 644.14 euros when registering in the store, the best price we have seen to date on its 256 GB configuration. Google Pixel Watch 4 by 279 euros When processing the purchase, a very reasonable price in its LTE version. Ugreen FineTrack Smart Finder by 25.65 eurosa pack alternative to Apple’s AirTags. Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 Pro by 34.99 eurosBluetooth headphones with a lot of battery and active noise cancellation. Honor Magic8 Pro He Honor Magic8 Pro right now it has a pretty small 5% discount when you use the coupon AES2026with which he stays 1,234.05 euros. If it is on this list it is because it includes a huge assortment of gifts, one of the largest we have in the store to date. It is a good mobile phone that incorporates the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 along with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. Its battery supports 100W fast charging and it also comes with a good photography section, the most notable being the 3.7x telephoto. These are all the gifts that are included: Honor Pad 10 tablet. Honor Choice Pencil Stylus. Honor Watch 5 smartwatch. Honor Choice Earbuds Clip Bluetooth Headphones. Honor SuperCharge 100W charger. Honor Essentials Kit: A magnetic ring, a magnetic case, a magnetic wallet and a magnetic pendant. 12-month screen protection. 12 month protection. Honor Magic8 Pro (512GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 Do you want something cheaper? Well this week we finally found a good price (the best, in fact) on the Google Pixel 10 256 GB. By registering in the MediaMarkt store we will automatically have access to an additional discount, in this case remaining for a price of 644.14 euros. It is a telephone excellent for taking photosbut also because it is quite small (6.3 inches) and, of course, because of its design. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel Watch 4 And that additional discount has not only fallen on mobile phones, since the Google Pixel Watch 4 He also has it. By 279 euros When processing the purchase, we talk about a good watch with LTE connectivity whose operating system is WearOS. Its screen is quite good, offering a maximum brightness level of 3,000 nits and incorporates many sensors to measure physical activity. Google Pixel Watch 4 (41mm, LTE) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Ugreen FineTrack Smart Finder If you have an iPhone and you are not convinced by AirTags because the pack of four units is very expensive, there is an alternative. He Ugreen FineTrack Smart Finder also includes four units and costs 25.65 euros. They incorporate a battery instead of operating with a removable battery, they are integrated into the Search network, they are capable of playing audio alerts to locate you and allow you to share the location with up to five people. Ugreen FineTrack Smart Finder The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 Pro On the other hand, if what you are looking for are good headphones, that are very cheap and that also have active noise cancellation… here come the Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 Pro. By 34.99 euroswe are talking about headphones that offer a battery life of up to 38 hours, that are compatible with the LDAC audio codec and that connect to the mobile phone from the Xiaomi app. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Honor, Google, Ugreen, Xiaomi In Xataka | The best smartwatches (2026): their analyzes and videos are here In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs

Google has borrowed money to repay in 2126. AI is already financed with debt for a century ahead

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Alphabet has just closed the largest debt transaction in its history: $20 billion in bonds. And it is preparing something even rarer: an issue in pounds that includes a 100 year bond. Expires in 2126. Why is it important. No major technology company has issued a centenary bond since IBM in 1996. That Google is doing it now says a lot about the scale of investment AI requires. And that this race is financed with wild debt. The background: A bond is borrowed money. The company pays periodic interest and returns the principal at maturity. The routine is terms of 5, 10 or 30 years. The extraordinary thing is to ask for money from a century into the future. Investors lined up: demand exceeded 100 billion, five times what Google was asking for. Alphabet planned to raise 15 billion, but raised the offer to 20 billion due to the flood. Between the lines. A century-year bond is a statement of intent: “we are building infrastructure that will last generations.” Google is thus conveying that AI is not a three-year fad or something that we will forget after the puncture, but something that will transform the economy in the long term like railways or electricity did. Yes, but. Michael Burry, the investor who anticipated the 2008 crisis, has issued a warning that has gone viral: the last technology company that issued a centenary bond was Motorola in 1997. And according to him, that was “the last year in which Motorola mattered.” In 1997 it was a top 25 company in the United States, but a year later, Nokia overtook it and then the iPhone, Android, Chinese manufacturers arrived… and now, in the hands of Lenovoit barely fits into the top 10 mobile manufacturers. Burry asks: is this trust or the gesture made right at the top, before everything changes? The figures. Alphabet’s spending on infrastructure this year may reach, according to figures published by the companyat 185,000 million dollars. More than the previous three years combined. They are data centers, chips, computing capacity for AI… The five other large companies that have increased their capex (Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle; Apple has reduced it) issued 121,000 million in bonds last year. Four times more than the annual average for 2020-2024. Main winner? Google, without a doubt. Issuing very long-term debt locks in favorable interest rates for decades. If they go up, Google already has its financing. If they go down, you can buy back the debt sooner. Plus, the interest is deductible, so it’s cheaper than using your own cash. And it does not dilute shareholders. Win-win-win. What is happening. The era in which technology companies grew solely by turning to their profits is over. The enormous expense required by the infrastructure for AI makes them use financial instruments that until now they had barely needed. They are no longer software startups. They are the largest infrastructure builders of the 21st century. And they need a lot of capital. The big question. Is giving bonuses for a century vision or overconfidence? Probably both: What is certain is that technology companies now compete in the debt markets like banks and large industrial companies. And that defines what our industry has become. In Xataka | The intellectual luxury of our era is sustaining our attention, AI is making it worse Featured image | Mitchell Luo

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