industry

In his obsession to torpedo the Chinese chips industry, the US wants to block an essential to manufacture them: the software, according to FT

by

Hard setback for the Trump administration, which dawns this Thursday, May 29 with a clear response from the US International Trade Court to its tariff policy. The organism has declared generalized tariffs illegalafter considering that “they exceed any authority conferred on the president by the IEEPA (Law on Economic Powers in case of international emergency) “. In the middle of the storm, sources of Financial Times They declare that the United States Department of Commerce has begun to urge the main suppliers of electronic design automation software (EDA), in a new attempt to continue trying to knock each of the pillars that sustains the Chinese semiconductor industry. The new order. The Trump administration is starting to inform To the main national companies that offer the necessary software to design semiconductors that they must stop selling their services to Chinese groups. A measure that strengths the commercial war between the United States and China, at a time when the latter country is in full chips national production record and getting closer to develop their own 5 Nm lithography. The big names. There are three big names playing in the American industry: Cadence, Synopsy and Siemens. These three companies They monopolize the bulk of the Global EDA software market And they have been key for China to have been able to develop its current semiconductor industry. Preventing China from accessing this type of solutions is a zancadilla. These tools are essential to achieve advanced lithographic processes and expedite essentials such as design verification, performance simulation, energy consumption, and other key aspects to lead in the manufacture of any chip. Why is EDA software. In the manufacture of a modern semiconductor, tools that make it possible to automate the essential design and verification processes for its manufacture are necessary. Minimizing the margin of error and being especially effective in the refining of your behavior is key to leading this career. EDA software is a fundamental element to ensure that these designs meet the expectations of the manufacturing process, and allows to automate each of the phases of the same. The local industry. SMICthe spearhead in the Chinese semiconductor industry, It has been using Synopsys design suites For more than 20 years. After entering the Entity Listthe company did not lose access to these toolsonly access to them was difficult to be forced to establish license agreements to be able to use them. If Trump’s order is fulfilled, it will not be possible to renew these agreements or access to the software of these companies. Immediately after the intentions of the US administration, local companies such as Empyrean Technology, Primarius Techonologies and Semitonix, have seen the price of the action around 20%. These companies are specialized in the development of software solutions for semiconductors, and are some of the main names that sound after Trump’s threat. Even in the air. Although sources consulted by Financial Times affirm that the United States Industry and Security Office (BIS) is issuing this new directive through letters to companies, some like Synopsys have not taken long to uncheck. “We are aware of the rumors and speculation, but Synopsys has not received any official communication from the Bis. That is why we keep our annual forecasts unchanged, based on our current understanding of the export restrictions of the BIS and in the forecast of an interannual fall of the income from China.” Cadence and Siemens, for the moment, have not made statements about it. In Xataka | China prepares the mate to the US: it will have its own UVE lithography team to make chips in 2025

Japan’s commitment to lead the chips industry is held on these three companies

by

For Japan, as for South Korea, Taiwan, China or the US, the semiconductor industry has a strategic character not only because of the deep beneficial impact it has on its economy, but also by the impulse that gives its technological capacity. This is the context in which the Japanese government announced in the middle of last November A public plan that will injected into companies that are dedicated to the design and manufacture of chips no less than 325,000 million dollars within ten years. In addition, it prepares additional 65,000 million that seek to support the activity of local companies. There is no doubt that it is a very strong and more ambitious bet even than those designed by the US, China or Europe. Only South Korea prepare an economic investment of a similar size. The first reactions of Japanese companies have not been waiting. “We are working with our clients to develop technologies that teach four generations in the future.” These words of Nobuto DoiVice President of Tokyo Electron, are a declaration of intentions. However, before moving forward in this article it is important that we briefly review where Japan comes from. At the end of the 80s this Asian country dominated the global industry of the integrated circuits with an indisputable forcefulness. Nec, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Matsushita and other Japanese companies They monopolized in 1988 Nothing less than 50% of the chips industry. However, today none of these companies is positioned among the leaders of a sector dominated with iron fist by Taiwanese, American, Chinese, South Korean and German companies. Tokyo Electron: Japanese Asml This company is one of The pillars of the Japanese industry of integrated circuits. It is dedicated to the design and manufacture of lithography and waking -up equipment, so its machines often live together in the TSMC, Intel, Samsung, Micron Technology or SK Hynix plants, among other companies, with the teams of the Dutch company ASML or the American Apply materials. Its importance for Japan is such that it is currently one of the Japanese companies that are being backed by subsidies approved by the Japanese government. The new Tokyo Electron plant in Oshu will be intended for the manufacture of advanced team deposition equipment and logistics In fact, it is building several buildings in the prefecture of Miyagi that will presumably be completed in 2025. The most ambitious project that will address in these facilities will consist of the design and manufacture of some some WAFSMA TEACHING BY PLASMA Very advanced. They are precisely the machines that Nobuto Doi speaks in the statement that I have included in the second paragraph of this article. These equipment are involved in the definition of the pattern that will later be transferred to the wafer. The Japanese company Hitachi also has plasma wafering engraving machines, but the singing voice in this particular market has tokyo electron. Apparently the engineers of this last company are working side by side with their clients to develop solutions that, according to doi, four generations ahead will be positioned. However, its plan goes beyond the facilities of the Prefecture of Miyagi. And it is that Tokyo Electron is also building a new plant in Oshu, in the prefecture of Iwate, which will be intended for the manufacture of advanced wafering deposition equipment and logistics. We can be sure: Tokyo Electron is the Japanese Asml. Without it, the ambitious plan pergeted by the Japanese government for its semiconductor industry would not be viable. Rapidus Corporation: The spearhead of Japan The company that is destined to compete from you to you with TSMC, Intel or Samsung in the chip production market is Rapidus corporation. In fact, it has been expressly created to replace Japan at the forefront of integrated circuits. This is a very young company. It was founded on August 10, 2022 by the Japanese government with an initial capital of 7,346 million yen (just under 46 million euros) contributed by, and here comes the interesting, Sony, Toyota, Nec, Softbank, Kioxia, Denso, Nippon Telegraph and Mufg Bank. The initial capital invested in the constitution of this company is not very bulky, but there is no doubt that the companies that participate in it have an indisputable relevance in the sectors of technology, automotive and telecommunications. Rapidus is currently putting a circuit manufacturing plant integrated in northern Japan, in the city of Chitose (Hokkaido), in which it plans to produce 2 Nm semiconductor. The first prototypes of these chips are already readybut large -scale manufacturing will not arrive at best until 2027. Rapidus is making a chip manufacturing plant in northern Japan in which it plans to produce 2 Nm semiconductors What is causing the new Rapidus factory to monopolize the looks of the semiconductor sector is that, according to Atsuyoshi Koike, which is the president of the company, it will be completely automated. Its purpose is to resort to robots and artificial intelligence (AI) to tune an automated production line that will be specialized in the manufacture of 2 nm chips for AI applications. Its plan consists, in short, to produce integrated circuits faster, with a lower and more quality cost. To manufacture these semiconductors, equipment of extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) produced by the Dutch company ASML, and practically all manufacturing processes are automatic. However, the tests of test and validation, interconnection and packaging of the chips are still largely carried out manually in most manufacturing plants. According to Rapidus, its automation technology of all these processes will allow you to reduce the delivery time of your chips by 66% compared to the times they usually offer TSMC and Samsung. JSR Corporation: The photor resistance monopoly is in his hands There is a Japanese company that is indisputably leader in its specialty. It is little known outside the scope of the semiconductors, and yet it is one of the bastions of Japan. Is called JSR Corporation and specialized in the production of photorers. The photolithography equipment designing and produces ASML … Read more

Xiaomi has copied in months what BMW announced as a three -year revolution seen. It is the best example of how the industry is

by

On March 16, 2023 we wrote in Xataka that BMW prepared the launch of a head-up display (HUD) in its Neue Klasse. Then it was already warned that we would see it, for the first time, in a car on the street in 2025. The chosen one is the new generation of the BMW series 3, which promises to be a revolution for the brand in many ways. What BMW announced two years seen, Xiaomi has put it on the street a few months. 2023. How many screens are too many screens? With these words we titled in Xataka Our article on BMW’s announcement to put on the market a head-up display little less than infinity. One that crossed the entire width of the vehicle and that will serve to offer precise and personalized information for each passenger. The strategy continues to delve on the path that the company has taken. In recent years, BMW has been one of the companies that More has opted to give it personality To its infotainment systems with very good quality and size screens in the center, instruments of instruments at the height and an HUD with graphics of all kinds. He has even put A huge screen for rear passengers of the most expensive Berlina. Two years of the same. But two years later we remain the same. He BMW Panoramic Vision He surprised first but began to lose strength as time has passed. We have seen it in the CES de Las Vegaswe have seen it At the Münich Mobility Fairwe have seen it, again, in the advances of the future Neue Klasse… In short, the launch of a functionality that Xiaomi, which put on the market its first car a year ago has just presented for its future electric SUVs, has been priming two years. Taking into account that the first car we see from that Neue Klasse It will arrive at the end of 2025everything indicates that Xiaomi is going to pass the German firm on the right. Hypervision Hud. This is what this alternative to the BMW HUD is called that will incorporate the Xiaomi Yu7. As we have seen during your presentation, the projection on the windshield will occupy the entire width of the vehicle and inform the passengers of the information that most interest them. For example, in front of the driver we will have the instrument chart and in the central area of ​​navigation. But the car also has specific graphics for when it is stopped carrying the battery or we want to select a specific music album. The image of Lei Jun, CEO of the company, with all the graphics that the driver has available to configure that giant HUD to his liking is shocking. We read, for example, data on consumption, driving assists, browser, a stopwatch … More than a novelty. The incorporation of this panoramic hud into the new Xiaomi electric car is not only an aesthetic novelty, it is a clear example of how the industry is. Each announcement of the European industry has years (yes, years) of planning, development and implementation. In China, however, it is deciding and executing in record time. Kevin Williams, journalist of InsideevsI explained it well in an article entitled I have been in China and led dozens of electric cars. Western manufacturers are lost. In him he explained how the interiors of Chinese cars had overwhelmed him on a trip to the country and how far from Europe. Also our partner Javier Lacort had the opportunity to sit in an ultra xiaomi or check Where is Byd and its luxury brands In the Asian country. In Xataka We have had the opportunity to speak between scenes with workers from Chinese brands such as Byd or the Chery group that have passed through European companies of the Volkswagen or Stellantis group. All of them have confirmed that Chinese companies work at an inconceivable pace for the European industry. An anecdote that is not so much anecdote. In fact, one of these workers told us that when he worked for the Volkswagen Group every small change in the touch of the car or in the equipment, a bureaucratic tangle, the filter of various departments and, in the best case, the approval to be implemented in the update of half commercial life or in the next generation. That is, these changes would come years later. However, in Xataka We have known that one of these Chinese brands was testing preserving units in Spain that did not like in their first test in terms of tires and tact of the direction referred to. Between two and three later, those cars reached the market with all the changes in equipment and touch of the direction already carried out. It is not the only case. Beyond these two specific cases, the rhythm to which China is subjecting the news launches in electric cars is putting the ropes against the way of acting to the industry. In Europe we continue to announce the launch of “Cheap” electric cars two and three years old. Meanwhile, Byd has just brought to the European market the Byd Dolphin Surf that with aid and discounts can remain in less than 12,000 euros. Another good example is Volkswagen. Its software and platform development strategy has been such a disaster that they burned billions in the development of only two cars (Audi Q6 e-tron and Porsche Macan Electric) that, In addition, they were delayed. In fact, the group came to send engineers to China to learn from their work methods and has reached an agreement with Xpeng To provide Audi with a new platform. Nor does Renault escape. Luca de Meo, his CEO, He has reiterated On multiple occasions that one of China’s competitive advantages is that they work at a much faster rate than that of Europeans. Photo | BMW and Xiaomi In Xataka | A alluvion of controversies is eclipsing the launch of the Xiaomi Yu7. … Read more

Japan cannot afford your most valuable company in the chips industry. And is mired in debts

by

JSR Corporation is a company extraordinarily valuable for Japanalthough not in a strictly economic sense. And this company constitutes with Tokyo Electron, RapidusCanon and Nikon The spearhead of the Japanese chips industry. Japan needs them. It necessarily needs these companies to be competitive if you want to recover the relevance that it had decades ago in the already flourishing semiconductor industry. At the end of the 80s Japan dominated the integrated circuit industry With an overwhelming forcefulness. Nec, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Matsushita and other Japanese companies monopolized in 1988 no less than 50% of the chip industry. However, today none of these companies is positioned among the leaders of a sector dominated with iron fist by Taiwanese, American, Dutch, South Korean and German companies. Despite its world leadership JSR Corporation is spending trouble This company has something that the other companies that I have mentioned in the first paragraph of this article lack: it holds the monopoly of a crucial sector of the chips industry. This is actually what makes it so valuable to Japan beyond its economic results. And it is that JSR specializes in the production of photorers. Photolithography teams that Design and produce ASML They are responsible, very broadly, to transfer the geometric pattern described by the mask with a lot of precision to the surface of the silicon wafer. In this area we can observe the pattern as the “drawing” that delimits the distribution of transistors, connections and other elements that make up an integrated circuit. However, before reaching this important step it is necessary A process known as deposition. Equipment manufactured by Tokyo Electron either Apply materials. Its purpose is to prepare silicon wafers for the transfer of the geometric pattern by depositing a fine material of material on them. During the last two decades all companies specialized in the production of photorestoning materials have been Japanese Depending on the type of chip that is being manufactured it will be necessary to use one material or another. One of the most used deposition techniques is known as oxidation, and consists of taking advantage of the silicon’s ability to form a fine oxide layer when reacting with water. Its purpose is to protect transistors and other components of external pollution chips. However, before carrying out the transfer of the geometric pattern to the wafer using a lithography equipment it is necessary to pour a liquid capable of absorbing the light and preserving the pattern. This is the function of the photorersista fluid. During the last two decades all companies specialized in the production of photorers have been Japanese. In fact, Japan since then has the monopoly of this market, which It is currently led by JSR Corporation. This company supplies its photorestoning liquids to most semiconductor manufacturers with which we are familiar, such as TSMC, Intel, Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron Technology or Texas Instruments, among many others. The surprising thing is that despite the domain it exerts on the market of photorers, JSR is not going well. In 2024 the investment company Japan Investment Corp. bought it for 6,000 million dollars with the purpose of consolidating its growth, but has closed the last fiscal year in March 2025 with losses of 1,450 million dollars. This bad result has had consequences. The company’s board of directors has been completely replaced as the most responsible for an economic result that is not at all in line with the position that this company holds in the market. However, analysts say that the problem does not reside in the photorriving business; JSR’s bad economic results have been triggered by their subsidiary specialized in The development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical and medical diagnosis products. The new directive dome plans to sell a part of this division to the Japanese company Tokuyama Corp. for approximately 570 million dollars with the purpose of cleaning up its accounts. We will see what happens, but what does not admit discussion is that JSR has a leading role in Japan ambitions linked to the semiconductor industry. More information | Reuters In Xataka | Japan has taken the carrier to dominate the chips industry. Prepare a 325,000 million dollar plan

Samsung’s survival in the chips industry is in the hands of its 2 nm technology

by

2025 will be the year of 2 Nm semiconductor. The three largest manufacturers of integrated circuits, TSMC, Intel and Samsung, will start the mass manufacture of these chips before the end of this year, but The starting position Of these three companies it is very different. Taiwanese TSMC leads the semiconductor production market with A fee close to 60%has a well -assorted and stable client portfolio, and Your accounts are enviable. Intel and Samsung, however, are in a much more compromised position. The American company currently led by Lip Bu-Tan is trying overcome a very bad economic streak reducing their expenses and developing its technology with the purpose of increasing its competitiveness. Samsung, meanwhile, is also going through a complicated stage, as we are about to check. In any case, for these last two companies Its 2 nm technology It is his real lifeguard. Good news for Samsung: has reached a 50% wafer performance in 2 Nm These statements made in the middle of last March by Han Jong-Hee, Samsung general co-director, They diagnose with precision What is happening to this company: “First of all I sorry for the fact that the performance of our actions has not met their expectations. In the last year our company has not correctly responded to the semiconductor market for artificial intelligence (AI), which quickly evolves. “ “Our technological advantage has been compromised in all our businesses. It is difficult to see that efforts are being made to boost great innovations or assume new challenges” This Mea guilt It is aimed at the company’s shareholders and expresses that the directive dome recognizes not having made the right decisions in recent years. “Our technological advantage has been compromised in all our businesses. It is difficult to see that efforts are being made to Promote great innovations or assume new challenges. There are only attempts to maintain the status quo instead of generating disruptive changes “, Pray an internal statement Written by Jay Y. Lee, the president of the company. However, this is not all. Samsung has led for more than three decades the industry of integrated dram memory circuit LEADS THE HBM Chips Market so much (High Bandwidth Memory) that work side by side with the GPUs for the The one of the DRAM memories. In current circumstances it is evident that Samsung needs to trace as soon as possible. And it seems that it is in it. At the beginning of 2025 several South Korean media anticipated that Large scale manufacturing of 2 nm chips It had already begun In the company’s South Korean plants. However, this does not mean that Samsung already has everything tied. Chips manufacturers need the candle performance of their avant -garde nodes is at least 70%and, according to the South Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbothis company currently moves in the range of 40 to 50%. There are still more than seven months to finish 2025, and presumably Intel and TSMC still do not produce integrated circuits in a massive way Your nodes 18a and n2 respectively, so in theory Samsung carries a positive inertia. We will see what happens finally, but there is no doubt that this year we will bring us strong emotions in the scope of the semiconductor industry. Image | Samsung More information | Munhwa Ilbo In Xataka | This is the chips war: a former SK Hynix employee is suspected to deliver stolen technology to Huawei

The photovoltaic industry has entered its self -replicating phase

by

Maximize the performance of solar panels is one of the great challenges of Photovoltaic industry. But it is something that is not limited to make more efficient panelsbut to engineer ways that they stay clean for longer. Because the great enemy of the panels are not the clouds, but dust or snow. Cleaning these homemade panels is clue For three reasons. The first is that a clean panel is more efficient. According to estimatesa dirty panel produces up to 39% less a year. The useful life of them increases because corrosion and other damages are avoided and, as more electricity generates, production is optimized and the Investment return. There is robots designed to clean them And we have seen them in all shapes and sizes, even tractors manually operated with a roller that rubs the surface of the panels, but one of the challenges is how to optimize the cleaning of the panels in the huge ‘farm’ installed in deserts such as Chili, China either India. And the answer is another robot, but not anyone: a robot that in turn is a solar panel. Solar panels that clean solar panels that clean … Be more or less autonomous, robots need energy to work. It can be through long cables that feed them or by batteries in the longest facilities, so when they are not cleaning, they are wasting time. Especially in desert scenarios in which dust is a problem. And the sauce of this matter is the following video: What we see in Action is a robot of the Chinese company Sunpure, a company that has specialized precisely in the creation of devices to clean solar panels. Beyond the conventional ones, they have two models that have a solar panel in the upper part that is the one that provides energy so that the rollers work and can give the necessary passes by the rows of panels. One is that of the upper video, called Venus, another is the one that we leave below: The difference between this and Venus is that the new robot has more upper surface occupied by the solar food panel, seems more adaptable to different panel sizes and, above all, is easier to clean. The reason? When it reaches the end of the row, a brush awaits you that passes the panel of the robot itself, cleaning the dust that may have accumulated. This cleaner robot has already been installed in some photovoltaic plants, such as those of India or Uzbekistan, and the previous model is the one that works cleaning The CME1 panels, the largest photovoltaic plant in Chile In the Atacama desert. They are curious, but beyond that, this type of robots is a necessity. Equipo them with solar panels is a good idea that they can perform those cleaning tasks in locations in which dust is a problem. In fact, those of this company are working, above all, in plants installed in deserts. Now, the great step of the industry both in the face of mass production and the most homemade is the creation of self -impossible solar panels. It is something that is already working on, with advances as interesting as that of the Startup Sol Clarity, a company derived from the University of Boston. Baptized as electrodynamic scren, it is a very thin and transparent sheet that Load dust particles with static And, when he has caught them, the ‘sweep’ using electromagnetic waves. It is a good solution not to depend on robots and not be the black water hole which is the current cleaning of large -scale solar panels. And in a sector in which every kilowatt counts, that they are as clean as possible. Images and videos | Sunpure In Xataka | I thought the robots could no longer surprise me. Until I tried a corteped robot

The second trailer of ‘GTA VI’ looks crazy, and is a sample of how good it feels to go against the industry

by

The wait until May 26, 2026 will be made long. In a strange ad, Rockstar confirmed a few days ago that the release date of ‘GTA VI‘It was delayed from an indefinite moment of this 2025 At the end of May next year. It is something that It has several readingsbut one of them was that they would soon launch a new trailer that, finally, would set the final launch date and, announcing the delay in advance, would cushion the blow. This has been. The company has just launched the Second Trailer of ‘Grand Theft Aut VI’ And … he is overwhelming. If the first launched in 2013 already allowed us to theorize whether it was something moving in real time or was a pre-control scene, this second trailer points to tour the same path. And the reason is that there are scenes of ‘GTA VI’ that are a real madness. ‘GTA VI’ will squeeze a decaffeinated generation First of all, I have to clarify that we can only judge the visual quality of the game with the means that we have available so far. To perform deeper analysis, we will have to waitat least, at the moment we have GamePlay scenes itself, but I think we can start making illusions with what Rockstar is cooking. For three reasons, in addition. The first is that, as I said, the first game of the game has already allowed experts to discuss its nature. Digital Foundry is a British media specialized in the visual and technical analysis of video games and They debated Long and lay on whether the trailer was in real time (that is, the engine of the game and scenes extracted from it) or a scene rendered beforehand. Some visual errors as Jaggies -S. Sierra- allowed the pixel counting, and the washed image of the edges points to the use of some type of tool such as FSR or DLSS. The second reason is that Rockstar is not Ubisoft and it is not a company that has accustomed us to CGI videos before the launch of the game itself or to Visual Downgrades. The third reason to believe that the game will end up seeing as in these trailers is that we have ‘Red Dead Redemption 2‘As an example. The 2018 title, without having received a patch for the current generation, continues to be better than many games of this generation, and that was designed to function in 2013 consoles. Come on, what There are hopes in ‘GTA VI’ at the visual level. And, as we say, we have reasons (and not only for these precedents). Trailer screenshot The new video begins very, very high, with some characters modeling that seem spectacular, very realistic animations both bodily and facial, without falling into the exaggeration of features, and all this bathed for what, I think, is the element that makes the trailer look as well as it looks. Because the textured seems very good to me, but the lighting that bathes each scene is to not believe it. Among all the moments, the one who has left me speechless is one at the beginning, when we see Jason returning in his car, at night, and observes a police detention. Trailer screenshot The flashes, The position of light spotlights And elements such as that good textured, the most realistic color palette than in the previous installment of the saga and gestures make me create that scene completely. But it is not the only one: Trailer screenshot Trailer screenshot Trailer screenshot I am somewhat tired of the term “photorealism” we have been abusing from the launch of the first ‘Modern Warfare’, but it really is the only term that occurs to me to describe what I am seeing. Then there are the characters, with a certain caricaturized and stereotyped touch, but the physicists of elements and hairstyles, Reflexes on surfaces (The interior of the car is amazing) or the vegetation play to make the scenes … surprising. Perfect? No, of course, and we see distant elements such as the sand or water that have visual artifacts, as well as some textures such as Lucia’s hair at some time that seem flat, but the general level is so, so high that, for the first time from ‘Alan Wake 2‘ and ‘Warhammer Space Marine II‘, I feel that this generation of consoles is worth something. And with more merit if possible in the Rockstar title, since it is an open world, with the complexity that this implies. Rockstar promotional image Rockstar promotional image Rockstar promotional image It may be making many illusions, but it comforts me that people in Rockstar think that the game is going to see like this. Not current workers, something impossible in one of the most hermetic studies in the environment, but veterans of the company. One is Ryan Fuechliffe, member of Rockstar from 2009 to 2021 and who commented that ‘GTA VI’ will offer a “revolutionary” realism. Mike York, who worked as an animator in the company, also commented That the game will probably go to 30 frames per second because Rockstar was focusing on visual quality. But, although I seemed to me … wild, you have to have your feet on the floor. Obbe Vermeij, former technical director of ‘GTA 3’ to ‘GTA IV’ He pointed out That, although the first trailer was “incredible”, the technical jump may not be as large as the one seen in ‘GTA V’ and that could disappoint some players. As I have already said, you have to wait to see Gameplay because, obviously, these two videos that Rockstar has revealed play a lot with the rules of the visual language of cinema. Chamber tremors, paneos and angles that are typical of the kinematics of well -positioned virtual games and cameras and we will have to wait to watch the first video with gameplay. However, I return to my argument of ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’: Seven years later, the adventure of the … Read more

The delay of ‘GTA VI’ goes far beyond a mere change in the calendar. It is an earthquake for industry

by

Not as expected, the Delay in the launch of ‘GTA VI‘He has stopped causing a stir in the video game industry. Rockstar’s title was announced in the Already distant December 5, 2023 With a trailer that gave us clues of where the shots would go, but that left us wanting more after the launch of a ‘gta v’ that dates back to 2013. In its first version. ‘GTA VI‘It was the great launch of 2025 and its absence is much more than the delay of one of the greats. It is an earthquake in the industry because it affects the rest of the calendarto the actions of your parent company and even console sales that do not go as they should. Momentum. In a strange way, on Friday, May 2, at 13.25 peninsular time in Spain and with a release Bug, Rockstar confirmed what was smelled to kilometers: ‘GTA VI’ was going to 2026. The company sets date: May 26 next year, and it is a fairly significant date, not so much because it represents something, but because the rest of the industry breathes relieved and knows what to stick to. But despite the ways, the way of communicating that ‘GTA VI’ will not be launched this year is not accidental. From the first 2023 trailer and that “will arrive in 2025”, we had not had more news about it. ‘GTA VI’ would sell even without advertising, but it was strange not to have seen anything else from the game. The players knew in the background that the game may not leave this year, and Rockstar itself knew it before that announcement. Why did he do so? Because we are in the middle of the year and they could not do it before April 1. Impact. It was that day that finished Take-Two’s fiscal closure, a company that Rockstar Games is filial and could not announce in any way that the game was delayed if they wanted to keep investors happy. For sample, a button: The value of the actions: The difference between half an hour prior to the announcement and later days is evident. Because, as we said, ‘Grand Theft Auto’ has long since stopped being a game to become the game, the one that raises passions and moves a lot, a lot of money. Not surprisingly, the fifth delivery has been released several times (in 2013 the original arrived for Xbox 360 and PS3but then relaunted for PC, Xbox One and PS4 and, later, for current Xbox Series and PS5), adding More than 210 million copies as of December 31, 2024. 2025 is again in the menu. Even ‘Red Dead Redemption 2‘, which is a game that has sold well below’ GTA V ‘, has managed to place more than 70 million copies since its launch in 2018, a barbarity in a supersaturated market. Because, as we say, Rockstar is a company that can paralyze the industry. So much that it has become a kind of joke within the sector. Because nobody wants to launch their game in the window of a ‘GTA’ and, after those sales of the fifth numbered delivery, the industry was waiting for Rockstar to specify a date -beyond the window given a year ago– To start moving marketing machinery. This, more than a personal appreciation, has been a recurring comment on networks these days. An example is Luke Dale, voice actor in ‘Kingdom eats Deliverance 2‘That he joked with the possibility that the game in which he participates, now, can opt for the Goty (the best game of the year) in the absence of the Rockstar title. Console sales. But, beyond public and private opinion of the sector, it is a fact that players have no money or time for everything. They are the two goods that the industry seeks to monopolize by all possible means, and the launch of a ‘GTA’ is a large black hole for the rest of the companies that, now, can place their games in the launch windows they estimate without worrying about the elongated shadow of the rockstar saga. But there are entities in the industry to which this sure delay that has not fallen so well. Xbox stopped being in the hardware race with Any device can be an Xbox. PlayStation, a brand traditionally linked to the ‘GTA’ saga, would surely have many hopes that the new installment gave both its PS5 and a Ps5 pro With more power to display the best visual quality of the video game. HE esteem That, between January 1 and April 25, Sony has distributed 3.2 million machines. Xbox, meanwhile, 730,000 consoles in that period and, although especially in the case of Sony is a good figure, It supposes One million units than those he managed to place in the same period last year. ‘GTA VI’ seemed like a breath of fresh air, especially when there are already rumors that point to A PS6 in 2027. 2025 was never realistic. At least, that states Jason Schreier. It is one of the most reputed journalists in the video game industry and, just after the announcement of the delay of ‘GTA VI’, he commented that none of the people he has talked about within Rockstar trusted 2025 as a viable date for the launch and that a delay to 2026 was inevitable. In their wordsthere is “a lot of work and very little time”, and this delay was an internal desire to Avoid a crunch -Term of the world that reflects extra hours to finish the development- inevitable if someone from above intended to launch the game in 2025. Now, it only remains to wait to see if that date of May 26, 2026 remains fixed, since like other developments – of Rockstar itself – they have shown us, it is that no date is marked in stone and that there can be one … or even two more delays from there. In Xataka | A ‘GTA VI’ I only ask … Read more

China’s future in the chips industry is in the hands of a single company almost unknown: Sicarrier

by

Sicarrier is not a Chinese company. When we repair the country’s semiconductor industry led by Xi Jinping probably many of us think of companies like Huawei, SMICHua Hong semiconductor or Naura Technologyamong others. But not in Sicarrier. Until just a few weeks this company It was a real unknown Beyond China’s borders, but in a record time it has attracted the attention of the global industry of integrated circuits. And he has done it for a weight reason: it is the authentic responsible for China currently having the ability to produce avant -garde chips. Although it was founded in 2021, during the last four years Sicarrier has maintained a very low profile. Its origin is not entirely clear, but The most reliable sources They collect that this company is probably a huawei split. What we know for sure is that it is a state company administered by the Shenzhen government. Sicarrier’s soul are veteran engineers of ASML and Applyed Materials I will not prolong the mystery more: Sicarrier is dedicated to designing and manufacturing photolithography equipment and wafering processing machines. In fact, the more than 30 products that it has presented just a few weeks ago in SemiCon China 2025 competes with the solutions of the Dutch company ASMLthe Japanese Tokyo Electron or the American Apply materials. It is shocking that a company with just four years already has proposals capable of competing in the market of chips manufacturing equipment. But it seems to have earned it. Whatever this presumable success is not the result of chance. And is that his main team is led by engineers with more than two decades of experience in the ranks of ASML and Applyed Materials. In fact, these technicians are surely responsible for the milestone for which Sicarrier is probably in the spotlight of the US administration: the technology used by Huawei and SMIC for MANUFACT 7 NM INTEGRATED CIRCUITS derives from a patent that seeks to make the production of 5 Nm chips possible using equipment from deep ultraviolet lithography (UVP). The technology used by Huawei and SMIC to make 7 Nm chips derives from a patent from Sicarrier The most ambicious lithography equipment by Chinese integrated circuit manufacturers is the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine (UVE). ASML is the only company that produces them, but THE SANCTIONS TO CHINA DE USA They prevent you from giving it to your Chinese clients. The problem is that this equipment is necessary to produce on a large scale and with a competitive price semiconductors of 7 Nm or with even more advanced integration technologies. Sicarrier has not presented a UVE photolithography team in China 2025. It is very unlikely to have it, but, at the same time, it is reasonable to anticipate that their engineers will be working on a machine of these characteristics. The teams that this company has already made known, or, at least, has officialized, are A 28 Nm immersion lithography machinean engraving equipment for advanced nodes below 7 Nm, diffusion machines for rapid thermal processing, chemical vapor deposition equipment for nodes of 28 to 5 Nm, verification machines and test for advanced integrated circuits, etc. The retahíla of lithography and wafering processing that Sicarrier has presented in Semi -Con China 2025 is long. As I mentioned a few lines above, these products compete with the proposals of ASML, Applied Materials or Tokyo Electron, although the authentic Sicarrier fire test will be the tuning of a UVE lithography machine. Du liqun, the president of this company, has declared that its strategy requires betting on the development of avant -garde lithography equipment, selective deposition machines and latest generation transist technologieslike ga (Gate-alall-around), which is already part of the Porfolio of TSMC, Intel and Samsung. It is still early to identify if Sicarrier will live up to the expectations it has generated, but there is no doubt: there is a new actor in the integrated circuit industry. And it is worth following the track very closely. Image | Sicarrier More information | Nomad semi In Xataka | This is China’s big problem with chips: Huawei will manufacture its Kirin X90 for PC using the 7 Nm of SMIC

The triumph of the “artisanal” games in the industry

by

Once it is an isolated phenomenon, two chance. But they are already too many times in the last months when a game that is not a triple A, but a relatively modest title, makes the heads of the entire industry turn for their quality and daring. Now is the turn of ‘Clair Oscur: Expedition 33‘, a wonder of Rolera architecture that has become a supervantant and the beautiful girl of critics despite not having the means of production of the greats Blockbusters. Everyone talks about ‘Clair Osccur’. And it’s not for less. Greeted as a Modern classic Of the role -playing games, it has been developed by Sandfall Interactive, French independent study founded in 2020 and based in Montpellier. The project is an RPG in classic shifts, a gender that In Sandfall they thought that was being mistreated by the great studies. It is not its only original detail: its atmosphere is based on the Belle Epoque French, and bets on a mature narrative and a certain complexity: every year, the mysterious Pentresse paints a number in a monolith, and all the people who reach that age disappear. People live knowing the exact date of their death, which generates a highly melancholic atmosphere. Modern classic. The combat system and its narrative daring have made the game considered a genre renovator. The result has been both critical and financial: in Metacritic it is already valued as The best game of the year And in just three days he managed to overcome The million copies sold. A milestone that is reinforced by the modesty of its development: just thirty people make up the study. Or not? Thirty -Pico. Since its launch, it has been said that ‘Clair Oscur: Expedition 33’ was developed by just thirty people, which turned the project into an almost handmade achievement, especially taking into account how polished the combat system and the findings of its artistic direction, at the height of the Japanese classics to which you mimic. However, A rapid calculation Like the one they have done in Jeux Urs allows you to go beyond those thirty people, which undoubtedly make up the hard -creative nucleus of the game. To them are added a good amount of essential external teams: at least, a Korean team of eight people dedicated to animations is accredited. In Poland, dozens of game testators reside. The entire audio part is: the dubbing cast and the orchestra of about thirty people who have interpreted the very large soundtrack. It is important not to make this type of contributions that since the beginning of this century add up to development, sometimes without accrediting, in teams often outside Europe or the United States, in countries such as Malaysia or China. The irresistible lightness of the medium games. The video game industry continually lives on its trends, and we currently attend a curious devotion to medium games. The events of recent years (framed in mastodon financial catastrophes such as Sony, EA either Ubisoft) have given a very notable impulse to medium games, as we did not see since the time of PlayStation 3. The public seems to have assimilated, wrapped up with the success of consoles that favor the No-Typically-Triple-A gameslike Nintendo Switch, that games do not need a team of three thousand people behind to be captivating, effective and fun. At the top. We talked about how ‘Clair Osccur’ had perched to the top of the games best considered by criticism this year, but let’s see who follows him: with his same 92 score, ‘Blue Prince‘, this one developed by a single person; With a 91, ‘Split Fiction‘, a modest production and indies airs, but that will soon have a cinemas version; In the twenty positions we see titles such as ‘The Rotters Are Dead’, ‘Bionic Bay’ or ‘Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders’, openly independent. And remember that two of last year’s greatest successes, ‘Space Marine 2’ And the winner of the game of the year, ‘Astro Bot‘, have been developed with limited resources. Brand and image. Being a “small” game is no longer an obstacle, but from a while to this part it is a more impulse at the image level. There is nothing more to see the expectation with which the tiny advances of an indie sequel like ‘Silksong’, whose potential as meme exceeds any Blockbuster. More reason for not minimizing the achievements of an extraordinary game such as ‘Clair Oscur’: thirty or one hundred, the size of the team matters little. The remarkable thing is the result. In Xataka | The great romantic novel of the year is not a book: it is a Chinese video game where you choose your own “digital husband”

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.