manufacture

A gasoline engine that uses 3L per 100km is a dream come true. And only Spain could manufacture it.

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With gasoline and absolutely shot dieselsreduce a few tenths (or liters) to 100 It is the wish of practically every Spaniard. Although the efficiency of current engines is increasing, and gasoline consumption is not as high as it was two decades ago, giants like Repsol are struggling to develop ultra-efficient engines that run on renewable fuel. And they have achieved it. They are not alone. Repsol has the fuel, but needs a partner to develop the engines. That partner is horse powertrain, a Joint Venture between Renault and the Chinese group Geely. This is dedicated to designing, manufacturing and selling thermal and hybrid propulsion systems, something that allows both Renault and Geely to continue exploring the combustion vehicle of the future without abandoning their electrification plans. Horse H12 Concept. This is an engine that promises less than 3.3 liters per 100km in the WLTP cycle, with a reduction in consumption according to the company of 40% compared to the average of new gasoline vehicles registered in the last two years. The best of all? The engine has been developed in Spain, and runs on 100% renewable Repsol gasoline. Horse has its operational headquarters in Madrid, engine factories in Valladolid and gearbox factories in Seville. Why is it important. The Horse H12 Concept is not a shot in the dark. It is an evolution of an already existing engine: the HR12. It is a 1.2-liter three-cylinder produced in Romania, and used in models such as the Dacia Duster. What makes this Concept version special is its exhaust gas recirculation system, a specially optimized ignition system and a hybrid gearbox. This Concept version, in alliance with Repsol, shows how far these engines can go with the help of synthetic fuel. It is not an experiment with an engine designed from scratch, it is the refinement of something that already exists. The other 50%. Repsol is now capable of producing gasoline of 100% renewable origin on an industrial scale at its Tarragona plant. According to what it indicates, it is compatible with all current gasoline vehicles, without requiring any type of modification. It’s your Nexa fuelcurrently available at 30 of Repsol’s stations. The same happens with its diesel, which promises to reduce net CO₂ emissions by up to 90%. And if you’re wondering how much the joke costs, approximately 10 euro cents more per liter compared to conventional fuels. Combustion is not dead. The comings and goings of Europe with combustion cars in 2035 They make it clear that the future will involve electrification. But the plans of giants like Geely and Repsol to try to keep more environmentally responsible combustion solutions alive are a clear indication that gasoline and diesel still have life ahead of them. In Xataka | The question is no longer whether diesel will continue to rise: it is whether it will become an expensive fuel forever.

that in addition to cars, Ford and Cadillac manufacture missiles

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In 1942, the Willow Run Factory in Michigan, operated by Ford Motor Company, managed to assemble a B-24 bomber every 63 minutes, something unthinkable for an industry that until recently produced cars in series. That feat turned a civilian assembly line on a capable machine to sustain a war on a global scale. Now the drums of war are beating again in car factories around the planet. An economy that returns to war mode. The United States is beginning to recover an industrial logic that seemed buried since the mid-20th century: converting its civilian muscle into a direct extension of the military effort. He had exclusive the wall street journal that there are already Pentagon conversations with giants such as Ford Motor Company and General Motors that reflect more than just an increase in production, pointing to a transformation of the role of the industry in a context where conflicts in Ukraine and Iran are draining arsenals at an unexpected rate. The underlying idea is simple but powerful, and already we had seen in Germany in recent months: if wars consume faster than the traditional military industry can replenish, the board must be expanded and civilian manufacturers brought back. From cars to missiles. The Pentagon is not only looking for specific contracts, but the ability to redirect factories, engineers and logistics chains towards the production of ammunition, anti-drone systems or tactical vehicles. This movement implies that companies used to manufacturing cars or heavy machinery can become direct support of the war effort, something that breaks with decades of specialization in a handful of defense contractors. In practice, it is a recognition that modern warfare (especially that based on drones and high-consumption ammunition) requires industrial volumes that are more reminiscent of a war economy than the limited conflicts of recent decades. The precedent. The historical reference is inevitable: during World War II, the Detroit automobile factories stopped producing cars to make bombersaircraft engines and large-scale military vehicles. That total conversion transformed American industry in a war machine capable of supporting multiple fronts simultaneously. Today, although the context is different, the logic underlying current conversations is the same: take advantage of the scale, efficiency and flexibility of civilian industry to cover military needs that exceed the capacity of the specialized sector. Korea, Vietnam and the law that made it possible. After the Second World War, Washington did not completely abandon this capacity for industrial mobilization, but rather institutionalized it with the Defense Production Law 1950, a legal framework that allows the government to prioritize and direct production toward military needs. During the Korean War, companies such as Ford Motor Company created specific divisions for defense contracts, while General Motors and other companies adapted their lines to manufacture military vehicles, engines and supplies. This model was activated again in later conflicts such as Vietnam, although in a more partial way, consolidating a tool that allows the civil industry to be reactivated in moments of strategic pressure without reaching the total mobilization of the 1940s. A system that falls short. The background of this turn is an uncomfortable reality that could already be find in Iran: the US defense industrial base, as designed today, it’s not enough to sustain prolonged, high-intensity wars while supplying allies. The massive transfer of weapons to Ukraine since 2022 and the additional wear and tear derived from the conflict with Iran have highlighted this limitation. For this reason, the Pentagon proposes expand production beyond the usual contractors, directly asking large manufacturers what capacity they can contribute and what obstacles they encounter in integrating into that effort. The return to a logic of total war. If you like, without explicitly declaring it, Washington is recovering an idea that seemed typical of another era: that, at certain moments, the entire economy can become part of the front. From that perspective, it is not yet a total conversion as in the Second World War, but it is a change of mentality that brings civil industry to military effort much more directly. In that sense, current wars are not only redefining the battlefield, but also the role of factories, which are once again placed at the center of strategy as if history were slowly turning backwards. First it was Volkswagen in Germanyand now it’s your turn to Cadillac in the United States. Image | Picryl, Dave Parker In Xataka | Not only has the US just lost the “eye” that Hormuz watched, its nuclear aircraft carrier is in Africa for fear of being shot down In Xataka | The US did not make ends meet in Iran by launching thousands of missiles a month. So let’s move on to plan B: humans.

China prepares a 2nm AI chip to end NVIDIA’s dominance. Your problem is how you are going to manufacture it

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A new chip designer for artificial intelligence (IA) is preparing to take the field in China. And he intends to make a lot of noise. In fact, it is already doing so. It’s called Dishan Technology, and, according to SCMP, is already verifying the prototype of a 2nm AI GPU that uses a hybrid integration technology that combines FinFET and GAA transistors (Gate-All-Around). However, this is not the only thing that has emerged. According to Dishan Technology, this chip will be 40% more energy efficient than its predecessor and will be compatible with CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture), from NVIDIA. This latest technology brings together the compiler and development tools used by programmers to develop their software for NVIDIA GPUs, so if Dishan’s chip is really compatible it will be much easier to integrate it into facilities that already have GPUs from this American company. Although, as I mentioned above, Dishan already has a prototype of its chip, it will take another year or two to refine its technology enough to make large-scale manufacturing possible. Be that as it may, what has not been revealed is who is going to manufacture it. SMICthe largest Chinese semiconductor producer, can currently only manufacture 7nm chips using the multiple patterning. And TSMC, Intel and Samsung, which could produce it, will hardly do so in the current geopolitical context due to the demands of the US sanctions on China. We will see how Dishan Technology solves this challenge. China already has three “champions” in its AI chip ecosystem The country led by Xi Jinping you already have three alternatives very clear to NVIDIA. Although not as well-known as Huawei or Moore Threads, Cambricon Technologies is one of the companies specialized in designing GPUs for AI with the greatest growth potential. In fact, in August 2025 it received approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange (China) to raise $560 million. He is allocating them to the design of four chips for training and inference of AI models, and also to the development of an alternative to CUDA. Moore Threads has developed several GPUs that rival advanced solutions from NVIDIA, AMD or Huawei On the other hand, Moore Threads has developed several GPUs for AI applications that, on paper, rival some of the advanced solutions that NVIDIA, AMD or Huawei have placed on the market. The cards MTT S4000 and MTT S3000 They are its most interesting proposals right now, although, curiously, the MTT S80 card also appears in its portfolio, a proposal for games and content creation that, according to Moore Threads itself, has a computing capacity of 14.4 TFLOPS in single-precision floating point operations. The other indispensable player in the Chinese AI chip industry is Huawei. His most ambitious proposal right now is the chip Ascend 950PRwhich aims to surpass the performance of the GPU NVIDIA H100. However, this Chinese company also launched its chips last year Ascend 910D and 920. This last solution is clearly intended to compete in the Chinese market with NVIDIA’s H20 GPU. Presumably at the end of 2026 it will launch its Ascend 950DT chip, and the Ascend 960 and 970 GPUs will arrive in 2027 and 2028 respectively. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | SCMP In Xataka | TSMC acknowledges that it has considered taking its factories out of Taiwan. It’s impossible for a good reason. In Xataka | The looming bottleneck in AI is neither RAM nor gas: it’s that TSMC’s N3 node is absolutely saturated

China needs to manufacture cutting-edge chips to challenge the US for global supremacy. To achieve this it has two “Manhattan projects”

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China is putting everything on the table. You have no choice. Either it develops its own cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing technology or it will lose its fight for world supremacy with the US. Without 100% Chinese advanced chips its military capacity, the development of its models of artificial intelligence (AI) and the competitiveness of its technology companies will suffer in the medium term. Huawei and SMIC are making advanced integrated circuits, but they use machines from the Dutch company ASML and a technology known as multiple patterning that compromises its competitiveness. This scenario has caused the Chinese Government support with very juicy subsidies to companies that have the capacity to develop cutting-edge photolithography equipment, such as YesCarrierShanghai Yuliangsheng, Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE), Huawei or SMIC. However, its most compelling commitment has taken the form of two extraordinarily ambitious projects that seek to put the capacity to produce cutting-edge semiconductors in China’s hands before the end of the current decade. Shenzhen Hybrid SVU Machine Exactly one year ago, in March 2025, it was leaked that Huawei was testing the first extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography equipment designed and manufactured entirely in China. Over the last twelve months information about this machine has been arriving very slowly, but currently we know enough to take this project very seriously. Its purpose is to place in the hands of Chinese integrated circuit manufacturers the possibility of producing highly integrated chips without using ASML equipment. However, unlike the EUV machines of this company from the Netherlands, the prototype of the project led by Huawei It uses an LDP (laser induced discharge) type ultraviolet light source, and not an LPP (laser generated plasma) class. On paper the LDP source is capable of generating UVE light with a wavelength of 13.5 nmso this Chinese prototype should be able to compete head-to-head with ASML’s UVE photolithography machines. The LDP radiation source is less powerful and simpler to implement than an LPP source, although it has been leaked that the Harbin Institute of Technology, which is located in northeastern China, is testing a 100 watt LPP source. The Changchun Institute of Optics, Mechanics and Physics appears to be able to manufacture the mirrors required for an EUV machine using atomic polishing techniques The most interesting thing about this project is that, if we stick to what we know, it seems to have shaped a hybrid photolithography machine which combines solutions developed by China by reverse engineering ASML’s deep ultraviolet photolithography (UVP) equipment in its possession and innovations devised by Chinese research centers. The Changchun Institute of Optics, Mechanics and Physics appears to be able to manufacture the mirrors required for an EUV machine using atomic polishing techniques with performance close to that of the mirrors produced by ZEISS for ASML. On the other hand, Tsinghua University has recently presented advances in polyteluoxane photoresists designed specifically for interact with the wavelength of 13.5 nm. Furthermore, Xuzhou B&C Chemical, which is one of the leading photoresist materials manufacturers in China, anticipates that in at most five years will have the capacity to produce large-scale advanced KrF photoresists (Krypton Fluoride) and ArF (Argon Fluoride). Be that as it may, the leaks maintain that the first test integrated circuits will be produced by this machine in 2028so that large-scale manufacturing will begin no later than 2030. Tsinghua University’s SSMB-UVE project continues to advance Each of ASML’s UVE machines incorporates its own ultraviolet light source, but Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences seek to generate this radiation, which is so important for produce advanced chips using a synchrotronwhich is nothing more than a circular particle accelerator that is used to analyze the properties of matter at the atomic level, such as various types of materials, or even proteins. It’s called HEPS (High Energy Photon Source o High Energy Photon Source). China’s plan is to place several semiconductor manufacturing plants around the particle accelerator to which the synchrotron will deliver the SVU light. SSMB-UVEwhich is the name of this project, comes from the English name Steady-State Micro-Bunching-UVEwhich we can translate as Microclustering in steady state for the generation of UVE radiation. A priori we may think that a particle accelerator has nothing to do with the manufacturing of integrated circuits, but we would be overlooking something very important: the HEPS synchrotron has the capacity to produce high power UVE light. In fact, it is a source designed to generate a large amount of radiation. China’s plan is to place several semiconductor manufacturing plants around the particle accelerator to which the synchrotron will deliver EUV light in the same way a power plant delivers electricity to its customers. The leaks ensure that this project has already completed the verification phases of the particle beams, although in principle nothing seems to indicate that this synchrotron will be able to be used to produce large-scale integrated circuits in the short term. Presumably the Shenzhen hybrid EUV machine will be ready before the SSMB-UVE project, but the path of the latter, if it finally comes to fruition, it will be much longer because it aspires to put a next-generation UVE radiation source in China’s hands. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini In Xataka | TSMC acknowledges that it has considered taking its factories out of Taiwan. It’s impossible for a good reason. In Xataka | The looming bottleneck in AI is neither RAM nor gas: it’s that TSMC’s N3 node is absolutely saturated

Spain has many options to manufacture the successor to the Airbus A320. We have advantages that our neighbors do not

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Airbus is going to have to make a very relevant decision within its business in the next decade, and that may affect Spain more than we think, although in a good way. We are referring to where the aeronautical giant will manufacture the successor to the A320, the best-selling single-aisle aircraft in the world. In this sense, Spain is running as a strong candidate, and even the CEO of the group himself counted that the country has ballots for it. Why this decision matters. The A320 is Airbus’ star product, the one that moves the bulk of its deliveries and the one that competes directly with Boeing in the highest volume segment of all commercial aviation. The program that replaces it will define Airbus’ industrial roadmap for decades, so the country that houses all its technological knowledge, investment and employment can give itself a good tooth in the teeth. In this context, Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, counted during his meeting with the media at the Getafe plant that “Spain has many cards in its hand to attract these investments.” Where is Spain today? Airbus currently has eight centers and around 14,000 employees in Spain. The largest of them is the Getafe plant, the company’s headquarters in the country and its largest industrial facility in Spain, with nearly 10,000 workers. Added to this is the Illescas factory, specialized in carbon fiber structures, which would soon benefit from the A350 production increasegoing from 5-6 units to 12 in 2028. There is also a relevant presence in Albacete and Seville. “Basically all the activities we have in Spain are growing,” counted Faury. Advantages of Spain. Faury recognized that Spain presents “some competitive advantages over other European countries”, among them the progress in renewable energies, which can help contain energy costs, one of the factors that most concern the group on a continental scale. The CEO claimed also that Europe pays between 2 and 2.5 times more for energy than the United States or China, being a gap that hinders the competitiveness of this industry on the continent. Therefore, in this context, Spain can be a great asset for the company. Added to this is a supply chain with years of experience, qualified labor and a good relationship with the Government, according to Faury himself. But not everything is won. For Faury, the conditions that Spain must continue to meet for the award to be possible include competitive labor and energy costs, a reliable supply chain and a good availability of workers with the appropriate qualifications. He also warns that the challenge of competitiveness cannot be addressed only from a national perspective, but rather a European one. “If we want to keep the industry in Europe in the long term, we have to simplify the regulatory framework and guarantee affordable and available energy,” pointed out the CEO. Consider In this sense, we must “take the bull by the horns” in the face of a situation that he described as urgent. Cover image | Gabriel Goncalves In Xataka | AI seemed ready to destroy skilled employment. A new study with real data says something different: unemployment has barely moved

The RAM crisis is great for those who manufacture it. There are those who think that a tsunami will sink many others

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Looking at current technology is peering into a well of contrasts. On the one hand, the optimism of companies that push the narrative of a future supported by AI while spend tens of billions of dollars. On the other hand, the consequences for the consumer segment are a new component crisis. Nobody likes pessimism, but unfortunately the market does not bring good news, and the CEO of Phison has a clear message: Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. And that means that the RAM crisis It is going to take away some technology companies… in all sectors. In short. RAM and SSDs are the components that best exemplify the cost of data centers. They are elements that They have increased the price a real outrage and are made up of NAND flash chips. It is where the information is stored, but even those components need a ‘brain’, and that is where Phison comes into play. This Taiwanese company is one of the most powerful when it comes to creating something very specific: memory controllers. They are responsible for managing access, reading, writing and deleting data from NAND memory, among other tasks. Without them, these components could not function, so it is evident that Phison is interested in continuing to inflate the market. But its CEO, Pua Khein-Seng, has made it clear in a recent interview that this boom in data centers and artificial intelligence will have a disastrous consequence for the consumer market: there will be companies that go bankrupt. And it will be soon: by the end of 2026. slap. According to the boss of the controller company, this situation will put many consumer brands on the ropes, pushing some to disaster before the end of the year. When we talk about “consumer devices”, we refer to mobile phonestablets, consoles and computersbut also cars and of other devices with RAM and flash memories, such as televisions and even routers. Because it’s not that we can’t buy a couple of RAM pills, it’s that gigantic companies like Apple or Lenovo are already facing the problems involved in not having RAM. Memory production is dominated by just three companies and, although there are others such as Intel, tesla and the Chinese wanting to get their nails in the matterSamsung, Micron and SK Hynix are still the only ones capable of supplying the demands of the one that cuts the cod: NVIDIAas well as from Meta, Google or Microsoft. All production is focusing on creating memory for AI, and that means that Corsair, Dell, HP… but also Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO, Sony or Nintendo They cannot buy RAM or they have to do so at higher prices. Consequence? That if they buy at a higher price, they must also sell the product at a higher price. And they may make devices that users are not willing to buy if they are more expensive either by price or by a less memory than that of previous generations. Unprecedented. There were already estimates that certain mobile companies were being more cautious with their shipment estimates for this year, but the CEO of Phison give a figure: between 200 and 250 million fewer mobile phones. It also targets the aforementioned PC industries (not those that we can assemble in parts, but to those pre-assembled by the companies) and to that of televisions. If all televisions are already ‘smart’, they need components that have a price through the roof. The executive is not the only interested party that has sent a pessimistic message about the situation. In statements to BloombergMicron’s executive vice president already pointed out that the current shortage is unprecedented, ridiculing even the previous components crisis that we live in 2020. In fact, something that is also unprecedented is that RAM manufacturers request payments up to three years in advance. Big Tech optimism. While users cannot buy components and consumer-focused companies are beginning to see sea level rise, Big Tech continues investing exorbitant amounts. There is not a day that we do not have news about billion-dollar investments in some data center or agreements between the main protagonist companies. And the most curious thing about that is that a lot is being invested in something that does not yet exist. Goal, for example, ends to buy graphics cards from NVIDIA for a data center not yet built. AND NVIDIA depends on Samsung I sent him a memory that he still doesn’t have. But the wheel keeps turning and, as one of the SMIC bosses commentedthe big feature of China, “no one has really thought about what exactly those data centers will do, but companies would love to build the entire capacity of the next 10 years in just one or two years.” We’ll see who gets ahead. Image | Andrey Matveev In Xataka | There was only one way to lower the price of RAM: Samsung and SK Hynix have flatly refused

a slam on Israel to manufacture rocket launchers and howitzers at home

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The Spanish defense of the last century has been built on the basis of delicate balances: first the almost total dependence on foreign allies, then the integration in large international consortiums and, later, the comfort of buying abroad what was not known or did not want to be manufactured within. This model, born in the heat of NATO and post-war industrial Europe, worked as long as the geopolitical chessboard was stable. Today, however, it begins to show cracks that force to rethink alliances. The “sovereignty mode.” Yes, Spain has taken an abrupt and unusual turn in its military industrial policy by activating a “sovereignty mode” that combines accelerated rearmament and technological rupture with traditional allies. A decision forced by political embargo on Israel and the deterioration of the environment European strategic but converted into a State strategy: the country has assumed that, without its own industry, any military capacity is fragile in a real war scenario. The result is a draft decision: manufacture key rocket launchers and howitzers for the Army at home, even if this implies more costs, more risks and longer deadlines. SILAM as a breaking point. The program of High Mobility Launcher System has become the symbolic piece of this industrial catharsis, moving from a design based on Israeli technology by Elbit Systems to a completely national solution. Not only that, along the way has been discarded both to Israeli suppliers and to the American alternative of Lockheed Martin, despite the fact that their missiles offered a quick and proven exit. The decision to move forward without shortcuts reflects a conscious bet for not depending on licenses, political vetoes or external operational limitations, even if it implies delays and assuming that, for years, Spain will lack of certain abilities fully mature medium and long range attacks. If you will, it is a strategic bet that sacrifices speed in exchange for control, something unusual in the recent history of national defense. Navy An alliance and nationalize brain and muscle. The union between Escribano Mechanical & Engineering and GMV materializes this strategy by concentrating both the industrial platform and critical digital systems in Spain. In this way, both the SILAM rocket launcher and the new ATP howitzers will carry fire direction, navigation, command and control through the manufacturing of designs, code and maintenance entirely in Spain. In other words, in theory, this remove dependencies on the most sensitive components and guarantees total control about the life cycle of the systems, from initial integration to their use in combat and their maintenance in the event of a prolonged conflict. A massive rearmament. Furthermore, the plan is not limited to SILAM and is supported by a self-propelled wheeled and tracked artillery program valued in more than 7.8 billion of euros, a scenario led by Indra together with EM&E. Systems integration will allow batteries to receive targets, calculate trajectories and open fire in seconds. This complete digitalization responds to the high intensity war model that NATO promoteswhere decision speed “aims” to be as decisive as firepower. Legal tensions and exceptions. There is no doubt, the depth of this turn sovereigntist advances between frictions, as demonstrated the judicial appeal of Santa Bárbara Sistemas, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, against the public loans granted to Indra and EM&E. At the same time, the Government has had to activate exceptionality clauses to the Israeli embargo to protect strategic Airbus programs. That is to say, industrial sovereignty, in practice, advances in fits and starts and forces constant balances between political principles, employment and international commitments. The horizon. In parallel, the growing position of EM&E as key shareholder in the capital of Indra and its technological alliance with GMV They reinforce or feed the idea of ​​a future national champion capable of competing with European giants such as the all-powerful Rheinmetall or Leonardo. The Executive, just in case, observes this possibility cautiouslyaware of the risks of concentration and conflicts of interest. In any case, the strategic message has already been sent: Spain has decided to stop being just a client of the global arms market to try to control, for the first time in decades, its own military capacity. Image | EM&E, Navy In Xataka | Ukraine has found what it needed in an unexpected ally. Spain had the missing piece against the shahed drones In Xataka | In the midst of rearmament, Spain has just surprised Europe: 5,000 million for 34 warships and four submarines

With the consumer segment drowning, Samsung is the first to manufacture HBM4 memory. And it will be for NVIDIA, of course

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Samsung is one of the names of this February. They are expected to present the Galaxy S26but they have something on the table that will be a shock not only to their coffers, but to the engine of the South Korean economy. We refer to high bandwidth memories because, in the midst of the RAM and SSD crisisSamsung is prepared to mass produce the HBM4 memories. And it will be for the AI, How could it not be any other way?. In short. The South Korean company has not confirmed it, but recent reports published by Reuters and local sources such as Korea JoongAng Daily They point out that Samsung will begin mass manufacturing HBM4 memory chips starting next week. It will be the first of the three companies that dominate the production of memory chips (the others are the South Korean SK Hynix and the American Micron, the which is gone from the RAM consumption) in starting to manufacture in large quantities these fundamental memories for the artificial intelligence. HBM4. This type of memory, as its name suggests, has enormous bandwidth. This is crucial for GPU needs and while NVIDIA has remained faithful to GDDR memory for its graphics cardsAMD did flirt with the stacked technology of the HBM chips for their Vega GPUs. However, it is not a technology for consumption, not because its performance is inadequate, but because it is too expensive. Making HBM memory is more expensive than making traditional DRAM chips, but the advantages are there. With HBM4, for example, the density of stacked chips allows Double the bandwidth of the previous generation. This is key to transmitting more data per second, but they also consume up to 40% less energy than HBM3 memories. NVIDIA. The most interested is, as we have said on previous occasionsNVIDIA. And if NVIDIA benefits, practically the entire leading artificial intelligence industry will take advantage of it because its chips are what are currently moving the industry. It is estimated that Samsung memories will go to NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin acceleration systems In fact, it has been reported that Jensen Huang himself has urged to accelerate and increase the production of these chips. Well, Huang has asked the entire semiconductor industry to manufacture components for his cards. let’s get the batteriesit is not something that concerns only Samsung. Spearhead. According to a Korea KoongAng Daily source, “Samsung has the world’s largest production capacity and broadest product line. It has demonstrated a recovery in its technological competitiveness by becoming the first to mass produce the highest-performance HBM4 memory.” Because, in this field, its main competitor, the neighboring SK Hynix, is expected to begin mass manufacturing its response between March or April, enough time ahead for Samsung to begin sending its memory to NVIDIA. And, here, Samsung’s great advantage is that it does not depend on TSMC: it has its own foundry and the HBM4 modules are based on 4 nanometer photolithography. Looking to the future. SK Hynix’s delay is not because they have rested on their laurels: they are the ones who they lead the way in the previous generation thanks to the HBM3E memory, but due to their schedule and they did not need it, they started developing the new generation later than Samsung. But of course, although HBM is the standard in current AI systems, we have already said that they are expensive chips and, in addition, they heat up a lot, requiring dissipation equipment to match. And that’s where companies are combining HBM4 memory production with a new generation of DRAM memory. The idea is to find a way for this memory – slower, but cheaper and ‘fresh’ – to compete in bandwidth with the HBM. Samsung and SK Hynix are in it, but they will have to compete against someone who didn’t play in this league: an Intel that does not arrive alonebut from the hand of the Japanese giant SoftBank. In short: Samsung has decided to get back on its feet when it comes to manufacturing muscle. And most important of all, all the companies that make memory modules remain focused on one thing: they make hardware for artificial intelligence while components such as RAM and SSD consumption they have the prices through the stratosphere. Images | Maxence Pira, Choi Kwang-moNVIDIA logo (edited) In Xataka | Huawei has kept its promise: it has found a way to boost China’s competitiveness in AI compared to the US

Europe wants to manufacture 20% of the world’s semiconductors by 2030. It has just taken the first step

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43,000 million euros. That is the figure that the European Commission set to achieve something that is currently out of reach: technological sovereignty regarding semiconductors. With the ‘Chips Act‘, Europe seeks to position itself as a power in a semiconductor production segment dominated by Asia with Taiwan at the head. Now, and after years of dreaming, Europe inaugurates the first installation: the FAMES Pilot Line. The objective is not conservative. By 2030, the Old Continent wants produce 20% of integrated circuits of the world. We have an ace up our sleeve called ASMLthe global spearhead in terms of manufacturing of advanced photolithography equipment refers. The Dutch are the ones who produce the machines that buy foundries like TSMC o Intel to manufacture the most advanced chips on the market. But there is a problem: we have the machine that makes the chips, but we don’t have someone to make chips. That is what the project wants to change, and with FAMESthe European Union Chip Law lays the first brick to be more relevant. It’s not going to be easy at all. FAMES, the spearhead of Europe’s Chips Law Unlike a private company, FAMES is something much more European: a collaboration between countries and institutions. It represents a new example of public-private collaboration like the one we are seeing in parallel in the european space race. And the pilot program is located at the CEA-Leti facilities in the French town of Grenoble. With an initiative of 830 million euros contributed by both the European Commission and the participating states, FAMES brings together 11 organizations belonging to eight countries and, after two years of preparation, has presented favorable technical results to begin developing advanced semiconductor technologies. The organizations and countries of the FAMES Consortium FAMES, with 830 million in financing, is the first of the five pilot lines that will be inaugurated under this Chips Law initiative, and the CEA-Leti plant has been expanded with about 2,000 new square meters destined to clean room. It is an extremely clean area isolated from the outside, with strictly controlled temperature and humidity conditions and optimal conditions for manufacturing semiconductors. CEA-Leti already had 12,000 square meters of clean room, so the expansion under the Chips Law is considerable. And the big question: what will they do in this pilot program? Well, something known as Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator, or FD-SOI. This is a manufacturing process in which a thin insulating layer (less than 10 nanometers) is placed under the transistors so that the chips operate at lower voltages. And the goal is to create 10 and 7 nanometer processors. FD-SOI Thus, they consume between 30 and 40% less energy without losing performance, making them more efficient. That efficiency and delivery of energy to the chips is something that everyone is trying to improve, from an Intel that already has its most cutting-edge technologies ready in this sense to a TSMC that is preparing its response by the end of 2026. That Europe is developing its solution now seems demoralizing, but it must be taken into account that, for decades, the technology of the Old Continent has depended on external manufacturing, so advancing this manufacturing process at this time is not bad news. But well, in the end, FAMES represents the first platform in which some advanced technologies for the manufacture of semiconductors will begin to mature and, together with the rest of the pilot lines, the objective is to transfer these advances and knowledge to the industry and, obviously, to a final product. We will see if the 2030 goal is reached, but Europe itself is not very optimistic about the matter. Europe thinks that Europe will fail in its objective At the beginning of last year, we already said that the European Court of Auditors itself believed that the European Chip Law would be a failurepointing out unlikely which would be if they achieved the goal of building 20% ​​of the planet’s semiconductors by 2030. And… they are not misguided. Europe is seeking its technological independence while inviting entities like TSMC to its soil, but the two main technological centers are also moving. The United States is attracting talent to its territory, with TSMC buying more land to open a megafactory and Intel as a banner in the American foundry. China is not standing idly by and, following a Western veto, its semiconductor industry has made unthinkable advances with old ASML machines while companies like SMIC either Huawei develop your own solutions to create advanced chips and be able to shield itself from American technology. And beyond countries, private companies such as Intel itself, TSMC, Samsung, GlobalFoundries or Texas Instruments are also moving, installing new cutting-edge plants both inside and outside the United States, a country that is determined to invest what is necessary to achieve leadership. In the end, getting 20% ​​of the world’s chips is a tremendously ambitious goal and Europe is very far away in this industrybut you have to start somewhere and FAMES represents that first stone on the path of the European semiconductor initiative. Images | Intel (edited), FAMES 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

Russia had managed to manufacture drones and missiles despite the sanctions. So selling Zara clothes was a matter of time

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In recent months, a strange wave of western products has begun to reappear in places where, on paper, it is already they shouldn’t exist. Between geopolitical changes, forced business exits and an increasingly opaque market, certain brands have unexpectedly become visible again, fueling rumors, theories about how they are getting there and who is really pulling the strings of their distribution towards Moscow. Now a giant from Spain has (re)appeared: Inditex. A market that does not close completely. After announcing the end of operations in Russia a few days after the invasion of Ukraine, Inditex left behind its second largest market and sold its business in the country. However, more than two years latergarments with official labels from brands such as Zara, Bershka, Oysho, Stradivarius or Massimo Dutti have once again appeared on the shelves of the Russian channel Tvoenow renamed Tvoe n Ko, which boasts a “constantly updated” selection on social networks and presents the collections as almost clandestine finds. The pieces, which match models from previous seasons and carry prices in euros, are now sold in at least 19 stores Russian companies without there being (according to the official version offered) any contractual relationship between the Spanish company and the local distributor. In fact, they occur two months after the executive director of Inditex, Óscar García Maceiras, will declare to the Financial Times that the conditions “were not met” for his return to Russia. The engineering of the Russian gray market. I was counting a few hours ago the FT that the mechanism that allows the reappearance of these garments is based on the system of “parallel imports” established by Moscow to circumvent the massive departures of Western brands. In this scheme operates Disco Club LLCa Russian company that has recorded 18 statements in accordance, citing Inditex as supplier and presenting itself as its “authorized representative”, despite the fact that Inditex flatly denies having granted such permission. The garments come partly from inventories originally destined for various EU countries and partly from Chinese factories, according to labels and documents customs, in a circuit that takes advantage of legal loopholes and the Kremlin’s lack of inhibition to give formal coverage to a trade that would previously have been considered smuggling. The denial. For its part, Tvoe assures that it does not have direct agreements with Inditex and hides behind confidentiality agreements so as not to detail its suppliers, while Disco Club insist in which he only performed a “punctual technical service.” Burkhard Binder, the businessman linked to the founding of the company and based in Dubai, is disassociating himself from current operations. Inditex, known for its tight control of inventory, distribution and franchises, completely reject any link: he claims not to have authorized Disco Club or any Russian entity to act on his behalf and avoids commenting on how his products arrive in the country since he withdrew. Matter of time. we have been counting: the ability of the Russian economy to adapt in the midst of war has shown that international restrictions, no matter how strict, always find cracks. A country that has rebuilt chains complex supply chains to produce drones, precision ammunition or long-range missiles, despite technological embargoes and industrial vetoes, would not have difficulties reopening the door to much more “simpler” products, such as Western fashion clothing. In that context, the reappearance of garments of Zara in Russian stores is not so much surprising as confirming a trend: Moscow has perfected an ecosystem of parallel imports capable of circumventing almost any blockade, from military components even t-shirts and dresses from past seasons, turning the impossible into routine and the forbidden into a merely logistical problem. Russia, a laboratory of consumption in times of sanctions. The appearance of Zara products in Russia despite the exit from the company illustrates the magnitude of the gray market that Moscow has made official since 2022: an ecosystem that allows consumers to access Western brands through private intermediaries and indirect routes, without participation of the original companies. In this context, the reappearance of the Spanish firm in the Russian commercial landscape is not due to a business return, but rather to a state-run mechanism. commercial evasion that turns its garments into parallel import merchandise. If you like, the phenomenon also reveals the extent to which Russia has rebuilt its global consumption through third countries and front companies, and how even the strictest groups in controlling its supply chain cannot prevent its products from reappearing in a market from which they tried to leave definitely. Image | Pexels In Xataka | Ukraine has opened the Russian ballistic missile that has devastated its cities. Your surprise is a condemnation: your main supplier is untouchable In Xataka | Zara has been selling clothes for years. Now he aspires to sell something more difficult: prestige

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