plan

The European Union presents its digital sovereignty plan to compete with the US technologically. It’s a wonderful utopia

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The European commission just announced the European Technological Sovereignty Package. The objective is to reduce European dependence on foreign suppliers of both hardware and software solutions, and to achieve this the plan is simple: ensure that European companies can compete with North American companies. And precisely there lies the problem. For a European cloud. The entire focus of this initiative is on drastically reducing the exposure of the Old Continent to cloud services controlled by American companies. The concern generated by the CLOUD Act and the current geopolitical situation has caused the EU to try to migrate at least part of its critical services to local nodes so that this data always remain under European jurisdiction. The regulation trap. The great Achilles heel of this strategy is once again the way of trying to solve the problem. The European Union is a superpower regulatingbut it is a secondary actor in the field of creation and innovation. Both the US and China do not stop investing billions of dollars from the private sector to develop new AI chips or models. Meanwhile, Brussels responds with AI surveillance agencies and bureaucratic obstacles to the companies it precisely wants to try to promote. Hello Linux. In the document published by the EC, an open source strategy is repeatedly mentioned as an essential weapon to avoid dependence on foreign suppliers. Operating systems such as Linux and developments with this philosophy can undoubtedly provide a basic pillar to be able to develop competitive projects, and of course there are already movements that aim to replace proprietary solutions such as Microsoft Office with open source solutions such as LibreOffice. reality is harsh. The harsh economic and technological reality is that in many segments Europe does not have companies that can compete with the technological giants of the US. One of these segments is precisely that of cloud infrastructure: Amazon, Microsoft and Google dominate this market imperially, and although the intention is to change to “sovereign” clouds; The question is, which one? It is true that there are some companies such as OVH (France) or T-Systems (Germany) that have their own infrastructure, but they are still far from their American rivals. Worrying precedents. In 2020 Europe launched the GAIA-X projecta large cloud platform that was theoretically going to make it possible to face the three large hyperscalers in the US. Dozens of companies were going to get involved in an ambitious project that six years later is in a state that is difficult to define: the official website publishes news frequently and there is a specification and code which, for example, talk about GAIA-X 3.0 ‘Danube’, but it does not seem that at the moment this platform is being used in a practical way. The money comes, but from outside. And while the EU becomes entangled in regulation and ethical debates, the projects that should theoretically boost that digital sovereignty are weakening it. Investment in data centers in Europe is a good example: practically all those that want to be built They are simply delegations of large US technology companies. A wonderful utopia. Digital sovereignty is a logical objective as the world is currently moving, but in the EU they seem to confuse priorities once again. That sovereignty is not gained by prohibiting or regulating foreign technology. You win by making yours so competitive that the rest of the world has no choice but to use it. That requires a lot of work and a lot, a lot of capital investment. Not even the European Court of Auditors trusts for something like this to come to fruition. Image | Rafael Garcin In Xataka | The European Union knows that the US has stopped being a reliable partner: its new agreement with India aims to compensate for it

that’s why he has a new plan

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YouTube has announced an important change in its transparency policy. And starting this month, the platform will stop depending solely on the boxes referring to AI that content creators check when uploading their videos and will begin to detect and label the videos generated with this technology itself. In addition, it will make these labels more visible both in the usual videos and in the Shorts. We tell you all the details. What exactly changes. Until now, the responsibility fell on whoever uploaded the video. Starting in 2024, YouTube requires creators to disclose when they use realistic AI that could be mistaken for a real person, place, or event. The problem is that the creators didn’t have much incentive to be honest. From now on, according to explains According to the company itself, if a creator does not indicate that they have used AI but their systems detect “significant use of photorealistic AI”, the label will still be applied automatically. More visible labels. The other big change is where those notices appear. Previously, the information was hidden in the extended description of the video, in a dedicated section, so that only those who specifically went to look for it saw it. For long videos, the label (a symbol with the word “AI” next to an information icon) will now appear just below the player, above the description. In the Shorts it will be shown superimposed over the video itself. YouTube affirms that with this change the viewer gets the context “at a glance.” What the system does not cover. The featured tag is intended only for photorealistic or substantially AI-modified content. Videos that are animated, clearly unrealistic, or have minor tweaks will continue to display the warning only in the extended description. Here YouTube is clearly differentiating between AI that can confuse the user or create disinformation and AI for entertainment purposes. How YouTube detects AI. The truth is that the company has not been too specific about how it will detect AI in videos. Which yes mention There are two cases that activate the label without exception: videos with C2PA metadata indicating that they are completely generated by AI, and those created with Google’s own tools, such as Veo or Dream Screen. On the other hand, if a user believes that their video has been flagged in error, they can correct the status in YouTube Studio, except in the two situations mentioned where the flag is permanent. A reasonable decision. The move comes shortly after Google presented in your I/O conference the model family Gemini Omnicapable of generating video with AI in a realistic and increasingly precise way. Added to this is that YouTube and the rest of the social networks have been dealing with the avalanche of ‘AI Slop‘, especially in the Shorts. The company also claims to have improved its deepfake detection technology, which now allows any adult to search for matches of their face on the platform. No impact on money or referrals. YouTube assures that carrying an AI tag will not affect how a video is recommended or its ability to monetize. The company maintains that the goal is to “balance transparency with creator control,” not to penalize the use of the technology. And now what. It remains to be seen how reliable the automatic detection will be and how many videos will continue to escape the system, since YouTube itself admits that there may be AI content without the new label. The platform has been criticized for the inconsistency of its labeling system to date, so we will have to wait to find out if the system ends up working. Cover image | YouTube In Xataka | Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: “People talk about AI eliminating jobs. It’s complete nonsense”

Europe has a shitty plan (sorry) to end the fertilizer crisis: manure

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He blockade of the Strait of Hormuz After the attacks by the US and Israel on Iran, it has had consequences that we have noticed from day one, such as the rise in fuel prices. There are others that threaten on the horizon and that are even more fearsome: according to United Nations dataApproximately a third of the world’s fertilizer trade and 20% of global LNG, an essential ingredient for manufacturing nitrogen fertilizers, pass through there. And fertilizer is providential so that food from the garden and farm reaches our table. Europe, which manufactures most of its fertilizers by burning imported natural gas, found itself overnight with skyrocketing prices and a very dark horizon. With prices 70% higher than in 2024the farmers don’t get the bills. For consumers, it seems clear that filling the shopping basket is going to be more expensive. So the European Commission has a contingency plan: the Fertilizer Action Plan. A literal shitty alternative. The central proposal from Brussels is to expand the recycling of slurry and agricultural waste to convert them into fertilizer following the program RENURE. The idea is not new: already in 2024 the Commission proposed to modify the Nitrates Directive to allow certain fertilizer materials derived from livestock manure to function as an alternative to chemical fertilizers under certain conditions. In fact, it is neither new nor sufficient. As MEP Herbert Dorfmann bluntly summarized: “manure can contribute, but it can never replace fertilizers based on urea and nitrogen.” From a technical point of view, this is an incontestable reality: synthetic fertilizers produced through the process of Haber-Bosch They have much higher available nitrogen densities than digestate or processed slurry. Why it is important. Because the Nitrogen fertilizers are the basis of modern industrial agriculture. Without them, having the supply and quantity of products that we have and at that price would be simply impossible. According to Mosaic Crop Nutrition data For agricultural production in the US, average corn yields would fall by 40% without nitrogen fertilizers. For wheat, long-term studies point to similar drops of 40%. In short, it is the pillar on which the ability to feed the planet’s population is supported. The fertilizer crisis once again puts Europe’s strategic dependence on the table, in this case on its agriculture, on fossil fuels (from third parties) and everything that its use entails: water, soil and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and public health risks. Every time there are geopolitical tensions in a gas-producing region, Europe trembles faced with the possibility of being cold or go hungry. Context. We mentioned being cold because not too long ago Europe looked into the abyss: the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2022 brought with it an increase in the price of gas and fertilizers, which caused farmers on the old continent to reduce the use of fertilizer (and therefore, lower their yields). At that time the EU put a patch on it and now, four years later, seen in the same scenario and with the same structural problems. The current plan mentions necessary solutions such as improving nutrient management or promoting organic farming (environmental MEP Thomas Waitz also has said loud and clear that Europe is addicted to fertilizers derived from fossil fuels), but there are no concrete actions or obligations. We insist: RENURE is not something new, when the Commission proposed it a couple of years ago it already had the support of Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Romania, among others. Of course, its application was at a standstill due to regulatory issues. How do they want to do it?. The mechanism consists of modifying the EU Nitrates Directive to allow more digestate to be applied to agricultural fields, putting it on a par with mineral fertilizers. The digestate is what remains after fermenting the slurry in biogas plants: it contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, although in concentrations and forms of assimilation significantly lower than those of the synthetic fertilizer. In parallel, the plan mentions measures such as improving integrated nutrient management and promoting a transition towards organic agriculture, although without specific commitments or binding calendars. Yes, but. The big underlying problem is that Europe does not lack nitrogen, quite the opposite. In fact, the EU already has more nitrogen than their soils can safely absorb, which promotes the eutrophication and deterioration of rivers and lakes, in addition to ammonia emissions and contamination of drinking water. Adding more slurry to soils that are already saturated is neither a solution to shortages (and prices) nor is it good for the environment. A recent UNECE report estimates that Europe wastes between €20 billion and €60 billion in nitrogen resources each year, while the environmental and health costs of excess nitrogen pollution reach, according to the European Commission itselfbetween 70,000 and 320,000 million euros annually. The real solution is to get rid of fossil gas in the long term (and have plans similar to those with oil, with long contracts, diversification and strategic reserves) and bet on alternative technologies such as green ammonia. In this scenario, slurry can play a role in a circular economy, but it is certainly not an emergency patch. In Xataka | We are wasting a valuable resource: urine is helping solve the fertilizer crisis In Xataka | The Iran war has disrupted the global fertilizer trade. And that’s bad news for the shopping cart. Cover | Daniel Quiceno M and Markus Spiske

Metro de Madrid has insisted on being a pop icon like London’s “Tube.” His plan: retro football jerseys

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There are cities that are recognized by their metro before you can place their flag. The iconic roundel red and blue Tube London has jumped from the tunnels and platforms to the closets of half the world, becoming a global emblem that people wear with pride. It is not a simple transportation logo: it is the city itself compressed in a circle. The Madrid Metro knows this well, which has been looking at its British counterpart for some time with the envy of someone who aspires to transcend their status as a mere public service. And he has just made his boldest move to close the gap: launching his own collection of retro football shirts. Nostalgia reaches underground. With its sights set on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Community of Madrid has launched Metro FC: five retro t-shirts inspired by world champion teams, at 54.95 euros each, sold in the Metro online store and at the Ópera, Sol and Plaza de Castilla stations. Each garment bears the Metro’s own embroidered shield – based on the historic rhombus of 1921 – and the seven stars of the Community, with a color that varies according to the World Cup of each honored team. Line 2 is the Spain of 2010; Line 1, Maradona’s Argentina in ’86; Line 3, Romario’s Brazil in ’94; Line 5, the Germany of Italy 90; and Line 10, Zidane’s France in ’98. The question that closes the campaign sums it all up: “And you, which line are you from?” It’s not just merchandising. It is a declaration of intentions about what the Madrid Metro wants to be. The model that Madrid envies. To understand what the Madrid Metro is after, you have to look at London, where this path has been taken for more than a century. He roundel —the red circle with a blue bar that identifies the London Underground— was born in 1908 as a simple stop sign. Today it is one of the most recognizable and emulated commercial symbols ever designed. The architect of that transformation was Frank Pickhead of communications for the Underground in the first half of the 20th century, whose philosophy was as simple as it was ambitious: design is not something optional that appears here and there. Design must enter everywhere. The result of this obsession is today an unparalleled brand machine in global public transport. According to a Nielsen studyhe roundel Londoner is more recognizable than Mickey Mouse, and the phrase “Mind the gap” has become one of the most identifying sounds of the city. The Underground generates more than five million pounds a year on merchandising alone, and carries more passengers during the working week than all other trains in Britain combined. The conquest of streetwear. It is no longer so much the scale, but rather who you sit down to negotiate with. His recent collaborations include Adidas, Arsenal, Prada Linea Rossa, Kurt Geiger and some Nike sneakers with the fabric moquette of the meter that are resold online for around 400 pounds. In 2026 it has launched its third collection with Uniqlowith t-shirts and bags decorated with iconic London transport graphics, celebrating the city’s character and heritage. And before, in 2023 he created a line of streetwear complete —London Underground Studio—in collaboration with the South Korean brand Handsome, from the Hyundai group, with leather bombers and knitted sweaters sold in Seoul. The symbol has transcended its signaling function to become shorthand for the city itself, inspiring fashion and pop music. It is, in the words of its scholars, “cool” in a way that public bodies rarely achieve. The Madrid Metro knows exactly what it wants. And the Metro FC shirts are their first big attempt to achieve this. The trend that opens the door. The Metro movement does not emerge from nowhere: it intelligently takes advantage of the exact moment when the football shirt has become the object of cultural desire of the decade. You just have to walk through any big city to find the image: dozens of young people walk around wearing Real Madrid t-shirts from the 2000s, the 90s Juve or the Japanese national team. They don’t go to the stadium, it’s not even match day. The border between catwalk fashion and sporting passion has been completely blurred. The phenomenon has a name: Soccercore either Blokecore. It takes its name from “bloke” – the common type of British working class of the 80s and 90s – and consists of combining vintage football shirts with baggy jeans or classic sneakers. What began to go viral on TikTok in 2021 has ended up on the Balenciaga catwalks and on the bodies of Bella Hadid, Kim Kardashian or Jennie from Blackpink. Brands like Etro or Stella McCartney have taken the style from the stadiums to the catwalks, and Loewe is in charge of dressing the Spanish team in this World Cup. The business of belonging. It is precisely in that context where the Metro’s commitment takes on all its meaning. The journalist Alejandro Mendo, from his substack Pieces of Fabricidentifies the key movement that explains it: the rise of institutional “white label” clothing. Clubs and institutions have discovered that they can produce their own collections, without large multinationals involved, that cost around 50 or 60 euros and that generate something that no external sponsor can buy: brand loyalty. Metro de Madrid does not sell t-shirts, but rather it sells belonging. The narrative of big brands has also changed in this sense. Mendo points out how brands like Adidas have put aside the muscular epic to sit your stars in chairs during their campaigns. Putting figures like Lamine Yamal or Jude Bellingham in a relaxed and introspective attitude turns them into cultural icons rather than gladiators on the grass. The footballer, like the shirt he wears, has stopped being just an athlete and has become a generational reference. A material anchor in the society of “non-things.” There is something else, however, that explains why these garments work … Read more

Blue Origin had a plan of 12 launches for this year. A fireball at Cape Canaveral just changed everything

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Bad news for Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company. And his New Glenn rocket It exploded this morning into a huge fireball while conducting a ground test at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The accident, which fortunately left no injuries, is a good blow for the company in his race to compete with SpaceXjust when this was going to be his definitive breakout year. That has passed. Around 9:00 p.m. local time (3:00 a.m. on Friday on the Spanish peninsula), the New Glenn exploded during a ‘hotfire’, a test in which the rocket engines are turned on while the vehicle remains anchored to the platform, without taking off. The objective of this test is to check the operation of the engines before a launch. Blue Origin itself He spoke on his X account of an “anomaly” and confirmed that all personnel were located and safe. According to collect The Guardian, the fireball destroyed the platform and the orange glow was seen more than 180 kilometers away, while residents of nearby towns noticed tremors in their homes. A year that was going to be the year of takeoff. The blow is especially hard because of the moment it arrives. Blue Origin had marked 2026 as the year to finally gain pace. Its CEO, Dave Limp, even stated in an interview with Ars Technica that the company could reach double digits in launches this year, until matching its production rate of 12 rockets, and even considering reaching 24 if manufacturing continued to improve. They also mentioned the 12 launches in their request to the FAA to operate from Cape Canaveral. The problem is that it was more of an ambitious goal than a realistic forecast, since the New Glenn has started the year without having flown again since November and experiencing several setbacks. The explosion has now turned that goal into a chimera. Bezos’ reaction. The founder of Blue Origin took the drama out of the matter, counting in Elon Musk also reacted to the event briefly: “Very unfortunate. Rockets are difficult.” Why it is important. The New Glenn It is the key piece with which the company wants to confront the dominance of SpaceX, and it is also called to play a central role in NASA’s Artemis programwhich seeks to return astronauts to the Moon. Just a few days before the explosion, the agency had awarded Blue Origin a contract to participate in the construction of a lunar base. The moment could not have been worse. A streak of setbacks. Blue Origin has accumulated a series of catastrophic misfortunes. On its third flight, in April, the rocket managed to land its reusable booster on a barge at sea, but its upper stage failed and failed to place the satellite it was transporting for AST SpaceMobile into orbit, which ended up falling and disintegrating in the atmosphere. That failure sparked an investigation by the FAA, the US air regulator, which just last week had given the rocket the green light to fly again. Thursday’s test was precisely the preparation of its fourth mission, in which it was going to deploy satellites of the network Leo from Amazona direct competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink. Amazon clarified that none of those satellites were on board at the time of the explosion. Damage assessment. Both the FAA and NASA spoke out quickly. The regulator pointed out that the test was outside the activities it licenses and that it did not affect air traffic. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, on the other hand counted that “spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing a new heavy-lift capability is extraordinarily difficult.” The agency promised to support a thorough investigation and, above all, to evaluate how what happened affects its lunar programs. And now what. What we will now see is how Blue Origin rewrites its calendar. NASA was counting on New Glenn to launch the first missions to its lunar base this year, and the agency itself has acknowledged that they still do not know how this accident will affect the mission with Artemis. On the other hand, SpaceX has its own problems with the Starship, also under review by the FAAwhile preparing a historic IPO. The terrain is quite hot. Cover image | NASA Space Flight In Xataka | SpaceX seemed unreachable in its race to the Moon. Blue Origin is proving that anything is possible

This is the plan to survive between June 6 and 9

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If you live in Madrid and you are not Catholic or you have tickets to see Bad Bunny, I have a plan for you the first weekend of June: flee. Run away from the city, go out, make plans with friends, write to that cousin you haven’t seen in three years and who you only vaguely remember lives by the beach. Because Madrid faces one of the biggest mobility challenges that have been seen in the city. And it is that the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Madrid between June 6 and 9 coincides with the concert marathon that Bad Bunny It will be offered at the Metropolitan Stadium on May 30 and 31, and June 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14 and 15 at a time when the city is overwhelmed by the works. These will be the restrictions for a city that expects the arrival of more than one and a half million people. Madrid fights against its own collapse They say that when a large star dies it generates a huge explosion in its outer layer, but in its center the density increases so quickly and becomes so heavy that it collapses on itself. creating a black hole. Of course, if a city runs the risk of fulfilling the metaphor, it is Madrid. Nobody rules out that when its two stars shine brighter, the city will turn in on itself. through any of the holes that right now hurt its surface. Leaving aside the dramas, the truth is that Madrid faces what is probably its greatest mobility challenge in history. Right now, let’s remember that The entrance to the city on the A-5 operates at half throttlewith an underground work that continues to advance but has not yet sunk the cars underground. In addition, there are active works at the northern entrance to the city, in the Four Towers area, and a little further down the Santiago Bernabéu Metro works have occupied part of the road. Without forgetting the new Ventas Park on the M-30. As if this were not enough, the Sales works and the section affected by the expansion of Metro line 11 and the Line modernization 6. Without forgetting the affection caused by the construction of the new Conde de Casal interchange. Nor the partial closure of Metro line 10 where trains do not run between the Cuzco and Nuevos Ministerios stations. The organizers of the event will have to deal with this context. visit of Pope Leo XIV. In total, there are 21 scheduled activities that will continue from their landing and subsequent visit to the Carabanchel neighborhood on June 6 until their departure on June 9 after a meeting with volunteers at IFEMA. But in between, attention is focused on three major events: the mass in the Plaza de Cibeles and the subsequent procession to celebrate Corpus Christi Day on June 7 and an event inside the Santiago Bernabéu on June 8. During the mass it is estimated that up to one and a half million people could gather. These events coincide with the aforementioned Bad Bunny concerts in the Metropolitan State, east of the city. And a few hundred meters from the Plaza de Cibeles is the Retiro Park where the Book Fair reaches its midpoint on those days. An event that is not clear if it will be able to operate at full capacity because its workers have not yet been informed if the trucks carrying the material will be able to reach the heart of Madrid completely naturally. The Madrid City Council has asked companies to facilitate teleworking for their employees, aware of the expected mobility problems. “They will affect us all,” warned José Luis Martínez-Almeida, mayor of the city. With this in mind, The Madrid City Council has already made the traffic conditions public and on public transport for the most problematic days. This will be the action plan: Cuts that are already active: Plaza de Lima: all central lanes closed in both directions (only the sides are open) and changes of direction are not allowed. Buses on lines 14, 27, 40, 43, 123, 126, 147, 150, N22, N24 and S10 are affected. Check all the modifications here. Plaza de Cibeles: cut off the right lane of the Paseo del Prado in the north direction, three lanes of the Paseo de Recoletos and the bus docks. Lines 1, 2, 9, 10, 15, 20, 34, 51, 52, 74, 146, N5, N6, N7, N12, N15, N20 and N21 will be affected. Wednesday June 3: Total closure of the Plaza de Lima: cars traveling through Castellana will have to detour through the surrounding streets. Thursday June 4: Total cut of the Plaza de Cibeles: same situation. The City Council warns that even residents will have problems accessing it with their vehicles. Saturday June 6: Closure of the Nuevos Ministerios Metro station from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the entrances closest to Plaza de Lima (the Castellana exits). The exits of the shopping center, Orense and Agustín de Betancourt will be open. Sunday June 7: Between 6:00 and 10:00: closure of the Bilbao, Tribunal, Plaza de España, Noviciado, Ópera, Sol, Sevilla, Banco de España, Retiro, Príncipe de Vergara, Serrano, Colón and Chueca Metro stations. The trains will not stop there. Between 10:00 and 14:00: closure of the Colón, Serrano, Velázquez, Retiro, Banco de España, Sevilla and Chueca stations. At the moment, no further communications have been made about possible traffic cuts during the Pope’s visit to Carabanchel or the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, but it is recommended to pay attention to the communication channels in case new mobility restrictions are applied. Obviously, it is recommended to use public transport as much as possible and avoid using a car. Photo | Edgar Beltran and Xataka In Xataka | Madrid finally has 600 million euros and everything is ready for “La Diagonal”: the northern section of Metro L11

Intel has a plan to stand up to TSMC in 2027. First it has to survive 2026

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During his almost four years at the helm of Intel, Pat Gelsinger stated on several occasions how important the semiconductor manufacturing business was for this company. In fact, many of the decisions he made pursued strengthen your competitiveness in a sector strongly dominated by Taiwanese integrated circuit manufacturer TSMC. However, the continuous delays in the manufacturing processes, the million-dollar losses and the drop in the stock market value of this company they ended up hastening his departure. Lip-Bu Tan, the current CEO of Intel, assumed leadership of the company in March 2025. At that time, a very uncertain future loomed over this company, and it was not at all clear what role Intel’s chip factories would play in the company’s global strategy. In fact, the leaks that predicted the possible segregation of semiconductor production plants into an independent company suggested that Lip-Bu Tan was willing to do without its chip factories. Fourteen months after his arrival to the general management, the panorama is very different. Integrated circuit manufacturing plants once again occupy a central position in Intel’s strategy. has confirmed it recently Lip-Bu Tan without the slightest ambiguity on CNBC’s Mad Money. From his statements it is clear that he aspires to consolidate Intel as the Western alternative to TSMC. And its cutting-edge nodes and Apple play a fundamental role in this ambitious plan. Node 18A is Intel’s best hope The most advanced integration technology Intel currently has in large-scale production is 18A lithography. In theory it is comparable or slightly superior to 2nm nodes from TSMC and Samsung. When Tan took the reins of the company, the performance of the 18A node it was not good. In fact, the outlook looked so bad that was forced to ask for help to some of its partners in the integrated circuit manufacturing ecosystem to analyze the data it had and find a way to optimize production and increase its competitiveness. “Performance” evaluates what percentage of the chips produced are working correctly. A low one triggers million-dollar losses An important note: in this context “performance” evaluates what percentage of the chips produced work correctly. Low performance triggers million-dollar losses. Tan has explained that the industry standard requires improving that performance by 7 to 8% each month, and has confirmed that now Intel is reaching that figure. There is no doubt that it is an unmistakable sign that the situation is changing. So much, in fact, that customers are starting to knock on the door. Intel has already closed agreements chip manufacturing with Tesla and Google. AND, as we told you at the beginning of this monthApple is exploring the possibility of Intel and Samsung manufacturing the advanced chips for their devices in the US. In all likelihood, the loss of influence and priority in the TSMC production chain that it has maintained for more than a decade has led to this decision. Now Nvidia has these privileges. There are several compelling reasons why Apple may be interested in Intel manufacturing its integrated circuits in the US. Or Samsung in its state-of-the-art plant in Texas. Or you could even work with both companies simultaneously and not completely break its business relationship with TSMC. Either way, this diversification strategy would allow Apple to effectively protect itself from supply chain disruptions triggered by geopolitical instability. And also the shortage of some components caused by the massive construction of data centers to artificial intelligence (AI). The next step will be node 14Athe integration technology with which Intel hopes to be able to compete head-to-head with TSMC in 2027 and 2028. Tesla has already confirmed which will order chips with this photolithography from Intel for its electric vehicles and robotics projects. Image | Intel More information | DigiTimes Asia In Xataka | Bill Gates has X-rayed Intel. And his diagnosis is overwhelmingly accurate.

the EU’s plan to survive China’s mineral blackout

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The clock of global geopolitics has begun to count down the minutes for the European Union. In an unprecedented move that certifies the end of frictionless globalization, Brussels is finalizing the details of what will be its first major strategic “bunker” of critical minerals. As advanced Reutersthe EU has already selected the materials that will inaugurate this joint reserve: tungsten, rare earths and gallium. Magnesium, germanium and graphite could soon be added to this initial list. A firm step. The initiative of the community bloc is not a coincidence; It is its last great asset to shield its economy against the crushing dominance of Beijing in the production of elements that today are the oxygen of modernity. We are not talking about simple raw materials; We talk about vital components for the defense industry, semiconductors and the energy transition. In fact, almost all of these minerals—with the exception of magnesium—are on the list of the 12 elements. considered critical by NATO for military production. Without them, it is impossible to manufacture everything from armor-piercing ammunition that uses tungsten, to the latest generation radars and combat aircraft that depend on gallium arsenide and gallium nitride. The urgency lies in the data. According to a wrecker report of the European Court of AuditorsEurope is addicted to Chinese minerals: the Asian giant supplies 97% of the magnesium consumed by the EU, refines more than 80% of the planet’s rare earths and controls an overwhelming 98% of the world’s gallium refining capacity. The level of dependency is such that Europe flagrantly fails to comply with its own security threshold, which establishes not depending on a single country for more than 65% for the processing phase. But why step on the accelerator now? The response is dated on the calendar: June 15, 2026. As explained Xinhuaon that day the new regulations of China’s Mineral Resources Law come into force. These regulations will give Beijing absolute power to determine total production caps, restrict which entities can operate mines and, most worryingly for the West, subject any foreign investment in the sector to national security reviews. So how will this logistics shield be built? Moving from intent documents to operational reality requires massive infrastructures. As confirmed Reutersthe European Union is already in advanced talks with large logistics centers to store these industrial treasures. The main candidate is the port of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, the largest in Europe. A spokesperson for the port authority has confirmed the ongoing talks, underlining the full readiness of its facilities to assume this strategic role and contribute to European goals. But the bunker will not be centralized in a single point. Italy’s Industry Minister Adolfo Urso revealed that EU officials recently visited Porto Marghera, near Venice, to assess its viability as a storage hub. The port of Trieste is also competing to become the great logistics node of the Mediterranean. However, in this deployment there is a big elephant in the room: financing. Acquiring and maintaining these reserves will require a monumental financial muscle whose origin and distribution mechanisms among Member States are still unknown. The bath of reality. Storing minerals is not like storing natural gas. While rare earth oxides are relatively stable materials, processed gallium metal or certain forms of graphite require highly controlled environmental conditions, a technical challenge that has yet to be resolved. This bunker is just a patch. How an analysis of Rare Earth Exchangestrategic inventories can cushion the impact of a sudden supply outage, but they do not replace an industrial ecosystem. Europe has a deep structural problem, since it is useless to have tons of rare earths stored in Rotterdam if the continent lacks the capacity to refine these materials, convert them into metal and manufacture magnets on a large scale. China has been building this complex ecosystem for decades, while Europe is just beginning to take stock of its own dependence. Added to this deficit is a paralyzing bureaucracy: the few European mining projects are stuck for years in a tangle of administrative permits, making this warehouse an even more desperate measure. The new industrial cold war. While Europe strives to design this defense mechanism against the clock, its rival continues to move chips. China is not only legislating to restrict exports, it is accelerating the construction of its own strategic reserve sites, shielding by law that its resources remain within its borders for a minimum of five years. The creation of this European bunker marks a point of no return. These maneuvers demonstrate that Western governments have definitively abandoned the supply model driven by the free market to embrace deeply interventionist industrial policies. The ambitious goals of the EU Critical Raw Materials Law for 2030 – extracting 10% and processing 40% of what it consumes in its own territory – today seem like an unattainable mountain. The Rotterdam mineral bunker will not solve Europe’s industrial orphanhood, but in the new era of resource geopolitics, it is the only lifeline left to buy the time it so desperately needs. Image | Unsplash Xataka | The condemnation that afflicts China: after decades of manufacturing a competitive desktop processor, it is six years behind

Aragon’s great plan to fill its reservoirs with solar panels has just collapsed due to a bureaucratic oversight

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There is an image that sums up our times: reservoirs covered in solar panels floating like technological water lilies. It was the Government’s great bet to squeeze clean energy without consuming soil. However, that landscape has just collided head-on with the Supreme Court. According to the national climate roadmapBy 2030, Spain has to achieve a renewable penetration of 42% in final energy consumption and 74% in electricity generation. Swamp water, free of conflict over agricultural or forest land use, seemed the ideal setting. But the legislative rush has truncated the plan. The Supreme Court agrees with Aragón. The Fifth Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court has declared null Royal Decree 662/2024, of July 9. It has done so by upholding an appeal filed by the Autonomous Community of Aragon. The ruling annuls the regulations by operation of law and condemns the State to pay the procedural costs. The Aragonese regional executive had full legitimacy to appeal, since, as the court confirmed, the execution of this decree directly affected its powers in territorial planning, the environment, tourism and hydroelectric development. But what did it consist of? Published in the Official State Gazettethe objective of the text was to develop the regime to which the installation of these plants in state-managed reservoirs should be subject. The preamble of the standard strongly defended the technology, ensuring that these systems have better energy performance due to the cooling effect of water, reduce evaporation by casting shade, and slow down the growth of phytoplankton in waters at risk of eutrophication. To put order in this deployment, the Government articulated a strict system of temporary concessions that limited the exploitation of the plants to a maximum of 25 years, including extensions. The regulatory text also imposed space limits according to the ecological state of the waters. Likewise, the conditions required the promoters to provide a provisional bond of 4,000 euros per megawatt (MW) installed only for the application – which became up to 12,000 euros per MW to respond for damage to the public domain -, all conditional on the presentation of environmental studies, monitoring of invasive species and a continuous monitoring program to evaluate water quality. The legal stumbling block: legislating without asking. The central problem was not the content of the norm, but how it was approved. The Government omitted the process of prior public consultation with affected citizens and groups. This is a procedure that the ruling considers inexcusable, and its omission has been the nail in the coffin of the decree. The State tried to justify this legal shortcut in the courts with two arguments that the Supreme Court has dismantled. Firstly, the State Attorney’s Office alleged that there was an extraordinary situation of public interest due to the increase in energy prices due to the war in Ukraine. The High Court rejected this premise, recalling its own doctrine: to skip public consultation, it is not enough that there is urgency; the rule must also be of a purely organizational or budgetary nature, something that does not happen in this case. Secondly, the Government tried to rely on an “urgent processing” route. The response of the magistrates It was forceful.: “In this case, the aforementioned procedure cannot be dispensed with because there is no declaration of urgency nor was the procedure developed on that legal basis.” There was no agreement from the Council of Ministers that supported the rush; therefore, the shortcut was illegal. Why it matters: form, not substance. There is a crucial nuance that changes the reading of this news. The Supreme Court has not ruled that putting solar panels on water is a bad idea or that it is harmful. In fact, it rejected the rest of the complaints presented by Aragón, resolving that the text did not violate the principles of good regulation or legal certainty. We are facing what jurists call a formal procedural defect. The law falls only because the Government did not listen to the parties involved before acting. It is especially ironic that the Council of State itself I would have already warned to the Executive during the draft phase that this matter was going to need, in the medium term, a much more complete and systematic regulation. And now what? The renewable energy sector, which saw floating platforms as an unbeatable alternative to avoid the controversy over the consumption of agricultural land, is left in limbo. All the regulations of the decree disappear, including the modification of the Regulation of the Public Hydraulic Domain of 1986 that articulated these concessions. Meanwhile, in the affected territories, caution is already a reality. The Ebro Hydrographic Confederation, for example, had previously vetoed the installation of these floating plants in the Cinca swamps. The legal basis that allows these facilities continues to exist in the Water Law. What has fallen is the regulatory development, so the Government can go back to square one and draft a new regulation. But he will have to do it by scrupulously complying with the steps that he ignored this time. It has been shown that the rush in the energy transition has a high legal cost. The decree that was going to order solar panels on water has been shipwrecked. For not having listened before. Image | RawPixel Xataka | Europe throws away 16 billion a year in electronic waste. Spain has just turned on the first oven in Europe to recover them

Star Catcher has raised $88 million to build the first space power grid. Their plan is to recharge satellites with lasers

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As the pace of space launches increases and missions beyond Earth become more abundant and varied, it is important to look for new ways to obtain energy so that these ships can travel to their destinations. Fuel is not infinite, so there comes a point where it runs out. Therefore, there are three main proposals. One is to resupply the ships directly in orbit. Another option is to resort to nuclear energy. In fact, There are already several agencies working on it. Finally, there is the option of solar energy. Unfortunately, this has some limitations, but the American company Star Catcher wants to solve them through the world’s first energy network located in space. A good economic injection. Star Catcher just announced which has received 65 million dollars in a series A financing round. With what they already had in their coffers, the company has 88 million dollars. Enough to date its first release to the end of this year. Different ways to “squeeze” the Sun. The solar energy we are used to is obtained through plates with photovoltaic cells installed directly on the Earth. However, there are already companies that want to bring it directly from the Sun, even at night. Its goal is to use mirrors that reflect sunlight at will anywhere on Earth, whatever the time and whether the weather is good or not. The problem is that these companies They are being criticized a lot for posing risks such as great light pollution. On the other hand, what Star Catcher wants to do is slightly different. They will also take solar energy directly into space, but they will not direct it to Earth, but to the spacecraft that need it. It will be like a kind of space solar power plant. Optical beaming. Star Catcher will be based on a phenomenon known as optical beaming. This consists of extracting solar energy and using it to power a multispectral optical laser, with which it will be redirected to satellites from which it can be distributed at will to the ships that need it. To do this, they hope to be able to put a constellation of 200 satellites into low Earth orbit. Previous records. Last year, this company broke the world record for wireless electricity transmission by delivering 1.1 kW of power to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Now, they want to transmit directly to space. It also has limitations. Although this company does not have the same limitations as those that want to redirect sunlight to Earth, it involves placing an immense number of satellites in orbit, with the risk that this entails. Many experts warn that, in the same way that could happen with Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation, this type of infrastructure increases the risk of Kessler syndrome. That is, it could happen that one or more fragments of space debris collide with them, deteriorating and launching pieces into space that would become more space debris, which in turn would collide with more satellites or more debris. Thus, a very dangerous domino effect would be generated for satellites, ships and space stations that are in space at that time. Even more risks. On the other hand, the launches of the ships that will place the satellites into orbit are also a great source of pollution. In fact, recently has been published a study that warns of the large amount of polluting substances that these types of launches leave in the upper layers of the atmosphere, where, otherwise, the pollution would be residual. In short, this company will bring us great advances, but it will have to maneuver carefully so as not to bring even more problems. Image | Star Catcher In Xataka | Starlink’s dominance in space begins to move: another company already has permission for a constellation of 4,000 satellites

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