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Samsung faces a very serious problem to surpass TSMC with its 2nm chips: the 60% curse

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When semiconductor manufacturers produce a chip wafer, some of those cores do not function properly. It’s normal. When they start a new lithographic node your performance per wafer usually has a wide room for improvementbut little by little, as engineers refine their integration processes, this parameter improves. A mature lithography can deliver very high performance to IC manufacturers, but a nascent technology can move in the orbit of 50% performance. Importantly, chipmakers need the per-wafer yield to be at least 60% to ensure node profitability and attract more customers. However, this figure is the minimum admissible. And in reality it must be much higher to optimize the competitiveness of photolithography from a commercial point of view. Currently TSMC and Samsung are manufacturing 2nm chipsbut according to the leaks the performance per wafer of its nodes is very different. And the South Korean company needs its 2nm node to be a success. The 1 and 2 nm nodes are crucial in the itinerary that Samsung has planned This reflection that Han Jong-hee, co-CEO of Samsung, made in mid-2025 express clearly At what point were you then? the largest company in South Korea: “First of all, I sincerely apologize that our stock performance has not met your expectations. Over the past year, our company has not responded appropriately to the rapidly evolving AI semiconductor market.” These words were addressed to his investors. Samsung needs to make its current best chip manufacturing technology a success A very important idea emerges from Jong-hee’s words: the competitiveness of your subsidiary specialized in the manufacturing of integrated circuits is essential for Samsung. Even so, problems were arising from several fronts. “Our technological advantage has been compromised in all of our businesses. It is difficult to see that efforts are being made to drive great innovations or take on new challenges. There are only attempts to maintain the status quo instead of generating disruptive changes,” said an internal statement written by Jay Y. Lee, the company’s president. In this scenario, Samsung needs its current best chip manufacturing technology, 2nm lithography, to be a success. And it’s in it. Integrated circuit producers do not typically make the per-wafer yield of their cutting-edge lithographs public, especially if it is relatively low. However, according to DigiTimes Asia Currently the performance of its 2nm nodes oscillates around 55%, so it is below the 60% threshold that we talked about a few lines above. For this company, it is essential to increase the yield per wafer of its 2nm lithography because with a yield of 55% the percentage of usable chips after advanced packaging probably ranges around 40%. To curl the curl, again according to DigiTimes Asiathe per-wafer performance of TSMC’s 2nm nodes ranges between 60 and 70%which places this Taiwanese company, which is Samsung’s biggest competitor and the leader of the chip manufacturing industryin a very favorable position when it comes to attracting new clients. If Samsung manages to raise the performance of its 2nm nodes above 60% during the coming months, it will put up a fight against TSMC. Otherwise you will suffer. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | DigiTimes Asia 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

We believed that tons of feces were the big problem with the touristification of Everest. Until the scam rescue arrived

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Everest may be the roof of the world, but it has long ceased to be the remote and isolated place they found themselves seven decades ago. Edmund Hollary and Tenzing Norgaythe first to summit its icy summit. The best proof was left to us just before the pandemic by Nirmal Purja, the author of one of the most famous (and striking) snapshots of the mountain: in it we see a very long row with dozens and dozens of tourists climbing in single file towards the summit, just as if they were queuing to enter the Louvre or board a cruise ship. That Everest has become a monster touristified It’s no surprise. What is curious is that there are people (presumably) breaking the laws to take advantage of that demand and defraud the insurers. A huge theme park. One would expect the highest place on the planet to be an inhospitable place, reserved for the most intrepid locals and adventurers. Perhaps it was like this in the 1950s, when Hollary and Norgay ascended to more than 8,800 meters of altitude to reach its summit. Not today. The photography that Purja took in 2019 is just the graphic verification of a phenomenon that can be measured in figures… and even in feces: Everest is a tourist icon that they visit every year hundreds and hundreds of climbers, leaving behind millions of dollars and a trail of tons of waste. You will find more infographics at Statista Where there is tourism… There is business, of course. That universal truth is applicable both in Amsterdam, Florence either Barcelona such as in the remote Himalayas, which over the last few decades has seen a thriving industry take shape dedicated to serving those who visit Everest. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTC), in 2023 alone Nepal’s tourism sector generated revenue worth about 2.5 billion of dollars and boosted hundreds of thousands of jobs, both direct and indirect. Even Nepal has considered shoot 40% the fees he charges mountaineers, a source of income that among other things helps him clean the region. Where is the problem? Beyond the environmental impact that this overcrowding has in the mountain range, there is actually no problem in travel agencies, Sherpas, transportation companies, hotels and other businesses oriented to Nepalese tourism trying to make money. Climbing Everest doesn’t come cheap, but at the end of the day, whoever wants to pay for it. The problem is that not all of these professionals respect the law when looking for ways to make money. What’s more, there are those who have no qualms about cheatfalsify and commit millionaire frauds. Mountaineering and picaresque. The news I advanced it a few days ago The Kathmandu Postone of the largest English-language newspapers in Nepal. The Central Investigation Bureau of the Nepalese Police (CIB) has revealed a network dedicated to deceiving insurers who cover mountaineers in the Himalayas. Their modus operandi may vary, but the idea is always the same: alleged scammers make fraudulent ransoms to claim compensation. It may sound rudimentary, but the scam takes advantage of two circumstances that work in its favor. First, in rescue operations speed prevails, so there is no room to wait for the approval of the experts. Second, deceived insurers are often based thousands of kilometers away (in London or Paris), making it difficult for them to confirm what is happening on the ground. One goal, two methods. How do you prepare the scam? The CIB has identified two methods. The first is quite simple and requires the tourist to participate in the deception. If a climber is exhausted after days (or even weeks) of hiking and wants to save the trip back to camp, his guide can offer him a way out that is as comfortable as it is ethically questionable: faking an illness so that the insurance company can mobilize a rescue operation. The second method is a little more complicated, but the end result is the same. The guides or accommodations take advantage of the client’s ignorance to make them believe that the symptoms of altitude sickness (which are usually resolved with rest, hydration and a gradual descent) are actually signs that they are at serious risk, even of death. The key is to suggest the hiker enough so that he ends up asking to be evacuated by a charter helicopter. And where is the business? In the cost of the operation. It is not just that the company that provides that service charges the insurer for a helicopter that was not really necessary, it is that, precise The Kathmandu Postoften manages to expand its profit margin. As? It carries several passengers on the same flight and then sends separate invoices to their insurance companies. In practice that means that a single $4,000 charter flight can end up giving rise to three separate claims worth $12,000. Added to this are alleged treatments in the hospital, even when the client in question did not need assistance. For example, the Nepalese newspaper talks about cases in which treatment is claimed for hikers who were actually in the cafeteria. Not all people who are involved in this mess have to participate in the deception. He post speaks of falsifications of flight manifests or reports with digital signatures of completely unrelated doctors. One figure: 20 million dollars. At the end of March the CIB accused 32 people for this type of crimes, which according to the AFP agency amounted to a total scam 19.69 million of dollars. It may seem like a lot, but the figures revealed by the CIB investigation are eloquent: between 2022 and 2025, it identified 4,782 foreign patients treated in the investigated hospitals. Of these, inspectors believe that 171 corresponded to simulated evacuations. During that period some health centers received deposits worth millions of dollars related to those services. The older ones are the helicopters. Poisoning? The CIB investigation has attracted the attention of the media everyonealthough their headlines often focus on another … Read more

Prepared food already represents a business of 3,000 million for Mercadona. And that is a problem for McDonald’s and Burger King

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The proverb says that a picture is worth a thousand words. The success of the so-called ‘merchants’ Supermarkets that are hybridizing to become places where you can buy and consume already cooked dishes are not only measured in images and words. It can also be followed with something much more forceful: figures. One of the most resounding he just left her Mercadona. Throughout 2025, the Valencian chain had a turnover of around 700 million euros in Spain through its section ‘Ready to eat’. If we expand the focus to include its pre-cooked offering (refrigerated, trays…) the joint business volume in Spain and Portugal amounts to 3,000 million euros. What has happened? We have just obtained data that helps us better understand how the ‘Ready to Eat’ section is working for Mercadona. According to the information advanced by Food RetailIn 2025, the Valencian chain invoiced 700 million euros in Spain through this channel. Perhaps it seems like a discreet figure when compared to its global sales, which were close to 39.8 billion in Spain, but it is interesting for two big reasons. First, because the ‘Ready to Eat’ section is young. It was not launched until 2018. Since then Mercadona has been expanding it throughout its network (in 2025 it reached 210 new supermarkets) until it was present, at the end of last year, in 1,469 points of sale from Spain and Portugal. The second reason is that in reality ‘Ready to eat’ is only one of the multiple channels that allow Mercadona to capitalize on the growing demand for already cooked food. If the entire business and its turnover in Spain and Portugal are taken into account, the level of income is much higher. How much do you earn then? In total, if we count both the business generated by the ‘Ready to eat’ section and the sale of pre-cooked food (creams, packaged chicken or refrigerated pizza, for example), Mercadona entered around 3 billion of euros in Spain and Portugal. Not only does it represent just over 7% of the company’s global turnover, it also shows a growth of 20%, which confirms the potential of that line of business. The figure helps to understand Mercadona’s commercial strategy, which has been betting on the ‘Ready to eat’ section for years (in 2025 it implemented it in 250 new super) and in recent months it has redoubled its bet, adding to its offer of dishes and desserts a new service of freshly ground coffee. The cooked food sections also play a decisive role in the so-called ‘Store 9’the new establishment format that the company wants to implement in its network. Does the data matter that much? It is certainly striking. FRS contributes another brushstroke which helps to understand to what extent the sale of pre-cooked or ready-to-eat food has grown in Mercadona. The 3,000 million euros registered in Spain and Portugal in 2025 far exceed McDonald’s annual sales in Spain (around 2 billion euros) or Burger King (others 1.5 billion). In fact, it almost equals the sum of both subsidiaries. It’s not surprising at all. Mercadona has conquered 20% of the entire food and beverage business (in value share) and ships a large part of the hamburgers with buns sold in Spain. According to the Numerator signatureis behind approximately 10.2% of consumption occasions. They are just nine points lower than the national market leader McDonald’s (19.5%). Does it only happen with Mercadona? At all. The chain stands out for its considerable market share, but it is not the only one seeking to benefit from the growing demand for already cooked food. In February, the consulting firm NielsenIQ estimated that “prepared and ready-to-eat food solutions” are growing at a rate of more than 10% in supermarkets and hypermarkets, which is in turn shaping a billion-dollar business. “Right now this segment represents a total of about 3.7 billion,” explains Nacho Biedmatechnician of the consulting firm, in an interview with elDiario. There are analysts who calculate that the distribution sector (which includes supermarkets) already monopolizes 23% of what we spend on food outside the home. Why this change? Because consumer habits are not immutable. We do not eat the same, nor in the same way nor in the same places as our grandparents. And our grandchildren probably have different habits too. I predicted it last year Juan Roig, predicting that in the middle of this century Spanish homes will no longer have kitchens, so supermarkets will become more than just the place where we buy food to fill our refrigerators: they will be our great reference in food. Beyond these changes at the domestic level, sections like ‘Ready to Eat’ play a great role. They offer customers variety, agility and, above all, rates that traditional bars can hardly match. Prepared meals from supermarkets are in a way the successors of a ‘menu of the day’ that has been in crisis for yearssuffocated by rising prices. More and more people stop going to the corner restaurant to spend 14 euros in a menu of first, second and dessert that will take you 45 minutes to consume. He goes to an Alcampo, Carrefour or Mercadona, buys a couple of dishes for 10 euros and devours them in less than half an hour in the dining room located in the supermarket itself. Many people even take cooked food to devour at home. Images | Mercadona Via | FRS In Xataka | Very few national supermarkets are resisting Mercadona: regional chains like Froiz are

6 ways to solve this problem

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Let’s tell you How to solve the problem of some apps not showing on Android Auto. Because it can be frustrating to start your car and realize that apps are missing from the screen that were there the day before, especially if some important ones disappear, such as music ones. Therefore, we are going to tell you what things can you look at one after the other, because these problems are usually due to specific things such as the launcher configuration, permissions, or even battery restrictions or if you are left halfway after installing an app update. Therefore, we are going to review the solutions one by one. Check if the app is hidden The first thing you have to do is check if you have the app activated on Android Auto. You have to do this in Android, where you access a list of your mobile applications and decide which of them are shown or not in Android Auto when you connect it to the car. To do this, you have to enter the Android Auto settings on your mobilewhich is usually within the section Connected devices. and once inside, look for the option to customize the applications menu. You will go to the list of apps, where those that are selected will be seen in the car, and those that are not selected will be hidden. Check that Android Auto is updated Many times we don’t worry too much about updates because we assume that they happen on their own. But if Android Auto is not updated or the associated services either, there may be strange behavior or errors. Therefore, it is advisable to check Android Auto in Google Play, Google Play Services and the phone’s system update itself, if it has been pending for a while. Make sure everything is correctly updated. View an app’s battery restrictions Many manufacturers implement different systems to manage the battery and save consumption with their applications. There are options for restrict the app from being used in the background to save battery, and if one of your apps has it, it simply won’t be seen in Android Auto. To find out this you have to enter Settings and go to the section Applications to display the list of all installed ones. Now click on the one you want and you will enter its settings, where you can click on the battery section and check if it has permission to run in the background. See if the app has the permissions it needs When you use an application for the first time, Android asks you to give it permissions to access your device’s hardware, such as the microphone or location. If you have restricted these permissions to maximize privacy, the app may not work properly on Android Auto. Here, you have to enter your mobile settings, click on Applicationsand access the list of apps. Once inside, click on the one that is affected and does not appear or does not work well in Android Auto. When you do, review the following permissions: Notifications. Microphone, if it is a calling or voice messaging app. Location, if dependent on real-time services. Files and multimedia content, in some audio or navigation apps. Sometimes it could be a problem with the app There are times when the problem is not with Android Auto or any configuration, but with the application itself. Compatibility may have been temporarily lost after a poorly resolved update. To check this, you can take the following three steps: Check if the app is updated in the Google Play Store. Go to Google Play and see if it is still listed as compatible with Android Auto. Check if another app of the same type does appear, to rule out that the problem is general. With this you will be able to know if Android Auto is displaying the menu incorrectly, or if the specific application has simply changed something and no longer works as well in the car system. You can reinstall the application Turning it off and on again has been the great solution for many software problems for decades, and you can try it on your Android mobile. Another final solution is reinstall the application that is giving you problems. To do that, simply uninstall it and reinstall it. In Xataka Basics | News from Google Maps: new incident reports arriving for mobile and Android Auto

Australia has a problem: extremely boring and monotonous roads. And it also has a solution: sign trivia

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If you drive on Australian roads you may come across unusual signs and we are not talking about the kangaroos warning (that also), but the one that warns you that you are about to cross the “90 Mile Straight“, a stretch of almost 150 kilometers in a straight line that means spending just under two hours without turning the steering wheel. Or a sign that directly throws you a random question typical of Trivial. The objective is that your brain does not disconnect because on such a monotonous route, boredom can be lethal. In fact, Australia has some of the most dangerous roads in the world and it is not because of their poor condition or their dizzying curves, quite the opposite: they are too long, too straight and too empty. So the country is exploring different solutions to avoid this potentially deadly drowsiness. Boring Australian roads. All of these roads have decent pavement, a predictable layout, a landscape with little variation and little traffic, a recipe for disaster: The Eyre Highway takes the cake: it connects Western Australia with South Australia across the plain Nullarbor Plain (which takes its name from the Latin: treeless) between Balladonia and Caiguna: 200,000 square kilometers of limestone land with hardly any vegetation or hills. A 146.6 km straight line without a single curve that you have to travel at 110 km/h (the legal limit in most of the country). After the Saudi Arabia Highway 10is the second longest straight road in the world. The Stuart Highway It crosses the center of the continent from north to south, from Darwin to Port Augusta, traveling more than 2,700 kilometers inland on a fairly simple route that also crosses the Northern Territory. There it has large stretches through northern areas with distances up to 252 kilometers Between gas stations, temperatures of up to 45 °C are reached and a landscape monotony that has little to envy of the Nullarbor. In fact, one of the roads with the highest rate of fatigue accidents in the country, according to the Australian government. The Barkly Highway It connects Queensland to the Northern Territory via the Barkly Tableland, a flat, arid plateau where the road stretches almost straight for hundreds of kilometres. The extreme heat, the total absence of shade and the sections without signage or rest areas make it a minefield for those who travel through it. The Flinders Highway Also in Queensland it runs through the interior of the state for more than 800 kilometers. It connects Townsville with the interior through a repetitive landscape, with little traffic and long distances between towns, the ideal breeding ground for boredom. At night it is even worse. The danger of road hypnosis. The highway hypnosis or white line fever is more than just being bored and drowsy: it is an altered mental state that allows you to continue driving, responding to basic stimuli and maintaining speed, but without being aware of what you are doing. Simply put: put your brain on automatic mode. science has an explanation: Flat, straight roads with little landscape variation produce a chronic deficiency of sensory stimulation, reducing alertness to dangerously low levels, causing drowsiness and inattention. This study on the phenomenon explains that cognitive fatigue reaches its peak just 20 minutes after entering that monotonous environment, much sooner than it might seem, even for those who are driving. When the brain warns, it has already been on autopilot for a while. The consequences can be tragic: unconscious speed increases or a minimal reaction capacity that already causes havoc. In Australia, fatigue while driving is four times more likely as a cause of this road hypnosis than drugs or alcohol. In Queensland, it accounts for 20 to 30% of road deaths. A15, Queensland. Via Google Maps Trivia on signs. The solution that Australian authorities have been implementing for years is so simple that it is shocking: posters with a question and answer game. As you enter one of those boringly dangerous areas, you come across a yellow sign that warns: “Fatigue Zone. Trivia Games Help You Stay Alert” (Fatigue zone. Trivia games to help you stay alert). From that moment on, you will find signs scattered along the route several kilometers away with a question and his corresponding response. Example: Question: Who was the first Premier of Queensland? Answer: Robert Herbert. And so on. The cognitive mechanism is exactly what science describes: introducing an unexpected and irrelevant stimulus for driving that forces the brain to come off autopilot. So the driver has to read, process the question, remember and, if there is a co-driver, even debate the answer. And then wait to see the solution a little later. A simple but effective way to activate the mind. Each question and answer is glued to the panel and secured with a padlock, allowing them to be renewed. And does it work? Well, probably yes, but no one has rigorously measured it. However, in theory the mechanism is supported by neuroscience. Professor Narelle Haworth, Director of the Center for Accident Research and Road Safety Queensland, endorses his presence: “Always doing the same thing, without much stimulation, causes a decrease in alertness (…) The idea of ​​trivia games on the road is to keep drivers more attentive… perhaps a passenger who knows the answer will start a conversation.” But Haworth herself acknowledges that although the objective is in line with road safety research, there is no study that has specifically analyzed the impact of the signs. In addition, it has its limitations: the signs lose effectiveness with those who travel the same route frequently and already know all the questions. And obviously they have a quite common risk in these times: Someone might think to look at their cell phone to look for the answer. And in any case, it does not replace rest. Triple animal sign. Bahnfrend, Wikimedia Trivia by dropper. This measure started in 2012 by the Queensland Transport Administration with the aim of “helping drivers … Read more

If your hard drives disconnect on their own, an underpowered USB Hub may be to blame. With these you won’t have that problem

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If you usually use a hub to connect hard drives, mice, keyboards and other accessories or peripherals, perhaps at some point it has happened to you that they disconnect randomly. That’s especially worrying with hard drives, because you can lose data. Today we are going to tell you why the problem is not the hard drive, but surely the hub USB you have. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links How does a hub Hub without external power. The hubSpeaking of models that do not require external power, they are accessories that generally have fairly low prices, although it depends a lot on the brand. They act like port multipliersince connecting them to a single port on the computer (generally USB-A or USB-C) allows us to connect two or more devices to the hub. They are usually quite cheap, small and there is a wide variety to choose from, with different formats (elongated, square and even round). To use them you only have to connect them to a USB port on your computer, without the need to also connect them to a power outlet. AND here is its main limitation. The energy required to use it comes directly from the computer, so the power will be limited to what the port offers. Furthermore, the maximum power is always divided by the hub (so that it can work) and the number of devices that we connect. To give you an idea, a standard USB 3.0 gives 900 mA. A mechanical hard drive can require almost all of that to boot. If you add a keyboard with lights, the system collapses. How does a hub with external power Hub with external power. The hub with external power they are less frequent, more expensive and often larger. Here we can identify the hub assets, which are usually cheaper, and Docking Stationwhich are larger and come with more ports, including some video ones. With this type of hub We are not so limited to the power that the computer’s USB port can offer. In practice, this means that in many cases the power does not have to be divided when connecting two or more devices, although there are exceptions: some USB ports of the hub Active devices require so much energy that they prioritize these ports, something that we can see in those USB-C (Power Delivery) that are aimed at charging devices such as mobile phones compatible with fast charging. It is worth mentioning that the hubs assets come with a USB-C PD (Power Delivery) port. They don’t come with a transformer, but if you connect the laptop charger to them, they become “powered.” And… what are they for? Both the hub assets like Docking Station They are ideal if you are looking to connect devices that require high power, such as mobile phones, monitors or hard drives and SSD drives. By way of differentiation: It’s a hub passive if: It just has a short cable coming out of it and nothing else. It’s a hub active if: It has an extra port that says “DC 5V” or “USB-C Power Delivery (PD).” It is a Docking Station if: It is large, heavy, has its own power brick (like that of a laptop) and has video connectors such as DisplayPort or several HDMIs. The good and the bad of both options, face to face Hub without external power hub with external power THE GOOD 🟢 They are cheaper, more compact and lighter. They offer better stability when connecting many devices and usually have a greater number and variety of ports. THE BAD 🔴 The power is limited to what the computer’s USB port offers, so you may experience power outages in certain cases. They are more expensive and tend to be larger and heavier. Ideal for: Keyboards, mice, microphones or flash drives (pendrive). Mobile phones with fast charging, hard drives and SSD drives and monitors. We do the math to see which one can compensate you more. Both options have their positive and negative points, so the choice lies in how we are going to use them. If it is still not completely clear to you, let’s see it with an example. If you want to use a hub sporadically because you are not going to connect many devices at the same time, it may be worth it to buy a hub without external power. Actual use: Let’s say you want to connect two low-power devices. The accounts: You save between 70 and 80 (or more) euros between the cost of a hub without external power and another with external power. Also, if you chose this second option, you would not be squeezing it, since you are going to connect low-power devices. So? If you want to connect a mouse and keyboard (because they are wired or because you want to recharge them) and you still have a free USB port on your computer to connect a hard drive, this type of hub It can serve you very well. However, if what you want is to connect several devices, low or high power, and you do not have any more free USB ports on the computer or they are in an area that is not easily accessible to use them, it will be more useful for you to go for a hub with external power. Actual use: Let’s say you want to connect many devices to the hubsome need more and others less power. The accounts: You pay more for this type of hubbut it allows you to connect practically any device. So? You can have a greater number of connected devices (depending on the hub), and it will give you “the same” what to connect, whether it is a keyboard or a hard drive because it will offer a stable connection. Also, as a utility, if you have the computer under the desk or in some area that is difficult to access, you will not have to bend down to … Read more

It’s a huge problem for AI.

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The United States (like Europe, China and the giants of the Middle East) are in the midst of a real estate race: that of data centers. Nobody wants to be left behind AI race and, for that, they need gigantic enclosures in which to train it. The big problem is that these facilities They consume a lot of energyand there China seems to have the upper hand facing a United States that does not have the best face. In fact, it is estimated that half of its data centers scheduled for 2026 will be delayed not canceled. And it is something they cannot allow. It’s not a money problem. Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and Google are going to pool more than $650 billion this year to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. To put it in context, It’s more than the Apollo program cost. that took us to the Moon for the first time or to the great railway expansion of the 19th century. It is private capital that is doing the trick, but although the State does not pay the main bill, it facilitates operations and influences the pace and deployment of massive data centers through regulatory decisions, permitting and energy planning. And the latter is vital. The tyranny of 24/7. My partner Alba coined that term a few days ago to describe the current situation in which companies focused on AI find themselves. AI is intended to help us optimize our electricity consumption by the 2030s, but right now it is only achieving one thing: collapsing the traditional grid. This technology needs a lot of energy and, furthermore, constant, which is causing collapses in the network. The estimate is that the energy consumption of these data centers will increase by 175% between now and 2030. And not only consumption: Google’s emissions have increased by 48% in the last five years and Microsoft’s by another 31%. They were two of the most committed companies with ‘net zero’ by 2050. The other bottleneck. With this in mind, and knowing that the industry is devouring resources such as NAND memories To feed the AMD and NVIDIA platforms used by hyperscalers, we must talk about the other bottleneck in the sector: the energy. On the one hand, there are the plants themselves and we already know that companies have plans for private nuclear plants, gas is booming and coal is used in peaks of demand. On the other hand, there is the equipment that is installed in the data centers themselves. We are talking about transformers, switches, dissipation equipment and batteries. Panasonic is one of the largest manufacturers of batteries for racks of data centers. They are “packages” of batteries that are inserted between the equipment so that, in the event of a blackout or maximum demand, they provide specific energy support. A few days ago they commented that its annual production had already been soldbut the problem is that orders keep coming. Bad forecasts. And there is that bottleneck that we mentioned. As they point out in Bloombergthere are analyzes that already suggest that half of the data centers planned for the United States throughout 2026 will be delayed or canceled. It will be a blow to an industry that cannot stop because there is a lot of money at stake (and even more so the year Anthropic and OpenAI want to become public companies) and where they compete against a China that does not seem to take its foot off the accelerator. The solution is to electrify the grid using renewables, but the problem is that these solutions can provide constant energy, but they are not the best to provide a lot of energy during peak periods. workouts. Large batteries would be needed and, with the parallel rise of electric cars, there are none. The Wood Mackenzie analyst group points out that the United States “does not have enough capacity to stand on its own, so its companies are forced to go to the export market.” Geopolitical paradox. And therein lies the problem. The United States and China are immersed in a technological war, but also a commercial one. This makes it difficult for American companies to buy what they need from the Chinese industry, which is what leads the way in batteries and solar panels. Jensen Huang -CEO of NVIDIA- already commented a few months ago that the international conflict was fine, but that there was no need to be short-sighted and they had to take advantage of what China has to offer. The reality is that data centers are estimated to consume up to 12 GW of energy in 2026 in the United States alone, more than ten million American homes need. And, although the electrical infrastructure represents less 10% of the total cost of a data center, it is impossible for the facility to start operating without it. Now, The US has room for maneuveranother thing is that they activate the levers. Images | campact, Florian Hirzinger (edited) In Xataka | A user has been powering his house with 1,000 laptop batteries and solar panels for ten years. Others are already trying to copy the idea

The Tax Agency does not want you to use ChatGPT for Income. The problem is that their alternatives are worse

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The general director of the Tax Agency, Soledad Fernández, has opened the Income 2025 campaign with a clear message: do not use ChatGPT to make your declaration. “With how much the Tax Agency team has dedicated themselves to providing the best help and assistance tools, I wouldn’t risk doing it with ChatGPT,” he said. The warning has a certain meaning. The language models They can hallucinate, they do not have access to your real tax data, and asking them to manage your return involves passing them personal and financial information that ends up stored on private servers. The risk of error (and sanction) is real. That said, there are more nuances. Why is it important. The Treasury notice comes at a time when millions of Spaniards are looking for any shortcut to avoid one of the most tedious procedures of the year. If the official answer is “trust our tools”, the logical question is: are those tools really up to the task? Between the lines. What the Treasury does not say is that the underlying problem is not ChatGPT: it is that the Spanish tax system is opaque enough that using an AI seems like a reasonable solution. If millions of citizens are tempted to delegate their declaration to a chatbot, it is because something has failed before. The complexity of personal income tax (with its regional deductions, its cases of ascendants and descendants, its special regimes) is not an accident of design. It’s the design. The current situation. Treasury has presented improvements in Web Rental for this campaign: more access to data capture windows, greater interaction between sections and better information on subsidies. It has also improved its app. And it maintains the traditional channels: The plan “We call you“starts on May 6 (appointment from April 29). In-person attention in offices, from June 1. They are real advances, but gradual. Renta Web continues to be a platform that requires prior knowledge to navigate with ease. The Treasury virtual assistant resolves generic doubts, but not specific cases. Yes, but. The alternative that remains for those who do not master taxation is to pay a manager. A service that has a cost that not everyone can afford, and that turns a right (understanding and managing your own declaration) into something that must be outsourced. It’s the equivalent of IKEA selling its furniture without instructions and then complaining that people look up videos on YouTube to assemble it. The big question. The Tax Agency also assures that it does not use AI in the processing of files or in extensive control, and that its risk analysis systems “cannot be considered AI in the strict sense.” Although it leaves the door open for its future use. The question they do not answer is another: if AI is good enough for the Treasury to study it internally, why can’t it be part of a solution that helps the taxpayer from within the system, with their own data and with legal guarantees? In Xataka | Draft Income Tax 2025: how to enter and present your 2026 declaration online with the Tax Agency website Featured image | Xataka

Artemis II has a toilet that evacuates the astronauts’ urine into space. The problem is that it has frozen

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The Orion capsule toilet It is being one of the most commented topics of Artemis II. It is no wonder, since it greatly facilitates the life of the astronauts who are on their way to the Moon. However, if it continues to generate conversation after the launch, it is no longer because of the novelty, but rather because of the incidents it is causing. The last of them has been so important that it has even forced some special maneuvers to be carried out with Orion. Background. Until now, no spacecraft had anything resembling a bathroom for astronauts. Yes, there are options in long-stay facilities, such as the International Space Station. However, there was no way to evacuate during space travel. The astronauts of the Apollo missions, for example, had to use something similar to a condom for urine and a kind of diaper with a hole for toilet paper in case they wanted to do major water. Luckily, the Artemis II astronauts They have a more advanced system. There is no room for so much urine. The Orion toilet uses a type of hose attached to a funnel that, through suction, draws urine into a tank. Thus, the problems of microgravity are solved. On the other hand, this tank has direct contact with the exterior of the ship, in such a way that the urine, once it is full, is released directly into space. urine slushie. Since the journey of the Artemis II astronauts began There have been some problems with the capsule bathbut almost all of them have been solved. Unfortunately, there is another one that is being more difficult to solve. And the low temperatures outside are freezing the urine, so it cannot leave the tank. Maneuver changes. Faced with this problem, it was decided to maneuver the capsule in such a way that the tank and pipes were exposed to the Sun for as long as possible. Thus, the urine should thaw and be released without problems. It wasn’t enough. Unfortunately, although this measure seemed to be useful at first, sun exposure is not enough to have liquid urine at all times. It spends a lot of time frozen, so for now, astronauts are having to put their urine in bags and store them, exactly the same as with feces. With the latter it was already established that they would be stored and taken back to Earth, but with urine the simplest thing would have been to let it flow through space. But for now it’s not an option, so these bags will have to take up some extra space on the ship. Ultimately it is good news. According to statements by the deputy director of the Orion program for NASA, Debbie Korth, collected by Ars Technicathe performance of the capsule in general is being remarkably good. The good development of all the ship’s systems has pleasantly surprised the engineers. Therefore, the fact that the biggest headache for the ship’s crew is that their urine freezes is still good news. It would be much worse if some vital system failed. In that case, no one would notice the capsule bathroom. That everyone is paying attention to him is also a triumph. Image | NASA | freepik In Xataka | The Artemis II astronauts will carry out experiments in what will be their own study models

Chile has the lithium necessary to save the world from fossil fuels. The problem is that you are extracting it blindly

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The world desperately needs to move away from fossil fuels. To achieve this, electric vehicles and large renewable energy plants require a vital component for their batteries: lithium. This global emergency has set its eyes on one of the most inhospitable and fragile places on the planet, the Atacama Desert in Chile, which is home to about 25% of the world’s reserves of this mineral. But this “salvation” has a dark side. As deep research reveals published by MongabayChile is accelerating the blind exploitation of its salt flats. Under the institutional promise that this mineral will be the “new salary of Chile”—as It was defined by former president Gabriel Boric by promising wealth with strict environmental respect—the reality in the territory is diametrically opposite. The productive desire is crushing the socio-environmental knowledge that is required to avoid destroying the same nature that, ironically, the world is trying to save. The pact that seals the future. To capitalize on this demand, the Chilean State launched the National Lithium Strategy (ENL)seeking to consolidate the country as the undisputed leader of this market. In this context, an unprecedented mining agreement was forged. According to The Confusionthe state mining company Codelco and the private giant SQM sealed a historic pact to extract lithium in the Salar de Atacama until 2060 under a new joint venture: NovaAndino Lithium. With the aim of avoiding the local resistance that usually paralyzes these megaprojects, the agreement included an unprecedented governance model. This scheme promises the Atacama indigenous communities (the Lickanantay people) million dollars annually in profitsseats at dialogue tables and power of environmental oversight. A model that the industry celebrates as the standard for future “green mining”, but which in the territory has lit a fuse with unsuspected consequences. The disproportion of 33 to 1. Promises of environmental balance crumble when looking at the fiscal wallet. The figures are devastating: for every peso that the Chilean State invests to protect the fragile ecosystems of the salt flats, it allocates 33 to promoting productivity and mining technology. Through the Production Promotion Corporation (CORFO), the State has injected more than 166 million dollars in technological development for the industry. In dramatic contrast, the scientific investment to understand the impact of lithium on water, microorganisms and threatened species – such as Andean flamingos – is barely close to 5 million dollars. Yovisibility territorial. Added to this institutional blindness is territorial invisibility. As the media explains South Slope when documenting the scientific project LiOness Ringthe public eye has become obsessed with evaporation pools, ignoring the off-sites: the areas outside the salt flats. Transportation routes, port terminals and transit communities silently absorb equal or worse impacts under “the excuse of green development,” researchers warn. For the National History Prize winner, Lautaro Núñez, cited by the same media, the key is being lost in the debate: “The salt flats are Chile’s heritage.” Thirst in the desert. As millions flow into technology, the ecosystem depletes. Extracting lithium requires pumping and evaporating enormous amounts of ancient water. As detailed The Confusioncurrent operations consume up to 12,500 liters of industrial water for every ton of lithium, causing the salt flat to sink up to two centimeters per year. Faced with this threat, the injection of money has caused the greatest historical fracture of the Lickanantay people. The communities went from blocking routes in January 2024 to fighting each other for the millionaire loot, which could reach up to 150 million dollars annually for the region, according to data from the Chilean government. Social fracture. Rudecindo Espíndola, local farmer cited by The Confusionassures that participating in this agreement is a form of “participation justice” because, after 12,000 years of inhabiting the territory, they will finally have physical access to the plants to supervise the mining companies. However, others see the destruction of their social fabric. Sergio Cubillos, president of the Peine community, recognize the same publication that “the fact that today communities receive money is what has led to this division.” Sonia Ramos, a respected 83-year-old healer, is even more blunt. in his interview with Climate Home News: “We are land and water (…) but today there is fragmentation. Everything has become unbalanced.” For her, the mining megapact does not bring progress, but “death, the total destruction of the Salar.” So what’s going to happen? Seeking to justify its expansion until 2060, NovaAndino has promised to stop using fresh water and reinject at least 30% of the brine into the subsoil through new extraction technologies. However, this promise is being viewed with great skepticism. As microbiologist Cristina Dorador warnsthese reinjection technologies are not proven on a large scale and could alter the chemical composition of the desert. Continuing pumping until 2060, he says, could be the “coup de grace” for this vital ecosystem. The State as a facilitator, not as a protector. Politically, the course seems unchanged. The recently inaugurated far-right president, José Antonio Kast, has already promised to respect the contracts signed by the previous administration. The machinery will continue to operate. In statements to MongabayHernán Cáceres, director of the National Institute of Lithium and Salt Flats (INLiSa), justified the low state budget in environmental areas by arguing that this money is actually an “enabling expense.” That is, the State finances ecological studies and dialogue tables not necessarily to stop the impact, but to “pave the way” for mining companies, reducing the risks of social conflict and guaranteeing that companies can operate without resistance from indigenous peoples. Blindfold. While technological investments advance at record speed, legal protection, such as the recent creation of the Network of Protected Salt Flats, moves at a slow pace, trapped in bureaucracy and lack of funds. The history of lithium in Chile encapsulates the great contradiction of our time. In the quest to clean the air in the metropolises of the northern hemisphere, one of the oldest and most biodiverse corners of the global south is being squeezed and fractured. As the research concludes, the country today faces a monumental challenge: … Read more

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