power

the 15% that shows who has the power

by

Apple has closed a deal with Tencent to charge a 15% commission on purchases within WeChat mini-games, half of what it usually charges, according to Bloomberg. After more than a year of negotiations, Apple accepts conditions that it would never have admitted in the West. Why is it important. WeChat It is not just another app: it is China’s unofficial operating system, with 1.41 billion monthly users. If Apple had blocked features or put too much pressure on Tencent, it risked a backlash that could have severely damaged its position in its third-largest market. Tencent I knew it. Apple too. 15% is the price the company pays to keep the peace in a market where it does not dictate the rules. The money trail. WeChat mini-games generated 32.3 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) in social media revenue in the last quarter alone for Tencent. Until now, Apple did not see a cent of that pie because developers avoided its payment system. With 15% on that basis, Apple could earn about $675 million annually if current rates are maintained. It seems like a lot, but it’s pocket change: Apple had a turnover of $383 billion last year. This deal doesn’t move the financial needle. Between the lines. The most striking thing is not how much Apple earns, but how much it has had to give up. In its global App Store, Apple takes 30% from most developers as a non-negotiable toll. In China, Tencent has forced you to accept half. The arithmetic speaks for itself: Apple has given up 50% of its potential revenue before even starting to charge. That is not “a trade agreement.” It is a recognition of who has the real bargaining power. Yes, but. Ultimately, for Apple, something is better than nothing. For years it has watched one of China’s fastest-growing digital entertainment segments develop entirely outside its payments ecosystem. The agreement opens a tap of income that did not exist before, even if it is a small tap. And it sets a worrying precedent: if the most powerful player in China gets a 50% discount, what will stop others from demanding the same in other markets? It will be a matter of negotiating strength. Not everyone has a market of 1.4 billion consumers. The contrast. In Europe and the United States, Apple has had to give ground due to regulatory pressure: antitrust lawsuits, digital market laws either court battles with Epic Games. In China, it has given way due to pure market reality. He has not needed a regulator to force him to lower the commission. It was enough for Tencent to sit down to negotiate knowing that it manages the digital infrastructure without which Apple cannot operate effectively in the country. The big question. Is this 15% the new standard for platforms with sufficient negotiating muscle, or can Apple manage to maintain it as a Chinese exception? What is clear is that the era of the universal 30% commission is over, replaced by a fragmented reality where whoever has the users dictates the conditions. It is another symptom of end of globalization as we knew it. In Xataka | Tim Cook promised them very happy expanding Apple thanks to China. The reality is that China has ended up conquering Apple Featured image | zhang kaiyv, Amanz

The Fujian is officially China’s largest power catapult. Beijing already has a button to challenge the US Navy

by

It has been almost two years since China ended its long-awaited Fujian aircraft carrierits largest warship with cutting-edge technology for the nation. From then until now it has been going through different scenarios of tests and tests that will confirm reliability of what should be the spearhead for Beijing to compete in the same league as the United States. That day has already arrived. The naval power of the 21st century. China has made official the entry into service of Fujian, its first aircraft carrier with electromagnetic catapultsa milestone that marks a qualitative leap in the country’s naval ambition and in their direct rivalry with the United States. In a ceremony held in the port of Sanya, on the island of Hainan, President Xi Jinping performed the symbolic gesture of pressing the launch button from the ship’s control bubble, in an act that state propaganda presented as the beginning of a new era for the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Projection and vulnerability. With 80,000 tons displacement, 300 meters in length and capacity to operate nearly 60 aircraft, the Fujian becomes the jewel of the Chinese fleet, the third in service after from Liaoning and the Shandong. Its distinctive feature is the electromagnetic catapultsan aircraft launch system similar to the American EMALS that only equips one other ship in the world: the USS Gerald R. Ford. China has thus jumped directly from aircraft carriers with a “ski jump” ramp to a generation of electromagnetic propulsion directed personally, according to Beijing, by Xi. This technical advance has clear strategic implications: improves the rate of departures, reduces wear and tear on aircraft and allows the operation of drones or lighter devices, opening the door to a more flexible and modern on-board aviation. Fujian The jump and the dimension. The Fujian represents more than just a technical improvement: it is the first completely designed and built in Chinafree of the Soviet legacy that conditioned the previous ones. The Liaoning was originally a ukrainian helmet unfinished work of the eighties and the Shandong su national derivativeboth with STOBAR systems short takeoff. With Fujian, China abandons that past and exhibits its technological maturity, especially in a context of industrial rivalry with the United States, whose own EMALS program has faced years of failures and cost overruns. In contrast to the Gerald R. Ford problemsXi’s speech and the staging of the ceremony convey a message of effectiveness and national pride: that of a power capable of manufacturing its own cutting-edge ships while the adversary hesitates. The choice of the port of Hainan was also not accidental. from there, China control access to the South Sea and projects its influence towards the western Pacific and the Taiwan Strait. On that board, the Fujian is not just a ship, but a political statement about Beijing’s ability to contest global maritime dominance. Fujian Target of the future. However, the relevance of these steel colossi coexists with a paradox. While the great powers continue to invest billions in building them, the conflict in Ukraine has shown that he size no longer guarantees invulnerability. With low-cost naval drones, Ukraine has managed to disable much of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, inflicting a “functional defeat” without possessing a single aircraft carrier. The contrast is eloquent: asymmetric warfare reduces the effectiveness of the most expensive conventional weapons, but not their strategic value. In the case of China and the United States, aircraft carriers maintain their role as projection and deterrence instrumentsuseful for both combat operations and coercive diplomacy. Make fear. Washington continues to use them as pressure tool geopolitics: Donald Trump himself ordered the deployment of the Gerald R. Ford against Venezuela as a symbolic warning to the Nicolás Maduro regime. The scene, with an aircraft carrier escorted by four destroyers and armed with 70 aircraft, illustrates the extent to which these ships continue to be armed ambassadors of the superpowers, beyond their debatable military profitability. Global deterrence. Modern navies are aware that aircraft carriers are both a symbol like a target. During the Cold War, it was estimated that twelve conventional missiles to sink a super aircraft carrier. In 2005, the experimental sinking of the USS America required four weeks of sustained attacks, confirming its structural resilience, but also its exposure. In a scenario saturated with hypersonic missiles, swarms of drones and long-range anti-ship systems, its survival in real combat is increasingly uncertain. However, no other platform offers the combination of mobility, air capacity and logistical autonomy that an aircraft carrier provides. That is why China, despite investing in missiles to repel a US fleet off its coast, considers these ships essential for its own global ambitions. As pointed out analyst Nick Childsfrom the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Beijing understands them as an indispensable tool to project influence and support an eventual operation on Taiwan. Geopolitics of steel. we have been counting: the rise of Fujian is part of a broader strategy of naval expansion that has turned Chinese shipyards into the most productive on the planet. The country’s surface and submarine fleet is growing at a pace the United States can no longer match, and each new vessel reinforces the narrative of industrial self-sufficiency that Xi Jinping presents as an emblem. of the “national renaissance”. Facing eleven US aircraft carriers (ten nuclear and one conventionally powered), China has threebut with plans to build at least a nuclear one, the future Type 004which could directly rival the Fords of the US Navy. Unlike Russia, whose only aircraft carrier, the aging Admiral Kuznetsovhas been out of service for years and is headed for scrapping, China and the United States are today the only powers capable to sustain fleets with great oceanic projection. Europe, for its part, maintains a symbolic presence: the United Kingdom uses its aircraft carriers Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales on diplomatic or training missions, while France prepares its new future-generation nuclear aircraft carrier. Century of the seas and fragility. If you like, Fujian also symbolizes the meeting point … Read more

there is no power for so many chips

by

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently participated in an interview and in it Nadella explained that the real problem that the AI ​​segment has is not that there is excessive production of chips, but that we do not have enough energy to power all of them. It is confirmation of something that we have been seeing coming for a long time. Too many chips for so little power. Both Nadella and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, participated in the interview. During it, the Microsoft CEO explained that “the biggest problem we have now is not excess computing capacity, but energy. It’s something like the ability to build (data centers) close enough to energy sources.” Chips in the drawer. Nadella went on to highlight that “if you can’t do something like that (supply enough power), you’re going to have a bunch of chips sitting around in inventory that you can’t plug in. In fact, that’s my problem right now: It’s not that I don’t have a sufficient supply of chips: it’s actually the fact that I don’t have places to plug them in.” A problem that was seen coming. Microsoft, like other companies that have opted for this segment, have been trying to prepare for this energy demand for some time. Two years ago, in autumn 2023, they were already looking for experts to lead its nuclear program. The objective: bet on the new SMR reactors which could be a good solution to power future data centers. Google was clear about exactly the same thing a year later, and reached an agreement with Kairos Power to build seven of those reactors from now to 2030. I stew it, I eat it. Large technology companies that are dedicating billions of dollars to creating new data centers in the US have discovered that the current electrical grid may be insufficient for their needs. Their solution is to build their own plantssomething they hope can balance the demand and consumption imposed by these gigantic computing factories in which tens of thousands of AI accelerator GPUs work to serve current (and future) users of AI functions. Growing needs. A report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that in 2022 between 240 and 340 TWh of energy will be used for data centers (excluding cryptocurrencies). This represents an increase of between 20 and 70% compared to 2015 consumption. Already in April 2024, that same organization warned that several countries will multiply this consumption significantly. Triple energy? ARM CEO Rene Haas then pointed out that energy needs would triplebut he probably couldn’t know how events would develop. Since then, AI companies have announced mammoth projects —with Stargate at the helm—and they will dedicate huge amounts of money in an uncertain bet: that AI will be the great revolution that will drive our daily lives. In Xataka | NVIDIA and OpenAI have just made a masterstroke. One that strengthens them and weakens everyone else

It’s just what the military power wanted

by

We are experiencing a very well-funded nuclear renaissance thanks to the small modular reactors (SMR). The recent agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom to build 20 of these mini-reactors is just the tip of the iceberg. Companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft They have bet on them. They are said to be faster to build, more flexible, cheaper, and vital to decarbonizing the grid. But the numbers don’t quite add up. There is a cat trapped. As researchers from the University of Sussex point out in an analysis for The ConversationSMRs are not only “the most expensive source per kilowatt of electricity generated” when compared to natural gas, traditional nuclear and, above all, renewables. Many designs have not yet left Power Point. So, if they are not the best or the cheapest option, if the majority of designs have not been commercially built anywhere in the world, why this political and financial boom? The answer has little to do with the electricity bill and a lot to do with military power. Subsidies. The markets already know all this: they support SMRs because they are a way to take advantage of billions of dollars in government subsidies. The factor that is ignored in almost all energy debates is the military’s dependence on the civilian nuclear industry. Maintaining a nuclear weapons program or a nuclear-powered submarine armada requires constant access to reactor technologies, specific materials and, most importantly, highly qualified personnel. Without a civilian nuclear industry, supporting this military capability becomes astronomically more expensive. Submarines. The United States operates 66 nuclear submarines; the UK has nine. These vessels require a robust national and nuclear industrial base. This is where a company like the British Rolls-Royce becomes the key player: it already builds the reactors for British submarines and is ready to build the new civil SMRs. Rolls-Royce he openly admitted it in 2017: a civilian SMR program would “free the Ministry of Defense from the burden of developing and retaining skills and capability.” With a strong industry, military costs are “masked” under civilian programs. Thus, the money to maintain the submarine fleet does not come entirely from defense budgets, but from energy budgets, paid for by taxpayers and consumers through higher electricity bills. A global pattern. In the United States, the Pentagon sees mini nuclear reactors as an essential part of its future energy strategy on the battlefieldas well as space infrastructure and the development of new high-energy weapons, such as anti-drone and anti-missile laser systems. But the military push of the SMR is not exclusive to the Anglo-Saxon world. It is the modus operandi of all nuclear powers. In China and Russia they do not even hide the inseparable links between its civil and military programs. And in France, President Emmanuel Macron put it bluntly: “without civil nuclear energy, there is no military nuclear energy; without military nuclear energy, there is no civil nuclear energy.” And the renewable ones? The irony of this matter is a letter that has just been published Guardian signed by retired senior European military commanders. It is a letter in favor of investment in renewable energies coming out of the Defense budgets. These former NATO leaders argue that the climate crisis is a threat to national security. They maintain that investing in solar and wind energy would make us more resistant to threats from aggressor countries like Russia. “We must end our dependence on foreign oil and gas,” they write. “A dependence on fossil fuels makes our countries less safe.” Energy sovereignty, after all, is a matter of national security. Image | Rolls-Royce In Xataka | The reason why China is winning the nuclear race: it takes half as long to build and costs six times less

that building nuclear power plants becomes increasingly cheaper

by

While Western countries debated for or against nuclear energy, with the construction of new plants weighed down by decades of delays and cost overruns, China has not only continued building: He has done it against the trend of the sector. For the first time in more than 50 years, a country has made building nuclear reactors increasingly cheaper, faster and scalable. The difference is overwhelming. The only two reactors built in the United States this century (at the Vogtle plant in Georgia) took 11 years to complete and cost a whopping $35 billion, equivalent to about $15 per watt of capacity. According to a analysis published in NatureChina is building its new nuclear power plants for just $2 a watt. It is not an anomaly, but a trend. Construction costs in the United States have increased tenfold since the 1960s, and in France they have almost doubled. In China they halved during the 2000s and have remained stable since then. The big question is how they have achieved it, and whether the rest of the world can imitate them. The Chinese nuclear recipe. Building a nuclear power plant remains one of the most complex engineering projects on the planet. If China has managed to do this in an increasingly efficient way, it is thanks to a mix of standardization and unwavering state support. The three state nuclear giants receive low-interest loans, which greatly reduces the cost of financing. Unlike the West, where each project has been a new experiment with unique designs, China has often focused on building a handful of models, scaling its nuclear capability rapidly. But these are just the last steps of the recipe. To get here, Beijing had to invest in mastering each link in the supply chain. Made in China. As detailed in a extensive New York Times reportthe country has developed a robust national industry capable of forging everything from reactor vessels to the most critical components of each nuclear power plant. Components made in China, such as cargo pumps or ring cranes, cost half as much as their imported equivalents. A perfect example is the American-designed AP1000 reactor. Both the United States and China faced enormous challenges building this model. But as problems led to delays and skyrocketing costs that nearly buried the American industry, China paused, studied every flaw, and ended up developing an improved, nationalized version of the reactor: the CAP1000. It is now building nine reactors of this model within just five years, and at a drastically lower cost. The winning strategy. “China demonstrates that the construction and operation costs of nuclear power do not have to increase unabated,” explains Dan Kammenprofessor at Johns Hopkins University. Breaking the curse of cost overruns requires “more than technology: it requires an intelligent and strategic approach,” says Kammen. The result of this approach is that China is on track to overtake the United States as the largest nuclear power in the world in 2030. Today it has almost as many reactors under construction as the rest of the world combined. It is not a simple bet, but a State policy that does not end at its borders. China has already put two Hualong One reactors into operation in Pakistan, and has plans to continue expanding throughout Asia, Africa and South America. Waiting for the SMR. While China perfects the construction of large already proven reactors, Western countries follow a radically different path: betting on innovation through the private sector. Dozens of startups are working on a new generation of small modular reactors (SMR), theoretically cheaper and faster to build. Tech giants like Google, Amazon and Microsoft They have invested billions in them to power their energy-hungry data centers. The problem is not only that This technological advance will take years to maturebut China does not live apart from it. The country is already taking giant steps in future technologies, such as fourth-generation gas-cooled reactors or research into thorium reactors. And he could repeat the same strategies that have worked with traditional reactors. Image | CNNC In Xataka | China has turned the energy sector upside down: the first fusion-proof nuclear power plant is already a success

AI is running out of power in this world. So Nvidia has opted for servers in space

by

The energy appetite of data centers is nothing new. Elon Musk predicts a shortage of transformers in two years. Sam Altman believes we will need an energy revolution, such as nuclear fusion, to keep pace. The planet was not prepared for so much energy demand. And that’s why Nvidia is funding a possible solution: deploy the servers outside of Earth. It’s not science fiction. It is the business model of several startups that propose building the next hyperdata centers in Earth orbit and even on the Moon. The idea, which until recently sounded far-fetched, is gaining traction driven mainly by two factors: the insatiable demand for AI and the low-cost launches that Starship promises. One of the companies leading this idea is Starcloud, supported by the NVIDIA Inception program. And he is so serious that he plans to launch his first satellite, the Starcloud-1in November. On board it will carry the first GPU for data centers launched into space: an NVIDIA H100. The difficult part will come later. Starcloud-1 is a test unit the size of a small refrigerator, but the company’s goal is to build a monster five-gigawatt orbital data center. Adding the solar panels and the enormous radiator, it would measure four kilometers wide. Its goal is the training of large AI models in orbit. Why in space? As detailed in an extensive white paperfuture models like GPT-6 or Llama 5 could require multi-gigawatt clusters, something “simply impossible with the current energy infrastructure” on Earth. In space, there is no such limitation. It’s more. According to Starcloud calculations, server energy costs are 10 times lower in space than on Earth. The value proposition of space data centers is based precisely on two pillars that are a problem on Earth: energy and cooling. Solar energy 24/7. On Earth, solar energy is intermittent. They depend on the day/night cycle, the weather and the atmosphere, which attenuates the radiation. In space, things change. By placing your data centers in a sun-synchronous “dawn-dusk” orbit, Satellites follow the line that divides day and night on Earth. With the panels illuminated by the sun almost continuously, the system increases its capacity to more than 95%. “Almost unlimited, low-cost renewable energy,” in the words of Starcloud. And the refrigeration? How would they dissipate all that heat? Land-based data centers consume millions of liters of fresh water to cool. There is no water in space, but they have something much better: an infinite heatsink at -270°C. The plan is not to ventilate the servers. The heat generated by GPUs (such as the H100) will be managed within sealed modules using liquid cooling (direct-to-chip or immersion), like high-performance systems on Earth. The difference is that this hot liquid does not go to an evaporation tower, but is pumped to gigantic radiator panels. These panels simply radiate waste heat into the vacuum of space in the form of infrared radiation. The Starcloud white paper details the calculations using the Stefan-Boltzmann law, estimating that a radiator at 20°C can cleanly dissipate more than 630 watts per square meter. Without using a single drop of water. Not everything that glitters in space is gold. The pillar that supports this entire concept is the launch of high-capacity reusable rockets, such as SpaceX’s Starship. Starcloud calculations are based on a long-term cost of $30 per kilo put into orbit. But Starship is not ready, and it is certainly far from achieving its full and rapid reusability capability. If that cost does not materialize, the economic viability of the system collapses. The other big problem is radiation. Commercial GPUs are not designed for space. Cosmic radiation and solar flares can fry electronics. The solution is shielding, which adds mass and therefore launch cost. Not to mention that maintenance is not possible with current technology.

The entire planet looks intrigued at the cars factories of China and Morocco. Meanwhile, another power grows in the shadow: Türkiye

by

The European Union has more than A year applying the “compensatory rights” to the Chinese electric vehicles. This rate really applies to all manufacturers they produce in China and then bring their cars to European soil. The goal? That companies manufacture in Europe. But if all eyes point to China, other countries make their way. Morocco is not the only one that is consolidating as the springboard Star to Europe: Türkiye is asking for a step. And it is not something that are taking advantage of Chinese brands: also European. Trampolines. The Chinese automotive industry has a simple objective: to conquer the world with its electric cars. Companies have experience, technology, ships to transport thousands of cars of a tacada and are leaders in the manufacture of the most important: The batteries. China has launched some strategies to meet that plan, such as expand its factories in Europe, associate with European companies and create Kits that are manufactured in ChinaThey are transported disassembled and remembered in the final car on European soil. But, they are also taking advantage of “empty” in those compensatory rights. The combustion car is its ‘Trojan horse’but also countries like Morocco and Türkiye. In both, the labor is cheaper than in Europe and most importantly: they have commercial treaties with the EU, which allows those ‘tariffs’ to skip. Touchstone. It is calculated that The investment in Morocco is about 10,000 million dollarsa figure that contemplates not only manufacturing, but also the exploitation of key minerals for battery production. Morocco has huge deposits and China does not want to miss another portion of a chain that dominates with iron fist. In the case of Türkiye, there are examples like Chery investing $ 1,000 million for a plant in Samsun that will have a production capacity of 200,000 electric and hybrid vehicles every year. SWM Motors too will open A plant in Eskisehir to create hybrids and gasoline, and Byd will have one of its biggest factories In the West in Manisa. Besides, Not only will they be dedicated to manufacturing: In the case of Byd we also talk about an R&D center. Not only China. But it’s not just that China looks at Türkiye: Europe does not lose sight of them either. Brands like Renault and some from Stellantis produce There models for both the local market and Europe (The new Clio, for example). Moreover, the European Union, through funds such as Horizon Europe, intended 1,000 million euros in the 2021-2027 framework for the development of the automotive sector in Türkiye, especially for electric mobility, the development of load infrastructure and initiatives such as the manufacturing and recycling of batteries. Win-Win. Obviously, the situation is beneficial for all parties. On the one hand, China wins a springboard to European soil and the possibility of introducing their cars at very attractive prices in a local market that is upwards. The estimate is that Türkiye is the Major Market Fourth of electric cars for sales in Europe during the first half of 2025, only behind Germany, the United Kingdom and France. This is something favored by the State thanks to reductions and a series of advantageous tax conditions and tax exemptions if an electric car is purchased. And Türkiye, with that money, promotes the transformation of the sector with new R&D centers and strategic agreements with Europe to further reinforce its position. Toggg. And eye, Türkiye, Following The example of Europe put an aggressive tariff on Chinese electric cars, but with a condition: if manufacturers began to invest in local production facilities, they would be exempt from that import tax. But in all this there is an asterisk: Chinese companies, with their high capitalization and strong technology, can offer advanced vehicles at very competitive prices that overwhelm local producers like Toggg. There are already those who points That this competition, instead of healthy, could suppress the growth of the local ecosystem, being a danger if, at some point, Chinese companies decide to leave the market. And the United States? Apart from this issue, it is evident that the country is playing its letters well as the “bridge” between the East and West is, also in terms of critical raw materials to create batteries –part of the rare earth that China controls-. And, if you are wondering what happens to American companies, the truth is that their giants are not investing directly in Türkiye, but they are doing it through the calls Joint Ventures. They do not want to make too much outside the United States (something that recent tariff Otosan to create cars on Turkish soil and sell them both in that market and in the Middle East. In the end, as they say, a scrambled river, fishermen’s gain. And everything indicates that Morocco and Türkiye are those fishermen. In Xataka | Family and friends keep asking me if “it is worth buying a Chinese car.” This is my answer

The portable Xbox is already priced. And it is a reflection of its power

by

Nintendo had his laptop, Sony too and Xbox was left out, away from that world. After years supporting Rumors about a portable Xboxit was a few months ago when Microsoft confirmed that it would enter that segment by Asus’s hand with the Rog Xbox Ally. Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck They showed that the technology was ready and what Microsoft will do is package the most powerful processors to have An experience of desktop, but in the palm of the hand. The price to be paid is literally the price of Robx Xbox Ally. Freest power. Microsoft has kept the price of its portable Xbox to practically the last minute. After the first details, andn Gamescom revealed the launch date and some more technical characteristics. It will be on October 16 when both the Rog Xbox Ally and an even more powerful version are launched: the Rog Xbox Ally X. Both by AMD and with specifications that promise a lot in being able to execute the most powerful games with a good quality: Rog Xbox Ally X Rog Xbox Ally System Windows 11 custom Windows 11 custom Processor AMD Ryzen Ai Z2 Extreme AMD Ryzen Z2 Memory 24 GB LPDDR5X at 8000 MHz 16 GB LPDDR5X at 6400 MHz Storage 1 TB M.2 2280 What can we change 512 GB M.2 2280 What can we change Screen IPS 7 -inch Panel FullHD resolution Relationship 16: 9 120 Hz of refresh and vrr GORILLA GLASS VICTUS protection Anti -reflex screen IPS 7 -inch Panel FullHD resolution Relationship 16: 9 120 Hz of refresh and vrr GORILLA GLASS VICTUS protection Anti -reflex screen Ports USB 4 Type-C USB 3.2 Type-C MicroSD UHS-II Jack of headphones 2 x USB 3.2 Type-C MicroSD UHS-II Jack of headphones Connectivity Wi-Fi 6e Bluetooth 5.4 Wi-Fi 6e Bluetooth 5.4 Dimensions and weight 290.8 x 121.5 x 50.07 mm 715 grams 290.8 x 121.5 x 50.07 mm 670 grams Burden 80 Wh 60 Wh The hot price potato. The problem is that, having those characteristics on the table, there was a great doubt: how much it would cost. Examples such as the Lenovo Legion Go or ROG Ally itself were already seen that the power is paid, and having that Ryzen Z2 Extreme with 1 TB of storage and 24 GB of RAM was not going to be cheap. Now, Microsoft resolved all doubts announcing the prices of its portable Xbox: Rog Xbox Ally – 599 euros. Rog Xbox Ally X – 899 euros. Hopeful. Both can already book on the Microsoft website And, beyond gross power, they are machines with some characteristics taken directly from Steam Deck that give good ‘vibrations’ on the path that Microsoft wants to take with these portable consoles with Windows, also called consolidated PC. To start, it is compatible with the Xbox platform and the game services in the NUVE and ‘Cross Play’, but it does not close to Microsoft: we can install other stores such as Steam, GOG or Epic Games. Although it uses a modified Windows version to consume less resources, it remains Windows, which means at the opening level. On the other hand, Steam Deck takes the verification of the games. It is a label that tells us if the game is optimized for the machine, so we will only have to install and start playing, or if we will have to make some changes in their adjustments to have a better experience. Context. As always happens with these devices, the perception of the price of the Rog Xbox Ally X depends on the user. Although 899 euros are many euros, especially taking into account newly launched machines such as Nintendo Switch 2 Or a Steam Deck that, with years behind him, continues to remain well, the current context must be taken into account. And there is no need to go too far to see what Both Microsoft and Sony are uploading the prices of their consoles launched in 2020 periodically. Both reached 500 euros and now series x part of $ 649 (The climb, for the moment, in the US) With the 2 TB model of storage for $ 799. In the end, it is each player’s decision, but it is evident that the versatility that a Consolidated PC It is a very important asset, although if you want maximum power, we are already dangerously close to 1,000 euros. And, precisely, in Europe we can find a song in our teeth, since the price of the Rog Xbox Ally X in the United States is … $ 1,000. In Xataka | Lenovo Legion Go, Analysis: Extreme Power that leads to the maximum concept of Nintendo Switch

It is the spatial power that less invests in defense

by

Every time we look at the GPS of the car, we consult the time or pay by card, the navigation, observation or time synchronization satellites make it Everything works without us noticing. But hundreds of kilometers on our heads, a silent war makes its way. One that, to end up exploding, could erase what we take for granted. The Ukraine War changed everything. He demonstrated, without a doubt, that satellites are not only scientific or commercial tools, but first -order military assets. From the tracking of the troops to the safe and resilient communicationsthe conflict “consecrated space as an operational domain of full right”, In the words of Vincent ChusseauHead of the French Space Command. At the same time, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine put on the table the advances in countermeasures to neutralize or interfere with enemy satellite signalsas well as the Fragility of a nation that does not have sovereign access to space. The space has been militarized. It is a documented reality. Reports like him Space Threat Assessment 2025 of the CSIS or the GLOBAL COUNTSPACE CAPABILITIES From the Secure World Foundation they draw a disturbing panorama: United States, China, Russia, Iran, Israel and other powers They have actively developed an entire anti-satellite capabilities. These technologies range from missiles launched from land to satellites capable of attacking others, going through high -power lasers to fry the electronic components in orbit. Advances are added to electronic warfare that we have also seen in Ukraine in the form of usual cyber attacks or interferences. Europe is staying behind. There are more than 200 anti-satellite weapons in space. For Europe it is a problem. While the United States and China treat space as a pillar of your national securityallocating 50% of public spending on defense space, Europe barely allocates 15%, Josef Aschbacher warnsdirector of the European Space Agency. The remaining 85% is dedicated to civil purposes, which raises a review of strategic priorities. While one of Aschbacher’s papers is to get more financing from the Member States, divergence attracts attention to the times. The European quota in global spatial financing is increasingly lower: only 10% in 2024, compared to 60% of the United States. Not only because other powers have joined the game, such as China and India, but because the EU invests only 0.07% of its GDP in space activities. The participation of Europe is less and less in a sector that expects to triple its value from here to 2035. At risk of losing autonomy. Europe has been moving chips so as not to depend on foreign powers for its own safety and the operation of essential services that depend on space, such as investment in the incipient sector of European microlanzores or the creation of Iris2 as a sovereign alternative to Starlink. But geopolitical instability and growing threats could force it to make more forceful decisions. European defense companies that are already expanding to the space sector do so without a common vision. The solution proposed by Aschbacher is a significant increase in the ESA budget, that could leave the European Rearme Plan. And another more pragmatic route: bet on dual -use space systems: Develop technologies and satellites that can meet both civil needs (science, observation of the earth, the Internet …) and defense (surveillance, safe communications …). Convert the need into opportunity. Image | That, Freepik In Xataka | The US has no doubt: Russia is building a nuclear weapon capable of destroying all satellites in orbit

Microsoft wants to dominate AI to gross power blow

by

Think of a complex so extensive that it could be confused with an industrial city, where each square meter is designed so that the artificial intelligence Do not stop for a moment. Thus the new Microsoft campus in Wisconsin (United States) is configured. The goal they announce is overwhelming: Render ten times more than the fastest supercomputer of the moment, a message with which they want to make it clear that the battle for AI is played on the computer scale. A data center of this type does not resemble that of a traditional cloud where emails or web pages are housed. It is conceived to train and execute large -scale AI models, such as those that drive applications such as Chatgpt either COPILOT. According to the American company, the project will materialize at the beginning of 2026, after an initial investment of 3.3 billion dollars. When the cloud becomes concrete, steel and many chips The cloud does not float in the air. It rises on concrete soils, with metal structures, pipes and cables that travel underground kilometers. This is how it actually materializes, and Fairwater It is intended to be the most ambitious sample of it. According to Satya Nadellathis campus will become a strategic piece to hold loads that demand each time More energy and computing capacity. In the IA competition, having data centers of this scale is more than a matter of competitive advantage. Fairwater’s key is how it organizes all that calculation power. The company explained that each rack integrates 72 GPU Nvidia Blackwell, Linked through NVLink and NVSWITCH to share up to 1.8 terabytes per second and access 14 terabytes of grouped memory. Of course, he has not detailed the exact number of racks that the campus will have and has limited himself to talking about “hundreds of thousands of accelerators” in total. Together these systems will work as a single supercomputer capable of processing 865,000 tokens per seconda figure that gives an idea of ​​the magnitude of the project, and will be part of a global network of the Azure Network Wide Network Wide Network Beyond the technology that houses, Fairwater impresses with its physical dimensions. It rises on a land equivalent to more than one hundred hectares and adds more than 110,000 square meters of built area. Civil works, according to Microsoft, has required huge figures: 75 kilometers of foundation piles 12,000 tons of steel structure 193 kilometers of medium voltage electric wiring 117 kilometers of mechanical pipes Refrigeration is one of the great challenges of any data center, and in Fairwater becomes even more critical for the chips density it houses. According to data from the Wisconsin Climatology Officethis state presents a Very marked thermal amplitude: In winter, minimum temperatures can fall below 0 ° C with abundant snow, while in summer stockings greater than 25 ° C are reached with high humidity. This variability forces us to have infrastructure that does not depend on a favorable climate, unlike locations in northern Europe where constant cold becomes a natural ally. That is why Microsoft has opted for a liquid refrigeration system in closed circuit that only requires water once during construction and then reuses it without loss. According to the company, more than 90% of the capacity works with this method, supported by the second largest water coolers in the world and in 172 six -meter -high fans that help dissipate heat. The rest of the infrastructure takes advantage of the outer air, but changes to water in the hottest days, when the temperature and humidity exceed what the environment can offer. It is a design designed to maintain efficiency throughout the year in a place where the weather does not always play in favor. Behind Fairwater there are more components designed to sustain datasets massive No bottlenecks. Let’s look at some of them: Total capacity in exabytes “Five soccer fields” size systems More than two million reading/writing operations per second in each cloud storage account Its own system that accelerates access to data and reduces latency, guaranteeing that GPUs never stop Enough optical fiber to give 4.5 turns to earth. Fairwater is, for the moment, a project under construction and many of its promises must still be tested. Microsoft states that when starting at the beginning of 2026 it will be able to perform until ten times more than the fastest supercomputer of the world, although it does not need which one refers to. The true magnitude of Fairwater will only be known when we enter into operation and we can contrast if those figures are fulfilled beyond paper. Images | Microsoft (1, 2, 3, 4) | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 In Xataka | Huawei has a plan to advise Nvidia in China: a supernod of 15,000 processors

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

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

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

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