machines

this is not about washing machines

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Xiaomi’s Trojan horse knocks on the door and as soon as you open it, it runs through the entire house without exception, from the garage to the kitchen. Because the Chinese firm, in addition to renewing its T family of mobile phones with the Xiaomi 17T Pro, various wearables with the ambitious Smart Band 10 Pro at the helm or a few Smart TVs, the ‘Human × Car × Home’ intelligent ecosystem continues to grow and cross borders. The last is that of the large appliance: after its global debut last year, Xiaomi has not waited too long to make the leap with refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners in Europe. It is not a simple catalog expansion with household appliances, its movement is more ambitious and difficult to stop: Xiaomi is closing the circle. Xiaomi has a new refrigerator and washing machine – dryer. The Mijia Refrigerator Side-by-Side is an elegant refrigerator with American-style stainless steel finishes and a 621-liter capacity: 385 liters correspond to the refrigerator and 236 liters to the freezer. Inside there are three levels for storage and up to 18 compartments to organize everything from drinks to bulk vegetables. The technology used for cooling is a dual inverter and has Ag⁺ Fresh, which reduces odors, keeps food fresh longer and, according to the brand, reduces the presence of bacteria such as E. coli. Its RRP is 849 euros. The Mijia Front Load Washer Dryer is a modern washer dryer both inside and out. According to the brand, its energy efficiency is 30% higher than Class A of the EU energy labels. With 8 kg capacity, it has several useful modes for everyday use, such as quick mode, steam or hygienic, in which high temperature steam and hot water promise to eliminate 99.99% of bacteria. For drying, it uses three-dimensional air flow and sensors to optimize its duration. Both appliances can be controlled from their touch panel, by voice with Google and Amazon assistants and from the app, where you can receive notifications, control programs or the temperature and receive new functions. Double door, stainless steel finishes and 621 liters of total capacity. Xiaomi Why is it important. This is the official launch of Xiaomi’s large household appliances on the international market and in the absence of knowing their prices (availability is expected in July), due to its performance it is a clear competitor against great classics in Europe such as Bosch or Balay. But more than competition, it is a question of ecosystem. Each connected appliance is one more node within its platform, which is not exactly small: in the third quarter of 2025, devices connected to Xiaomi they surpassed the barrier of 1,000 million and the most recent data for its investors they throw a figure of 1,118.7 million. The official annual report of 2025 evidence the importance of stickiness: there are 22.7 million users who have five or more connected devices of the brand. In that scenario, a washing machine is one more reason not to leave that ecosystem and Europe was the remaining piece to close it outside of China. Context. Xiaomi has long ago left its particular comfort zone (if a brand of its size born in 2010 has one) and is doing so without experiments or blind tests, as already we have seen with their cars. In the case of lifestyle and home automation, it is going out of the box: in 2024that segment exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time and grew at a rate of 30% year-on-year. Within that block, large appliances grew the most: 56.4%. The strategy has been working in China for years and Europe is its first big test of fire away from home, as already announced at the Munich event from last September. A market where Xiaomi already has its user base and where the consumer is receptive to the quality-price combination. Modern design and a large, colorful touch panel. Xiaomi Yes, but. The fine print is that selling a washing machine in Europe is not like launching a mobile phone. Appliances involve more: installation, after-sales, technical service and a much longer expected durability that lasts for decades: between 11 and 13 years for a refrigerator, according to the Eurobarometer. Furthermore, the European consumer is demanding. Long-established brands like Bosch or Miele have been building that reputation for generations on a very specific criterion: not failing when something fails. The real Achilles heel is that Xiaomi still does not have its own consolidated technical service network in Europe and in home appliances, trust is built after the sale, not before. The Chinese company has long ceased to be unknown and the price may attract that first purchase, but what builds loyalty in household appliances is not having to call the technician. And if you have to call him, let him arrive. In Xataka | Xiaomi’s Trojan horse is here: a domestic ecosystem from which you will not be able to escape In Xataka | Get ready to see Dreame products even in the soup: refrigerators, washing machines, dryers and much more arrive Cover | Xiaomi

refrigerators, washing machines, dryers and much more arrive

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Dreame is one of those Chinese companies whose deployment is worthy of study. In just eight years it has happened from being a Xiaomi supplier to expanding throughout the worldspend a million on a Super Bowl ad and enter every segment possible. It arrived in Spain in 2025 with robot vacuum cleaners and cleaning products, but it was no secret that I wanted to go further, much further. The firm wanted, at some point, to go from small to large appliances, a sector historically American, Korean and Japanese. That moment has arrived and yes, we are going to have Dreame products even in the soup. All the new Dreame products that will arrive in Spain in 2026 The Chinese firm has summoned us to Paris to announce its latest product portfolio in what, without a doubt, has been one of its biggest launches to date. The company has confirmed the prices of the series Dreame X60 Pro announced just a few days ago, the launch of Cyber (the robot vacuum cleaner that climbs stairs) and a whole arsenal of products ranging from a sandbox to a two-door refrigerator. According to Dreame, their goal is to develop “a more connected smart living experience that goes beyond cleaning and integrates into everyday life.” Appliances Dreame FizzFresh | Image: Dreame The most interesting thing is, without a doubt, the arrival of the Dreame FizzFresh. It is a two-door refrigerator that, beyond cooling and freezing, has some tricks up its sleeve. The first is Sparkling Bar, a technology that allows you to offer sparkling water. The second is IceDUO, which generates both cubed and crushed ice. The third is FreshFlex, a system that allows you to set a specific temperature in a drawer to adapt it to the content (fruit, drinks, meats, etc.). It has a capacity of 308 liters in the refrigerator and 203 liters in the freezer. Needless to say, it connects to the mobile. Price and availability: from 1,699 euros from the second half of 2026. Dreame AI Inverter L9 | Image: Dreame Another great appliance that the company has brought is the Dreame AI Inverter L9a washing machine with 11 kilos of capacity, automatic detection of clothes and dirt, automatic dosing depending on the content and a detergent nebulization system whose purpose is, according to the brand, for it to dissolve more and remove stains better. Something interesting is FreshLoop, which is basically a system of rotating clothes in the drum and circulating air designed to prevent odors. The selection of modes falls on a button with a very curious TFT screen. Price and availability: 899 euros and available from the second half of 2026. Dreame AI Twin Inverter Dryer L9 | Image: Dreame The previous model has a brother called AI Twin Inverter Dryer L9. It is the same, but with nine kilos of capacity and an integrated dryer. The most striking thing about this model is, in addition to the obvious intelligent humidity detection systems, the PressFree system. It is a kind of ironing system (for already dried clothes, needless to say) that works thanks to a 480 milliliters of water tank dedicated to generating steam. According to Dreame, a shirt can be ironed in 25 minutes, but we’ll have to see. Price and availability: 1,099 euros and available from the second half of 2026. Home cleaning Dream Pano 10 | Image: Dreame Moving on to the small appliance, the first eye-catching product is the new window cleaner, something Dreame is not new to. In fact, At Xataka we have already tested some of their models with mixed results. The main problem that these devices have is the lack of uniformity and that they do not reach the edges well. In his new Pano 10 rangeDreame has solved this by implementing one of the nicest functions of robot vacuum cleaners: an extendable arm that reaches edges and corners. The Station model also has a base that integrates cleaning, washing and drying the pads, charging, storage and daily maintenance. The price, of course, varies depending on whether we choose the model with or without a station. Price and availability: 399 euros without station and 599 euros with station. Both will launch in July 2026. Dreame T16 Pro Heat | Image: Dreame When it comes to cleaning the floor, and in addition to the already well-known X60 Pro series and the Cyber T seriesa new batch of wet and dry vacuum cleaners (aka electric mops) with ultra-thin profile (9.85 cm thick). All models include an anti-tangle system for hair and a self-cleaning and drying system with hot air at 95ºC. The range is composed in this way: T16 Pro Heat: the flagship, cleans with hot water at 90ºC, has 30,000 Pa of suction power and the arm can be extended towards the edges and corners for better cleaning. 629 euros and available at the end of June. T16 Pro Steam: similar, but with a steam sterilization system at 200ºC and self-cleaning, more designed for homes with pets, for example. 649 euros and available in August. T15 Pro Heat, T14 Pro and T12 Pro: each one simpler and, therefore, more affordable. For example, the T15 Pro Heat (599 euros) cleans with hot water, something that the other two do not do. The T14 Pro (499 euros) has automatic dirt detection, something that the T12 Pro (319 euros) does not have. Dreame Aqua Air | Image: Dreame Closing this section we have the Dreame Aqua Aira cordless vacuum cleaner with 20,000 Pa of suction power, anti-tangle brush, slim profile, waste container, real-time brush cleaning and less than a kilo in weight. Roughly speaking, it is Dreame’s proposal to stand up to the Dyson Pencil Vac. Price and availability: 499 euros and available from July. pet products Moduloo Pure Litter Box | Image: Dreame Finally, the company has announced five pet products. There is a self-leveling sandbox that looks like a sofa (very cool, all things considered); a smart bed and carrying … Read more

Japan wanted its roads to be more than just a place of passage. And they thought of something: vending machines

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There are many, many things that catch your attention when you arrive in Japan. At first, it is difficult to understand how this country of ancient traditions and quiet Buddhist or Shinto temples that seem to be everywhere can mix with the most hilarious bustle of stores like the Don Quixote. As the days go by, little by little, one begins to assimilate what one sees and begins to focus on issues just as curious but not as striking. When you want to realize you are in the konbini in turn choosing which of the 12 types of cold coffee and the eight hot ones you want the most. Or if you dare with that lemon soda marked by some kanji as attractive as they are threatening. A few days later, you are picking up any of those soft drinks in the middle of a road, in a layby where there is nothing… Where there is nothing but a vending machine. And then you ask yourself: but what is this machine doing here? Vending machine culture And in Japan there is something as ubiquitous as shrines: vending machines. The Japanese have a passion for jidouhanbaiki either jihanki. Obviously, the most famous and used are those that sell something to drink, but there are all kinds of them and for all kinds of objects. My colleague Javier Pastor already pointed out in 2017 that there were an estimated five million vending machines distributed throughout the country. Some with objects as extravagant “like this one from used panties either it’s poop“. But in addition to selling products, these vending machines have found another function: that of promoting national and inland tourism by road. The country has been fighting rural depopulation for years and has found in vending machines a great support for travelers to opt for the car and motorcycle instead of the very crowded bullet train. The formula is as simple as it is Japanese: make the traveler comfortable. With that premise, many vending machines have been popping up on lay-bys and rest areas in the country. A tremendously simple formula for the traveler to stop and even deviates from its path. With a density of less than 40 inhabitants for each machine vending machine, this option has not only become a tool to assist the traveler, It is already a tourist attraction in itself. And that has encouraged an increase in the number of people who see here as another incentive to go out with their car or motorcycle for the weekend. When the Japanese have an obsession, it is very difficult for others to catch up to them. If we talk about motorcycling and motorsports, Japan is one of the most cultural countries. Hence, some roads have simply become a hobby. One where the customer simply pays to drive but to which some auxiliary services have been added to improve the experience. like the ubiquitous vending machines. It is not the only tool they have found to encourage this type of pure leisure travel. There are musical highways where the asphalt emits a melody as the car or motorcycle passes by, using the roughness to create scores that the traveler plays as they pass over it. Or the michi no eki, something like the latest evolution of the service area where the gas station has the obligation to have another business or to offer a local product. There are those that only sell local food but there are those that even have their own natural science museum. A perfect opportunity to collect your stamps or banknotes, other tourist attractions of these spaces. And Japan is an obsessed country for collecting and making everyone as comfortable as possible. And for that jidouhanbaiki They are perfect. Photos | Xataka In Xataka | Japan is searching for the person who built a road on the country’s largest lake. It leads nowhere

Manufacturing 60 machines a year may not seem like much. In practice, those of the European ASML are setting the pace of AI

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Sixty machines a year sounds like a lot when we talk about artificial intelligence. We are used to huge numbers: data centers, billions of dollars and increasingly ambitious models. But AI also depends on things that are much more physical and difficult to scale. And that’s where ASMLa European company that manufactures lithography equipment to produce advanced chips, becomes a difficult piece to avoid. This year it will manufacture at least 60 machines. And they will be indispensable. To get an idea of ​​scale, artificial intelligence does not rely solely on better models. Just a few days ago, Reuters pointed out that Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet plan to allocate more than $600 billion in capital spending in 2026 to expand their AI infrastructure. These players need semiconductor manufacturers, who need advanced technology to produce the chips that will equip their customers’ future data centers. Here ASML appears in all its dimension. The Dutch company does not manufacture the chips that will end up in data centers, but it does manufacture the machines that allow the most advanced ones to be produced at scale. For now, because China is accelerating this raceis the only global supplier of this equipment, known as extreme ultraviolet lithography machines. This position explains why a company based in Veldhoven has become such a relevant piece for a career that is usually viewed from Silicon Valley or Taiwan, but that also has a decisive role in Europe. The European manufacturer that sets the pace for AI The striking thing is that the great jump translates into a very specific figure. The data comes to us from the last presentation of the firm’s financial results, specifically those of the first fiscal quarter of 2026. Roger Dassen, VP and CFO of ASML, pointed out that they plan to manufacture at least 60 standard EUV machines in 2026. That is 36% more than those sold in 2025. In other words: in an industry that is measured in gigantic investments, significantly increasing production means moving to dozens of machines, not hundreds or thousands. By 2027, the firm hopes to reach at least 80 units. TWINSCAN EXE:5000 Manufacturing more units is not as simple as expanding an assembly line. ASML’s most advanced lithography equipment has a size comparable to that of a medium bus and they are among the most complex devices ever created. They are huge systems, extremely precise and assembled for months in clean roomswith purified air to avoid any contamination. The reason is simple: in this process, a single dust particle can disrupt production. That’s why scaling doesn’t just depend on having more orders on the table. There is a part of this history that remains outside the ASML factories, but that weighs almost as much as its own production. Their customers also need to build clean rooms to install the machines they purchase, a task that requires specialized labor, electrical connections, technical expertise and abundant available power. It is a basic condition for these dozens of pieces of equipment to later translate into more real manufacturing capacity. In other words: the machine matters, but the place prepared to receive it and put it to work also matters. Then there’s everything that happens before one of those systems leaves the Dutch company. Their equipment is built with components from more than 5,000 suppliersso increasing the pace requires that entire network to move forward at once. If one of those links does not arrive, the whole may suffer. And talent adds another difficulty: in the south of the Netherlands, many technical profiles are already in the company or in your supply chain. That’s why Veldhoven’s signature searches for candidates at Dutch and foreign universitieswithout weakening the partners you need to grow. That is the reverse of a figure that, in isolation, may seem small. Sixty machines don’t sound like much in an industry that talks about gigantic models, data centers and huge budgets. But what we have seen is that each of these units is part of a physical, technical and human chain that is much more difficult to accelerate than it seems. This boom is precisely what has helped consolidate ASML as the European company with the highest stock market valueahead of names like LVMH either Hermes. AI is also at play here on the Old Continent. Images | ASML (1, 2) In Xataka | ASML has the most in-demand and advanced lithography machines in the world. And now also, his Lego set

Google says that 75% of its new code already comes from machines

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What if much of the software we use every day was already beginning to be written in a different way? AI has been entering programming for some time through the door of the assistants, code suggestions and small automations, but what is beginning to be seen now goes much further. The question is no longer just whether these systems help to write faster, but what happens when a large technology company decides to rely on them systematically. Google has given a pretty clear clue as to where that transition is going. Google’s jump. The figure was put on the table by Sundar Pichai in a blog post linked to Cloud Next 2026. According to Google’s CEO, the company has been using AI to generate code internally for some time and today 75% of all new code is already generated by AI and approved by engineers. The jump is not minor: last fall, that percentage was 50%. In just a few months, Google has gone from already very high usage to placing AI at the center of much of its software production. Precision matters. That nuance is not minor: generated by AI does not mean accepted without human control. Pichai talks about code generated by these systems, but also approved by engineers, a necessary difference to not oversize the data. Richard Seroter, Senior Director, Google Cloud, He explained it to Fast Company noting that that human approval is “fundamental in this area.” Google’s reading is that AI can take on an increasing part of production, but within a flow in which engineers continue to validate, correct and make decisions. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google Google’s internal turn. Pichai did not present this advance as a simple productivity improvement, but as part of a shift towards “truly agentive” workflows. As he explained, Google engineers are orchestrating autonomous digital teams, launching agents to complete tasks that previously depended much more on direct human work. The example he cited helps measure the scope of that transition: A complex code migration, performed by agents and engineers, was completed six times faster than was possible just a year ago with engineers working alone. The engineer changes places. Google’s thesis is not that the programmer disappears, but that their work is displaced. Seroter explained to Fast Company that, with this new distribution of tasks, engineers can focus on higher-value tasks: systems architecture, design and solving complex problems. In this new distribution, manual code writing loses part of its weight and the ability to direct, review and convert those pieces into real products gains importance. The contrast with the rest of the sector. A Sonar survey from earlier this year notes that 96% of developers acknowledge that they do not fully trust AI-generated code, and that 52% do not always review it for errors before incorporating it. At the same time, the weight of these tools is growing very quickly: the code generated by AI would have gone from 6% in 2023 to 42% in the latest report, with a forecast of 65% for 2027. So we have reasons to say that adoption is ahead of trust. Images | Xataka with Grok | Stanford Graduate School of Business In Xataka | A young man has solved a mathematical problem that lasted 60 years in 80 minutes with ChatGPT. That’s the least interesting thing about the story.

The machines were already beating us at chess and Go. Now they are about to beat us at something much more difficult: ping pong

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Human beings have a curious relationship with machines: we create them to help us, but also to challenge us. We have been doing it for decades, from large industrial systems to artificial intelligence systems and robots that today begin to move in more complex environmentsmore demanding and with less margin for error. And when those machines surpass us, we don’t just see a defeat: we see a clue as to where the technology is going. It already happened in chess and Go. What we are seeing now points to something different: the challenge begins to jump to sports where it is not enough to calculate the next play. The robot that plays ping pong. The last signal comes from Sony AI and is shaped like a ping pong table. Your Ace robot, developed within Project Acehas been presented by the company as the first AI system capable of competing in a real physical environment with elite university players and table tennis professionals under official rules. The firm illustrates this with a recent scene in Tokyo: Japanese professional player Taira Mayuka launched a shot that, under normal conditions, would have decided the point. On the other side of the net, Ace read the trajectory, adjusted the angle of the paddle and returned the ball to keep the exchange alive. A notable jump. Ping pong adds something much less friendly than table games: a ball that moves, spins, bounces and changes direction in a very short time. That’s why Sony insists on Ace’s reaction speed, with an end-to-end latency of 20.2 milliseconds compared to about 230 milliseconds in elite human players. As we can see in the video that accompanies this article, the robot not only has to “see” the ball. You have to anticipate what he will do next and get the paddle at the right angle before it’s too late. How do you get it? The key is that Ace does not depend on a single technology, but on a very tight chain between perception, control and movement. The system integrates nine synchronized conventional cameras and three event-based vision systems, capable of recording movement changes very quickly. With that set, the robot tracks the ball at 200 Hz with millimeter precision and measures the effect up to 700 Hz. An eight-degree-of-freedom robotic arm then executes the returns based on policies learned through reinforcement learning in simulation. Ace didn’t get to that point overnight either. Sony places the start of the project in 2020, within the first works of Sony AI, and describes an evolution in stages: first juggling the ball, then maintaining cooperative exchanges with a person and, later, facing increasingly stronger players. This journey also served to discover limits that do not always appear in a simulation. The limits. Ace’s merit lies in having reached an expert level, not in having turned table tennis into a solved problem. Sony recognizes that there are still humans above the system. In any case, the robot mainly excels in skill, where you decide how to move the robot and how to hit the ball in real time. What happens point to point, and what is planned during a match, can still improve. Images | Sony AI (1, 2) In Xataka | A young man has solved a mathematical problem that lasted 60 years in 80 minutes with ChatGPT. That’s the least interesting thing about the story.

TSMC is not going to use its High-NA machines at the moment and has a compelling reason not to do so

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On April 23, TSMC made official a strategic decision very important: has postponed the adoption of ASML’s extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and high aperture lithography machines until 2029. These are the equipment of manufacturing of more advanced integrated circuits that this company from the Netherlands currently has in its portfolio, and TSMC’s announcement caused ipso facto a drop of 3.3% of the value of its shares. It is not in vain that this Taiwanese chip producer is ASML’s largest client. In 2025 23.9% of total sales of this Dutch company came from TSMC. The main reason why this last company has decided not to use UVE High-NA machines of ASML in the short term is strictly economic. Each of them has a price of around 350 million euros, and, in addition, a single cutting-edge semiconductor plant requires the installation of several dozen of this equipment. TSMC considers that they are currently too expensive to make the manufacturing of advanced chips profitable. And, interestingly, Intel, Samsung and SK Hynix they are already adopting High-NA technology. This decision by TSMC brings great technical challenges The step taken by TSMC has not been improvised, as might be expected. In fact, over the past two years several managers at this company have publicly expressed doubts about the short-term adoption of ASML’s High-NA equipment. In January 2024 CC Wei, the current president and CEO of TSMC, surprised us with this statement: “We are studying it carefully, evaluating the maturity of the tool and examining its costs. We always make the right decision at the right time in order to offer the best service to our clients,” Wei assured. during a meeting. A few weeks earlier Szeho Ng, an analyst at China Renaissance, predicted that TSMC would not use ASML’s high-aperture UVE equipment until it introduced its 1nm integration technology. “We always make the right decision at the right time with the purpose of offering the best service to our clients” Last week it was Kevin Zhang, TSMC’s deputy chief operating officer, who clarified something very important: “I am amazed by our R&D team. They continue to find ways to drive technological development without using ASML’s High-NA UVE equipment. Someday we may have to use them, but right now we can continue to reap the benefits of current EUV technology without moving to High-NA which, as we all know, is extremely expensive.” In 2029, TSMC intends to have the A12 and A13 integration technologies ready for large-scale production, which are nothing more than derivatives of its A14 photolithography. From a commercial point of view these will be the first 1.2 and 1.3 nm technologies of this company. They will use GAA transistors (Gate-All-Around) and NanoFlex Pro technology. This latest innovation will allow IC designers to use fast cells for the critical parts of the GPU that need speed, and dense or efficient cells for the rest, thus optimizing the chip area down to the last millimeter. What we still do not know is what technical solutions TSMC engineers are going to implement to make it possible to manufacture 1.2 and 1.3 nm integrated circuits using ASML’s UVE equipment. It’s just a guess, but it seems unlikely that they will resort to the multiple patterning because this procedure compromises the performance per wafer and the cost of the semiconductors. TSMC would lose competitiveness. One last note: the multiple patterning Broadly speaking, it consists of transferring the pattern to the wafer in several passes with the purpose of increasing the resolution of the lithographic process. Image | ASML More information | Innovation Origins In Xataka | Bill Gates has X-rayed Intel. And his diagnosis is overwhelmingly accurate.

why the USSR was obsessed with a planet that literally ate its machines

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There was a time when it was thought that Venus would be a good planet to explore or even terraform. After all, it is close to Earth. Carl Sagan himself made a theoretical proposal to adapt this planet for human life. Therefore, it is not surprising that it became one of the biggest objectives of the Soviet Union (USSR) during the beginning of its space race. With the Venera missions, dozens of probes were sent to explore the neighboring planet. A few were enough to prove that it was a more inhospitable place than one thought. However, that did not make those scientists give up their efforts. Only 16 named probes. Between 1961 and 1984, The USSR sent 28 probes to Venus. Only 16 of them, those that partially completed their mission, were baptized as Venera. Of those 16, only 13 crossed the atmosphere of the neighboring planet and 10 managed to land. Some even survived a few minutes to transmit important information to Earth. The violent destruction of each probe provided new data that was used to improve the next one. Even knowing that the next one would also succumb, the program continued forward and laid the pillars of the space exploration technologies that came later. An inhospitable planet. Venus It is an extremely inhospitable planet for many reasons. To begin with, its temperatures are very high. Temperatures can reach 465ºC, which is why many Venera probes literally melted when they reached their destination. The pressure is also very high. It is equivalent to about 90 atmospheres and could quickly crush a submarine. Many of these probes were also crushed. On the other hand, more than 96% of its atmosphere is carbon dioxide, making it highly toxic, although that is not as problematic as the corrosive clouds of sulfuric acid that accompany it. The Venera probes also had to deal with this corrosion. step by step. The first Venera probes lost communication with Earth before even reaching Venus. Others, however, managed to transmit information from the surroundings of the neighboring planet or even on its surface. The first to send data before being crushed by the pressure were Venera 5 and Venera 6. Previously, Venera 4 had been the first probe to manage to pass through the atmosphere of a planet other than Earth. Venera 7 even managed to land and stay 23 minutes on the surface of Venus before being torn apart by the heat and pressure. Later, Venera 9 sent the first black and white images. Images of the surface of Venus taken by the Venera probes Special mention to Venera 13. Possibly the greatest advances came with Venera 13. Although it was planned to last 32 minutes, the probe stayed on Venus for 127 minutes before disappearing like all the others. There he managed to take photographs much more advanced than those of Venera 9. He also measured the composition of the atmosphere and used a lightning detector to measure the electrical activity of Venus. It was even able to analyze the winds thanks to its built-in anemometer. Along with Venera 14, it was possibly the probe that provided the greatest discoveries before disappearing like all the others. 40 years later. With the Venera missions, the USSR verified that, in reality, Venus was a planet too inhospitable for exploration. But knowing our neighbors can help us know ourselves. For this reason, despite knowing that it was all suicide, 28 probes were sent, with landing, chemical analysis or image taking technologies that have continued to be used over time. Today, more than 40 years after the launch of the last probe, we can access the data obtained by many other missions that have also headed to Venus. Other missions. First it was NASA, in 1970, with its Mariner 10 probe. Although its main objective was Mercury, it also had time to explore the surroundings of Venus. Later in 1989 The Magellan mission made the first global map of the Venusian surface. Today the American agency is preparing for the launch of VERITAS and DAVINCI+, which should leave for the neighboring planet in the coming years. For its part, Europe launched the Venus Express probe in 2005 and Japan launched the Akatsuki probe in 2010. In the next decade, Europe is prepared to launch Envision, which will be in charge of studying the core of the planet. All of these missions were clearly inspired by the Venera probes. Of course, even if we can never live there, being able to send probes to a planet that melts and crushes ships is a great achievement of space technology. Images | Reimund Bertrams (Wikimedia Commons) | USSR In Xataka | A day on Venus: the (hellish) conditions on the surface of the neighboring planet

35% of its chip manufacturing machines are already of Chinese origin

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Foreign lithography and wafer processing equipment manufacturers are selling less and less in China. In 2024, the country led by Xi Jinping represented 41% of ASML revenuebut in 2025 this figure dropped to 33%. And presumably in 2026 will contract up to 20%. Something very similar has happened to the American wafer processing machine manufacturer Applied Materials: its sales in China have gone from 37% of its total sales in 2024 to 30% in 2025. In addition, sales in China of the American companies Lam Research and KLA, and the Japanese Tokyo Electron, also have decreased during 2025 compared to those they obtained in 2024. This obvious trend is the consequence of two factors. On the one hand, US sanctions prevent US and allied manufacturers of lithography and wafer processing equipment from delivering their most sophisticated machines to their Chinese clients. The Dutch company ASML is most likely the most affected in this scenario. On the other hand, in response to pressure from the US, the Chinese Government is supporting the adoption of machines of Chinese origin in its integrated circuit factories. In fact, in 2025 the national tools represented 35% of the equipment in use in semiconductor plants, and Xi Jinping’s Government aims to reach 50% in new factories during 2026. Its purpose is clear: China’s chip industry needs to achieve technological independence as soon as possible in its fight with the United States. China has made great progress, but lithography remains its weakest point The resources that the Chinese Government is allocating to its designers and manufacturers of wafer processing equipment are bearing fruit. And they already compete face to face with foreign companies in the field of deposition, thermal processing, etching and cleaning of wafers. However, there are still no extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography machines of Chinese origin in Chinese IC factories. Presumably they will arrive before this decade endsbut this is for the moment China’s real Achilles heel. One of the Chinese companies worth keeping track of is Pulin Technology. This organization has opted, like Naura Technology, AMEC (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China) or Piotech Inc., to develop your own cutting-edge photolithography machines. And the achievements are coming little by little. In mid-2025 Pulin sent one of his clients your first cutting-edge equipment using nanoimprint lithography technology (known as NIL for its English name NanoImprint Lithography). In mid-2025, Pulin sent one of its clients its first cutting-edge equipment NIL technology is not new. The Japanese company Canon has its own commercial NIL solution for yearsand presumably its operating principles are essentially the same as those of the machine designed by Pulin. On paper, NIL photolithography equipment is an alternative to printing machines. extreme ultraviolet lithography (UVE) designed and manufactured by the Dutch company ASML, although no to the high aperture version of these teams. The latter are currently the most sophisticated and expensive that exist. Very broadly speaking, the production of silicon wafers in the latter requires very precisely transporting the geometric pattern described by the mask to the surface of the silicon wafer using ultraviolet light and extremely refined optical elements. NIL lithography, however, allows the pattern to be transferred to the wafer without the need for intervention in the process. an extremely complex optical system. This strategy is simpler and cheaper, but it also involves the execution of several sequential processes that make it slower than UVE and UVP lithography. Canon assures that its nanoimprint lithography equipment can be used to manufacture integrated circuits comparable to the 5nm chips that TSMC, Samsung or Intel produce with ASML’s UVE machines. And in the future, with the refinements that will arrive, they will be able to manufacture 2nm chips. In addition, a NIL equipment costs ten times less than an ASML EUV machine: 15 million dollars compared to the 150 million dollars that the Dutch company asks its clients for an EUV machine with numerical aperture 0.33. We still don’t know how much each Pulin NIL machine costs, but it is reasonable to predict that at most it will have a cost comparable to that of the Canon machine. Image | Naura Technology More information | Tom’s Hardware In Xataka | Japan wants to end the Netherlands’ leadership in lithography equipment. This is your plan to get it

prepares total blockade of chip manufacturing machines arriving in China

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The US has been exercising its control over advanced integrated circuit manufacturing equipment for five years now to prevent it from reaching China. It is the strategy with the one that has managed to slow downbut in no way slow down, the technological development of the country led by Xi Jinping. In 2021, it approved the first restrictions that prevented machines from extreme ultraviolet photolithography (UVE) of ASML and other advanced equipment arrive in China. From that moment on, the US Government has continued to deploy new sanctions with the purpose of increasingly limiting the access of Chinese semiconductor manufacturers to lithography and wafer processing equipment that comes not only from the US, but also from the Netherlands, Taiwan, South Korea or Japan. The US is exercising ownership of some of the patents that these machines use, and also their ability to influence the decisions made by their allies. However, the Administration led by Donald Trump still has room to tighten its siege on China. And presumably it will do so in the short term because several senators belonging to both parties (Democrats and Republicans) have proposed new legislation which seeks to impose an essentially total ban on exports of advanced chip manufacturing and wafer processing equipment to certain corporations in adversary nations. It is clear that China is in their sights. Objective: Prevent ASML’s UVP photolithography machines from reaching China State-of-the-art lithography equipment is extraordinarily complex and sophisticated. Currently, the most used by integrated circuit manufacturers to produce cutting-edge chips are deep ultraviolet (UVP) and extreme ultraviolet (UVE) machines. A priori, UVP machines are suitable for manufacturing semiconductors up to 10 nm. And with EUVs it is possible to go up to 2 nm. However, by refining the processes involved in transferring the pattern to the wafer and turning to multiple patterning It is possible to go beyond these integration technologies. The US is especially targeting SMIC, Huawei, Hua Hong Semiconductor, YMTC and CXMT This technique broadly consists of transferring the pattern to the wafer in several passes with the purpose of increasing the resolution of the lithographic process. It may have an upward impact on the cost of chips and a downward impact on production capacity, but it works. SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp), the largest Chinese semiconductor manufacturerhas resorted to multiple patterning for manufacture 7nm integrated circuits using ASML’s Twinscan NXT:2000i UVP lithography equipment. US export controls currently prevent the sale of UVP equipment to specific factories in China that may or may not appear on the US blacklist, but do not prohibit its sale to the companies that own these plants. This is precisely what the MATCH Law seeks to change (Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware) that US senators have proposed. In practice this proposal will, if successful (and it probably will), prevent ASML’s UVP machines and other advanced wafer processing equipment from reaching any facilities of major Chinese chipmakers. The US is targeting SMIC, Huawei, Hua Hong Semiconductor, YMTC and CXMT, and also their subsidiaries. He picks it up clearly. the published document by Senator Michael Baumgartner. In reality this proposal does not introduce new restrictions; what it does is change how shipping is allowed of advanced tools to prevent Chinese companies from continuing to develop sophisticated techniques, such as multiple patterningwith the purpose of producing cutting-edge chips. Be that as it may, in the medium term, China will need to have your own advanced lithography machines to be able to sustain its technological development. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | Congressman Michael Baumgartner In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

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