Spend

The AP-7 has not had tolls for four years. Now the Government is studying whether to recover them or spend 500 million to expand it

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The AP-7 is once again at the center of the debate on mobility in Catalonia. And just as share El Periódico, the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has four projects underway to widen the highway with new lanes, a joint investment that exceeds 500 million euros. The works will affect almost a hundred kilometers spread between Vallès, Penedès and Terres de l’Ebre. Why it is important. Since tolls were eliminated in 2021the AP-7 has ceased to be a highway designed primarily for long journeys and has become a road that also supports a good part of the daily traffic of the Barcelona metropolitan area, in addition to an intense passage of trucks of all kinds. This has led to almost daily traffic jams in the most densely populated sections and recurring collapses every summer. In detail. The four projects are: Third lane between L’Hospitalet de l’Infant and Ampostajust over 38 kilometers. It is the most advanced, with the drafting of the project underway since 2023. Fourth lane between the B-23 and Martorellabout nine kilometers, in one of the main accesses to Barcelona, ​​with an estimated cost of 94 million euros. Fourth lane between Sant Celoni and Montornès del Vallèsapproximately 30 kilometers. Fourth lane between Martorell and Vilafranca Centerabout 25 kilometers. These last two are, as far as possible confirm ACN and El Periódico, which until now were not publicly known. Each project is in a different phase of processing, from preliminary studies to final drafting, so none of them yet have a closed execution date. Between the lines. The problem is not just with private cars. Of the 41,000 vehicles that cross the border through La Jonquera on average every day, 15,000 are trucks, according to data of 2025 collected by El Periódico. The Ministry and the Generalitat agree that the railway should absorb a greater part of this freight traffic, but the lack of capacity of the railway network and intermodal terminals, together with a Mediterranean corridor still uncompleted, leaves the road as practically the only competitive option. Meanwhile. Expanding lanes requires years of environmental and administrative procedures, so both administrations have chosen to also act where the highway loses fluidity without the need to build anything new. An agreement of 250 million euros Annually between the Ministry and the Generalitat will allow the remodeling of fifteen links (including Girona Nord and Sud, Maçanet de la Selva, La Roca del Vallès, Montmeló-Parets, the connection with the B-30 or Vilafranca del Penedès) to eliminate the so-called “braided”, the conflictive crossings between vehicles that enter and leave in a few meters and that generate a good part of the delays. And now what. It is also still on the table limit truck overtaking in some sections, an option that the Servei Català de Trànsit is studying to reduce accidents while the works have not yet begun. In parallel, the debate has also resurfaced about whether it is appropriate to introduce a toll or a vignette on high-capacity roads, although both the central government and the Generalitat have ruled out recovering any means of payment for now. The Minister of Territory, Housing, Ecological Transition, Sílvia Paneque, already claimed a few days ago in an interview with El Periódico to advance in these expansions to prevent the same image of collapse on the AP-7 from being repeated every summer. Cover image | Costa Brava In Xataka | “The recharging excuse has its days numbered”: the Government confirms that 90% of the main roads already have fast charging nearby

60% of what we spend on food already goes to them

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Markets are not immutable spaces. They change. They transform. They reinvent themselves due to trends that are born, grow and die. In recent years, however, few sectors have experienced as many ups and downs as supermarkets. He Mercadona boomthe push of the regional chains and the merchants They are revolutionizing the business, although there is another phenomenon that is even clearer: white label success. From being the ‘ugly ducklings’ of the stores, the cheap option and of dubious quality, brands like Hacendado or Auchan have come to dominate more than 60% of what households spend on food. The reason is very simple: today’s ‘white label’ is not yesterday’s white label and everything indicates that it will not be the same one we will see in a few years. A pillar of the sector. The white label is doing well in Spain. Very good, in fact. For some time now the sector manages studies which demonstrate that the distributors’ brands have expanded their weight in the market, taking an increasingly larger portion of the food and drugstore business. What’s more, there are supermarket chains that can no longer be understood without their brands. The latest data show that almost 79% of Mercadona’s sales are made up of items that carry their own labels, such as Bosque Verde. And the percentage is not very different in Aldi, Dia or Lidl, where it rises to 82.6%. The percentage: 61.2%. The above is not new. What is new is the study by the consulting firm Circana, advanced by Efe, which shows that the private label is becoming the undisputed queen of the food business in Spain. According to your latest datafrom the first semester, you teach like Bosque Verde, Hacendado or Deliplus, they monopolize 61.2% of spending total in food. In practice, this means that six out of every ten euros that were moved in Spain within the food sector and branch went to brands controlled directly by the supermarket chains, not by the manufacturers. But… Has it grown? Yes. And quite clearly, too, what take to the experts to wonder if the expansion of private label will peak at some point. Circana’s report shows that during the first half of 2026 its food footprint has increased by 5.3% in terms of sales value and 3.1% in volume. This difference in percentages is largely explained by the increase in prices, which these months have risen on average by 2.2%. There are business niches in which the expansion has been even clearer. On the shelves of drugstores and cleaning supplies, the white label has grown by 3.4% until achieving a 65% quota. At the opposite extreme is the beverage business, in which brands from manufacturers other than supermarkets (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Bezoya, Font-Vella…) continue to dominate with an iron fist. In that case the picture is the opposite: external manufacturers account for 65.5% of the total expenditure, so private labels must be content with only a third of the pie. Other percentage: 47.2%. Circana is not the only one that has recorded the growing success of private label. So has Worldpanel by Numerator, which has focused primarily on the demand for packaged products. Its estimate for the first five months of 2026 shows that around 47.2% of products packages that households purchased carried labels from supermarket chains, a percentage that rises to 48.6% in the specific case of food and 56.3% if we talk about drugstores. And what is the reason? Better to talk about reasons, in the plural. One of the key factors that explain the success of private labels is cost. In 2025 Shopdavizor published a report that found that for 90% of consumers Price continues to be a determining factor when purchasing items from brands such as Hacendado. And that is not a minor issue in a context clearly marked by inflation and with the Bank of Spain worsening your outlook. There are studies that they assure that the supermarkets themselves are taking charge of penalizing the cost of external items on the shelves precisely to encourage the purchase of their brands. This explains why there are chains in which the white flags already represent more than 80% of sales in value quota. Beyond the price. White label has always been associated with cheaper prices. That’s nothing new. The curious thing is that in recent years it has managed to shake off the ‘toll’ that this entailed: the low quality image. It’s not just that the brands of Mercadona, Eroski, Consum, Alcampo… are growing, it’s that they have managed to change the perception that customers have of them and even aspire to put their heads into a business that was unimaginable until recently: premium items. Buying white label is no longer equivalent to comparing ‘cheap and bad’. Now people buy out of loyalty, trust, familiarity. “Innovation, premium proposals, health and well-being or sustainability are expanding the role of the private label,” confirm Circana. The same idea is underlined by its managing director, Antonio Khalaf, who explains in the Efe agency that the chains themselves have changed the way they approach private label. “It is no longer just a tool to gain share, it behaves like a brand in itself, capable of generating loyalty to the brand.” Changing image. In its 2025 report, Shopadvizor highlighted this by pointing out that for 80% of consumers there are no longer big differences between private labels and those sold under the names of their manufacturers. In fact, although customers continue to focus on price tags, more and more factors enter the equation, such as emotional connection, variety, trust, quality or the degree of familiarization with the products. “The private label has surpassed its traditional role as an economic alternative to consolidate itself as a value option,” concluded the Shopdavizor report. Images | Eroski Group (Flickr), Wikipedia and CCOO Services (Flickr) In Xataka | In Barcelona, ​​hoteliers have grown tired of the competition from Mercadona’s ‘mercaurantes’. So they are denouncing them

is going to spend 500 million on the chips of the future

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If you have traveled to Asia to countries like Japan, China or Singapore, it is possible that along your journey you have put your butt on a smart toilet. And it is also likely that that smart toilet was from the TOTO brand. The Japanese firm is famous mainly for its toilets, but the fact that its core is china allows it to be on the front page in the midst of the AI ​​boom and that is not so well known: it has been in the chip business since 1984, manufacturing high precision ceramic components employed in semiconductors. It is not NVIDIA or AMD, but to give us an idea of ​​how serious Toto is and its level of competition, it has just invested a fortune with one goal: to scale its production to the most advanced one-nanometer chips. It should be remembered that IBM just achieved the first chip of that very small size. Towards 1nm chips. Already in February the Pallister Capital fund (one of the largest shareholders of Toto) qualified to a company as “the most undervalued and overlooked beneficiary of AI memory”, highlighting that its chip component manufacturing segment already accounts for more than 50% of its profit. What he also blamed on the Japanese company is the lack of transparency. A few months later, Toto has picked up the gauntlet: just announced an investment of $495 million over five years to scale its business to the most advanced technological horizon in the chip industry: supporting next-generation manufacturing technologies in the nanometer range. Why is it important. The rise of data centers and AI is fueling demand for advanced semiconductors in search of increasingly smaller and more efficient chips. Without advanced materials like those made by TOTO, the miniaturization needed for one-nanometer technology would not be possible. And this diversification is very profitable for Toto. Nikkei Asia collects its astronomical projected figures for this segment: operating profit of 27,000 million yen (146 million euros) for the fiscal year ended in March 2026, an absolute historical record and 32% more than the previous year. It is already what makes the most money for the toilet company. At the state level, this investment is part of Japan’s effort to strengthen its domestic semiconductor supply chain in a context where several countries wish to reduce their dependence on Taiwan and South Korea. Context. Toto began research in the field of advanced ceramics in the 1970s, as Japan’s period of rapid post-war growth was winding down. As relates Toto ceramics business planning department manager Junji Kameshima said, “We wanted to use our ceramics experience to create high-value products.” In 1984 that area was officially established and in 2020 it went from artisanal and low-performance production to playing in the first division. The jump was thanks to Nakatsu’s highly automated plant, with AI systems trained to detect minimal defects: it went from a performance of 50-60% to more than 90% and delivery times were reduced from 180 days to just over 40. Its product portfolio within the semiconductor area was consolidated around three main products: the most important are e-chucks, ceramic discs that hold the silicon wafer during the etching of NAND memory chips. The second are aerosol deposition components, which protect internal walls of the etching chambers. The third are highly durable structural parts used in large LCD panel manufacturing equipment. The three take advantage of a skill acquired making ceramics for the bathroom: ceramic firing of high precision and purity. In detail. This investment of 495 million dollars over five years has three specific lines of action: Expand the machinery at its Oita and Fukuoka plants, already operating at full capacity. Reorient R&D at its Kanagawa plant toward logic semiconductors. Build a new cooking building in Fukuoka, scheduled for January 2027. Part of the investment has already been decided, but the rest will be available depending on market conditions. Thus, if the demand still cannot be met, Nikkei Asia leaks that Toto will consider the construction of a new plant from scratch. Yesyes, but. It seems that days of wine and roses are coming for Toto, based on its solid figures, but there are aspects to take into account. The first is that NAND memory already collapsed a few years ago and could do it again before the Japanese company recovers the investment. On the other hand, this optimistic speech comes from Pallister, one of those interested in Toto doing well (he is an investor). Also, Toto has very few large clients, so a slowdown from any of them can be a severe blow. In Xataka | The fascinating world of Japanese electronic toilets: sensors, microchips and what’s to come In Xataka | Welcome to the AI ​​duopoly: the sector already has a turnover of 80 billion a year, but OpenAI and Anthropic take 89% of the revenue Cover | Toto and Igor Omilaev

“Many do not check the air conditioning gas because they do not spend 60 euros and the breakdown is 400”

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To no one’s surprise, this weekend it will be hot. The news is not that it will be hot in Spain the first weekend of July, the news is that we are on our way to burning this summer. To lighten the drama a little, we can look for remedies to cool our houses, get the most out of our air conditioning and strictly follow the usual recommendations so as not to cause new health problems. But although it is recommended that we leave the long trips for the less hot hours of the day, we all know that is not always possible. The heat, a car full to the brim and a vehicle that has not been serviced in a timely manner are the best ingredients for having a problem. One that can leave us stranded in the ditch, which is not always pleasant when the sun beats down on the asphalt. The key is foresight (of course) Just as when we go on a trip we mentally write down a few details to take into account (take some water for the road, look for the least hot hours, keep an eye on Google Maps and look for a place to eat…), doing the same with our car before leaving will also save us a lot of trouble. “The key is to anticipate,” he assures us. Xavier Celda, Market Manager, Workshop Specialist at Norauto Spain. “The best remedy is always preventive maintenance. Have the car ready and checked to prevent all this from happening as much as possible.” They think the same from Midas. Francisco Javier Fuentes, mechanic and trainer at Midas Spainpoints out that “the best way to avoid breakdowns resulting from heat is to opt for preventive maintenance.” And both focus on four key points to review: Coolant liquid Tires Battery Air-conditioning Given the high heat that we have to face, Xavier Celda is clear that the first thing to look at is “the coolant. We must check that it is at the correct levels and, above all, that it has not lost its properties (it is recommended to replace it every 2 or 4 years according to the manufacturer).” And he warns: “a small leak or not changing this fluid can cause extreme overheating in the engine. This usually leads to the breakage of the head gasket, one of the most feared breakdowns whose cost on the market can exceed 1,000 euros, depending on the model.” Francisco Javier Fuentes makes the same recommendation but points out something very important: “in case of overheating, I never recommend opening the coolant tank while the engine is hot, since there is a risk of serious burns. The best thing to do is to turn off the engine, wait for it to cool and call for assistance. if required”. Checking the tires, they both match, it is essential. Always when cold, we must check the tire pressures and follow the manufacturer’s instructions if we are going to fill the trunk with packages and the passenger compartment. Firstly because any imbalance will cause constant deterioration of the moving parts of the car but, above all, for a matter of safety. And not having adequate pressure can cause greater instability, lengthen braking or, if wear is excessive, induce a blowout. The most frequent breakdowns Although this is the most important thing to look at before leaving home, Norauto and Midas point out two major victims due to the heat. The most common fault, according to both experts, is the battery. “Extreme heat accelerates the degradation of the internal components of the battery and evaporates water from the electrolyte. It is the number one cause of roadside assistance in summer and one of the main reasons why people visit our workshops during these months of intense heat,” they explain from Norauto. And they repeat from Midas: “The battery is sensitive to temperatures above 25 °C. (As a result of extreme heat) its useful life is reduced when it is continuously exposed to high temperatures.” This fault can leave us stranded at any point when we have stopped the car but there is another big signal that can leave us stranded while moving. It is not essential to continue but it has become essential to travel comfortably. It is, of course, the air conditioning. Xavier Celda, from Norauto, is clear that investing a few euros can save us a major breakdown and, above all, the inconveniences of not being able to have air conditioning: “Many drivers do not refill the gas or check the circuit until the air stops cooling completely. The problem is that forcing the system to work at the limit without the appropriate level of gas and oil can end up seizing the air conditioning compressor, a part whose replacement costs more than 400 euros, compared to the 60 or 90 euros that a recharge and preventive diagnosis costs” And although we think of air conditioning as an element of comfort, it is also an element of security. According to the Foundation for Road Safety (FESVIAL)“driving at a temperature of 35ºC, inside a vehicle, can represent a risk similar to that of being under the influence of a blood alcohol level between 0.5 and 0.8 gr/l.” According to their data, when driving with such a high interior temperature, “approximately 20% of traffic signs are not perceived and serious driver errors increase by up to 35%.” In fact, they claim that the probability of suffering an accident increases between 15 and 25%. Photo | Windy and Paréj Richárd In Xataka | Resolving one of the great debates of the summer: whether the car consumes more with air conditioning or not

Europe has realized that nothing matters in technological sovereignty if it does not spend money on something crucial: defending its submarine cables

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There is a type of technological infrastructure that is invisible, but that has become essential in recent years: submarine cables. Conflicts like those of the Red Sea either the ukrainian war have shown that the seabed is a new battlefield. Damaging submarine cables havoc can be wreaked, and the European Union has just outlined its plan to strengthen the security and resilience of these cables. The goal? Track and stop threats in real time, but also repair underwater cables that enemies have attacked as soon as possible. Plan of action. In recent months, Europe has been weaving a plan to protect its submarine cables. These cables carry most of the world’s Internet traffic (an estimated 99%), but also other essential goods such as energy, vital when we want to tackle offshore energy. Hence the importance and, obviously, why the attacks also focus on them. Only in the first months of 2025 were more than a dozen submarine cables cut which seem few, but it really is something that can wreak havoc. And, therefore, Europe started to define an Action Plan with four main categories of action: Prevention: carry out risk assessments coordinated by countries and prioritize the financing of “smart” cables with redundancy. Detection: improve the monitoring capabilities of sea basins such as the Mediterranean or the Baltic to obtain a situation picture in real time. Response and recovery: strengthening rapid repair capacity and improving EU crisis protocols to act in a coordinated manner when a cable is damaged. Deterrence: use diplomacy and ultimately sanctions to respond to hostile acts. With global partners, promote a pact to encourage “cable diplomacy.” Repair of a cable Quick response. But of course, if deterrence does not work, we must act, and more recently, the European Commission has announced the steps to reinforce that strategy that aims to ensure that a damaged submarine cable causes as few headaches as possible. With an allocation of 40 million euros, the Commission seeks to guarantee a rapid and effective response to disturbances of submarine cables in emergency situations through adaptable modules. These modules, like repair kits, will be strategically positioned in various sea basins so that, in the event of a cable break, the ships repairing the cables will have quick access to these modules. It is one more step in a strategy that already had a first pilot call for 20 million euros a few months ago and whose objective was to finance modules in the Baltic Sea. Booster. Another measure will be the installation of the first two regional cable centers. In the Baltic, a Regional Center will be opened that will be responsible for strengthening surveillance and response mechanisms. The idea is that, with an allocation of 2.5 million euros, the information exchange platform and the capacity to both detect and prevent threats to maritime infrastructure will be improved. Finland will be the coordinator of the center together with Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Sweden. On the other hand, in the Mediterranean, another center will be supported with 3.3 million euros. The task will be to make decisions, exchange information in real time and the same as in the Baltic: anomaly detection and coordinated response to incidents. Italy will be the coordinator together with Greece, Cyprus and Malta. With the first regional cable centers, Europe moves towards enhanced capabilities, strengthening our ability to detect threats, act faster and respond together – Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Next steps. In the end, these two strategies are part of a much larger plan in which they had already been assigned 595 million euros to 74 continental connectivity projects. In February of this year, the Commission also advertisement a package of some 347 million euros exclusively for submarine cable projects (construction, monitoring and repair), which shows that it is a strategic, basic infrastructure that fits in with the technological sovereignty plan that Europe is pursuing after seeing associations with allied countries weakened in recent years. Image | What’s Inside? In Xataka | A third of the world’s population cannot read this: the UN reveals that 2.9 billion people have never accessed the internet

A bank convinced people in a poor town in the US to spend their savings. Now it’s full of millionaires

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Stories of lucky breaks and millionaires there are manybut they almost always have a common denominator: we speak in singular. That is why what happened in a small town in Florida whose families were going through serious difficulties to get ahead is so special. Even today, the enclave continues to seem like a nondescript and inhospitable town. But don’t be fooled, a large number of millionaires still live there among the people. And all thanks to Coca-Cola. Quincy and the banker. This is the name of the town in one of the most fascinating stories of the United States economy. There, in the midst of the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s and with part of the census in serious difficulties, a figure appears who was going to change everyone’s lives. Your name: Pat Munroean astute banker, a businessman who focused on a key detail to convince all citizens. No matter how impoverished they were in Quincy or how dire the financial situation of the families, the man observed that almost religiously, people spent every penny on a nice ice-cold glass of Coca-Cola. What if that devotion turned it into a stroke of luck? Coca-Cola in a bag. The sugar giant It went public in 1919 at $40 a share.but a conflict with the sugar industry and its bottlers caused a 50% drop shortly after, when it reached $19 per share. Put another way, there was a time in history when Coca-Cola was trading for less than cash in the bank and its stock was extremely cheap. And among others, Munroe was at the right time. The bargain of the century. What did he do? Invest. The man began to acquire Coca-Cola shares as if there were no tomorrow. However, he did not do it alone. He encouraged all his acquaintances and friends of acquaintances in town to buy a stake in the company. Focusing on bottom line profits and brand power, Pat Munroe kept buying and buying. And as he did so he kept telling everyone in Quincy who would listen to him to buy too. He took advantage of the trust and respect the community had for him and went on a crusade to get anyone who could to get on the Coca-Cola train. Loans for shares. The man was so sure of his success that every time a person went to his bank to ask for a loan, encouraged him to accept another in exchange for shares. Farmers, shopkeepers, teachers: absolutely anyone who could spend money was tempted by Munroe. For the banker, the fact that Coca-Cola shares were at $19 each was an opportunity that no one in the city should escape. That is why he never tired of urging people to buy and, almost as important, to remain firm in the decision regardless of the market fluctuations that occurred in the short term. The ball Finally, the banker’s observations turned out to be a historic success. Quincy, an eminently agricultural city, not only stayed afloat in difficult times thanks to Coca-Cola dividends, brought a wealth that is still studied in universities. In fact, the enclave became the richest city per capita in the entire United States for a time, and dozens of its inhabitants were nicknamed “the secret Coca-Cola millionaires.” People who trusted Munroe’s good eye and invested all their money (and what they didn’t have), and who amassed enormous fortunes with those first shares, which they then passed down from generation to generation, turning them into the eponymous Coca-Cola millionaires, ones who, effectively, established entire dynasties of financial prosperity that transcended generations. How much are we talking about? It is difficult to speak in total terms, but to give us an idea of ​​the money, in 2013 it was made a study evaluating what happened in Quincy. The results showed that a single share with reinvested dividends was worth $10,000,000. $270,000 in pre-tax cash dividends would be sent to the owner by sending a check for approximately $67,500 in March, June, September and November of each year. Thus, if the great-grandmother and the great-grandfather on duty had acquired a round lot of 100 shares for between $1,900 and $4,000, depending on the purchase price, they would have more than a billion dollars, excluding the effects of estate taxes. By the way, the current value is considerably higher, since the stock has more than doubled its price since then and the quarterly dividend now exceeds $0.53 per share. Money for crisis. That investment has been a lifesaver every time a tough time approaches. When the local economy was supported by coca and the crisis arrived, tail dividends. In fact, these assets have supported the city through every recession since. When crops failed, it was Coca-Cola money that kept people employed. When the national economy collapsed, it was Coca-Cola’s cash that allowed people to stay in their homes. When times were good and Coca-Cola was cheap, they bought more shares. Quincy today. It is a unique story, because it is unusual. Every family that amassed a fortune then passed it on to their children and grandchildren, in some cases through direct donations and in others through the use of trust funds. Even the bank where it all started has a Coca-Cola on display and, according to data from the early 2010s, a staggering 65% of trust assets under management were still invested in Coca-Cola stock. Quincy’s appearance today is not much different from the Great Depression era. It remains a quiet and eminently agricultural city with a population around to 7,000 inhabitants. But don’t let your eyes fool you, some of the grandchildren whose families built an empire, that of the secret Coca-Cola millionaires, still walk through those streets. A version of this article was published in July 2025 Image | PXHere, Ebyabe, PXHere In Xataka | Jeff Bezos asked his parents for their life savings to found Amazon. They only asked him one question: “What is the Internet? In Xataka | Madrid may … Read more

The CEO of a technology company has explained to his employees why he will not raise their salary: they will spend it on AI

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That AI doesn’t take your job It does not free you from suffering the consequences of its implementation. And if not, tell the Teradata employees who have seen how their salaries were frozen this year, not to balance somewhat tight accounts, but because they have decided that every available dollar should go to AI. what has happened. They tell it in Business Insider. In January of this year, Teradata CEO Steve McMillan sent an internal message to the company’s 5,100 employees telling them that they should not expect a salary increase in 2026. Teradata’s goal for this year was to “win in the market with AI,” for which they need to increase investment in AI talent and tools. In Xataka An Atlassian engineer was fired. He then published a video on YouTube explaining how the company works When AI takes your paycheck. According to two employees of the company with more than ten years of service, they normally received an annual raise of between 2 and 4%, but this year they have been left without it, although they were able to receive a performance bonus and shares. This measure affects countries where regulations do not require wage adjustments linked to the market. Teradata is not the only company that has preferred to invest in AI over people. The consultant TTEC also decided to pause its contribution to the retirement plan 401(k) because they are going to focus on AI certifications, tools and automation. A choice, not an inevitability. Speaking to Business Insider, the labor expert Jennifer MossHe affirms that cutting employees’ pockets is not the only way out. It is true that both Teradata and TTEC have recorded revenue declines (5 and 3.2% respectively), but there are options such as resorting to external financing to pay for the investment in AI, cutting non-essential expenses or adjusting senior management compensation. It also mentions alternatives such as staggering investments in AI over time, resorting to strategic acquisitions or accepting lower margins for a limited period, instead of loading the entire cost of the transformation on salaries. AI and augmentations. We recently talked about the logic of salary increases has been broken with the arrival of AI. Previously, raises were granted based on parameters such as experience, seniority and job category. However, in the technology sector this scale has changed and in 2026 many companies have frozen their salaries. Although AI is not directly responsible as in the case of Teradata, it has contributed to creating an elite of highly paid profiles and has amplified the gap: now the company you work for and how central AI is to its business matters more than your simple progression from junior to senior. {“videoId”:”x806n3d”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”TECHNOLOGY and THE JOBS OF THE FUTURE – Insert Coin with Manuel Hidalgo”, “tag”:”employment”, “duration”:”1806″} Firing is expensive. Normally when we talk about the impact of AI on the labor market, we talk about layoffs. So far this year, it is estimated that 92,000 tech employees have lost their jobs with the excuse of compensating investments in AI. However, the reality is that the layoffs are costing them a fortune for compensation and exit packages. Oracle, for example, has reserved 2.1 billion to cover compensation after lay off 30,000 employees. To avoid legal disputes, giants like Microsoft or Google are betting on incentivized “voluntary layoffs”, assuming the enormous risk that their best AI talents will take the money and go to the competition. Image | Jakub ZerdzickiUnsplash In Xataka | These are not your imaginations: your CEO has developed delusions of grandeur with AI and it is part of a pattern (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news The CEO of a technology company has explained to his employees why he will not raise their salary: they will spend it on AI was originally published in Xataka by Amparo Babiloni .

Nobody wants to spend three hours shopping on a Saturday anymore. And that is why hypermarkets are going down

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For decades, the hypermarket was the dominant format in the collective imagination of mass consumption. A huge parking lot, endless hallways, “everything under one roof” as a promise of efficiency and a comforting feeling of abundance. It was almost aspirational, a happy import. Today that promise does not advance, but rather recedes. According to Mercasa data cited by The Economistsupermarkets already concentrate 91.8% of the food commercial surface in Spain. Hypermarkets, on the other hand, have fallen by up to 8.2%. It is a modest percentage change – 1.3% loss in a decade – but very symbolic: the consolidation of one model and the withdrawal of the other. Not even the investment efforts of Alcampo or Carrefour have reversed the trend: in a decade, hypermarkets have opened 37 new stores and added more than 27,000 square meters. But its relative weight continues to fall. Even in market value there is stagnation. After a post-pandemic rebound, the hyper channel has returned to 10% quota in 2025, below the level of 2021. And the format that is growing the most is ‘large supermarket’, that of more than 1,000 square meters. In 2014 there were 3,501 such locations, in 2024 there were 4,836. Almost half of the food sales area in Spain is in the hands of this specific type of supermarket. The reading of some experts like Kantar points to a combination of factors: Smaller homes. Higher average age of the population. Urban context that favors small and nearby purchases. Less car culture than in countries like the United States. These are elements that explain a good part of this shift in consumption. It’s not that people buy less at the hypermarket, but rather that they often don’t even consider going there. The change is recognized from the chains themselves. Alcampo announced a plan last year to reduce the size of 15 of its hypermarkets and close 25 supermarkets. It is also renovating more than 60 stores and strengthening its logistics for the online channel. All with the idea, they say, of “adapting to smaller, more convenient establishments adapted to new needs.” The parent group, Auchan Retail, is also experiencing difficulties in other markets, especially in France, with several consecutive decline in sales. It reversed the trend in 2025 with a slight increase of 1.5%, but its business in Spain continued to fall 1.4%. Carrefour is not immune either. Although it bought 46 Supercor stores, its share has fallen to 9% at the end of 2025 and its parent company has also announced adjustments. In February of this year, yes, the company announced its Carrefour 2030 strategic plan in Spain, with the opening of more urban stores – generally in train and subway stations, tourist areas and even hotels – over the next few years. It is too early to know if we are facing the definitive decline of the hypermarket or if it is a minor correction, but although it maintains objective advantages (assortment, price, promotions, suitability for those who need to go by car…), and it is likely that it will retain its relevance in suburban contexts, the direction of the trend seems clear: the battle for surface area, frequency and proximity is being won by the supermarket. Maybe the change is not so much commercial as mental: we no longer think of the purchase as an event (which requires going to a very specific place, taking the car out, dedicating more time to it, setting aside a weekly time for it) but as a more spontaneous and functional routine. And in that logic, the supermarket – agile, close, practical, integrated into our daily lives – has the advantage. It is not that the hypermarket has failed, but that the context has changed. In Xataka | Mercadona’s engine is not the white label, but crushing its rivals in profitability by earning less per product Featured image | Annie Vo in Unsplash *An earlier version of this article was published in May 2025

Liquid cooling or air cooler? What to choose so that your CPU doesn’t smoke without having to spend a fortune

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How difficult it is to choose the parts of a desktop PC: what if the processor, what if RAM memory (well, if you find it at a good price), what if graphics card and other things. But it’s not all about your computer being as powerful as a NASA computer: you also have to design it so that it doesn’t smoke. And that’s where refrigeration comes in, a topic that has more to it than it seems and that we are going to explain in this article. Essentially, you have two ways to cool your processor: an air cooler and liquid cooling. You may read in many places that the latter is the best, but there are many nuances in that statement that must be clarified. So, let’s get down to business. Choosing an air cooler Let’s start with the air heatsink, which we can say is the ‘old-fashioned’ solution for cooling a processor. If you take a look at one of these heatsinks, you will see that it is almost all a fan, although it is a somewhat more complex component than that. Everything is placed on top of the processor and right there, depending on the model we choose, we must keep one thing in mind: may need a lot of space inside the PC case. Piecemeal. The air sink has a copper or aluminum base that rests just above the processor and, to facilitate heat transfer, the thermal pastea compound that makes it easier for this generated heat to pass from one place to another. That heat travels through heat pipes or heat pipes, which are sealed tubes with a small liquid inside that continuously evaporates and condenses to transport heat very efficiently, until it reaches the radiator. How does one of these heatsinks cool? There is no universal answer to this, since each model is different. But, yes, keep this: a quality air heatsink can cool better than small or medium liquid cooling. And that, in addition, with several very interesting advantages. The first thing is that these heatsinks are much easier to install: just apply thermal paste, screw and connect to the motherboard, nothing more. Besides, andThese heatsinks are much simpler and more durable. Basically, what can end up breaking is the fan and it is not difficult to replace at all. Now let’s get to the bad. Again, it will depend a lot on the model we choose, but there are air heatsinks that, when put at full capacity, They are real turbines and they make a lot of noise. They also take up a lot of space, as we said above, which has two implications. First, you need physical space to put it in the box. And second, if it fits just right, it will not have enough space to expel air and the cooling will not be correct. Choose liquid cooling The alternative is AIO liquid cooling (which comes from ‘All In One’). If you have read this far, you can already imagine that we are facing a more sophisticated refrigeration method. In fact, it is not only more sophisticated because of the way it extracts heat (which also, as we will see below), but it is a sophisticated system in sight. It’s an eye-catching system: the compact block above the processor and the case-mounted radiator offer a much cleaner look than the bulky air cooler. This system is based on the same thing as the air heatsink, that is, a metal block that comes into contact with the processor (with thermal paste, of course). What’s happening? What happens through that block? a liquid that absorbs heat and carries it through tubes to a radiatorwhich is actually quite large. This has fans nearby that cool the liquid and, in this way, the cycle begins again. Let’s go with its strong points. Remember what we mentioned above about the price, but, in essence, liquid dissipates heat better than air. In addition, the fans of this type of system are usually quieter than the one with the air cooler, which means less noise. Although be careful, because the pump can also make a little noise. There is also the issue of space, since the block that goes on top of the processor is much less bulky than the air heatsink. Bad turn. This cooling system, being more complex, is much more difficult to install. Besides, It also has a shorter useful life. (they usually have a useful life of between three and six years) and, if there is a coolant leak, it can cause serious damage to the PC (it is not common, but it can happen). They are also more expensive systems, as we say. The good and the bad of both options, face to face air heatsink liquid cooling THE GOOD 🟢 It is a cheaper system that works well and is more durable. It can be more efficient when cooling and aesthetically it is very cool. THE BAD 🔴 It takes up a lot of space inside the PC and can make a lot of noise. It is more expensive and, if it causes problems, it can be a headache. Ideal for: Have a long-lasting cooling system without many complications. Users who put a lot of effort into their processor and who want the interior of their PC to be more aesthetic. Neither of these two options is bad for your PC, but they have their advantages and disadvantages. Beyond what you want to spend, what you have to take into account when choosing is What needs do you have and what use are you going to give to your computer?. If what you are looking for is a system that will last for many years and you will hardly have to worry about it (beyond cleaning it and changing the thermal paste), then the ideal is to choose an air heatsink. Because? Because these systems are simpler and it is difficult for them to break. In addition, a good … Read more

The RAM memory crisis is complicating the task of upgrading a PC, but there are alternatives if you don’t want to spend a fortune

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Straight to the point: if you want to upgrade or build a PC right now, you’re going to have to dig deep into your pocket. The price of RAM it’s shot right nowsomething that It is already being extended to storage as well.. But what if you have no choice and need to upgrade your PC or a new one in parts? Assuming that RAM is going to cost you more than it did a year ago, There are alternatives to spend less money. There are certain aspects to take into account that we will talk about a little further down, but in order not to spend a small fortune, the most economical option is to get some 32GB DDR4 RAM like these from Corsair: we have them available for 199.99 euros. CORSAIR VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 3200MHz CL16-20-20-38 1.35V Intel AMD Desktop Computer Memory – Black (CMK32GX4M2E3200C16) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links An especially interesting option if your PC is already a few years old Let’s go in parts. The first thing to take into account is the price, obviously. The price history of this article tells us that these RAM memory modules They have been between 50 and 60 euros before the month of August last 2025. Obviously, if we compare those prices with what it costs now, it is obvious that the same product costs much more. But of course, it must be seen from the perspective of the current price crisis suffered by these components. It’s not all bad news. These same modules They cost more than 280 euros in February of this yearan absurdly high price. So are they worth buying right now? The situation with the RAM does not seem to be getting better in the short term, but it is 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, which means that you have to take some things into account before buying them. If you already have a PC at home and it is already a few years old, then DDR4 RAM is a very interesting option. It is much cheaper than DDR5 which, despite offering more performancehas an even more skyrocketing price. In addition, this DDR4 memory offers more than enough performance for simple tasks such as office automation, Internet browsing or even undemanding games. DDR5 RAM prices are still high, but not as high as a few months ago Now, imagine that you want to build a PC and you want the most current so that it lasts longer. Here the ideal would be to go for DDR5 RAM, but the problem is, as you can imagine, the price. Among everything that there is right now, we also have from Corsair these two 32 GB modules per 399.99 euros. Yes, they have a very high price (more so if we take into account that they cost around 120 euros last year), but they have reached over 500 euros. CORSAIR Vengeance DDR5 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) up to 6000MHz CL36 Intel XMP 3.0 Desktop Computer Memory – Black (CMK32GX5M2B6000C36) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Keep in mind that your motherboard and processor must be compatible with this memory, so if your PC is a few years old, you will also have to update these components. Now, in return, we will have a longer PC and that will also allow us to upgrade to other components in the future without spending too much. Other Corsair RAM memories that may interest you CORSAIR Vengeance DDR5 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 6000MHz CL36-44-44-96 1.35V AMD Expo & Intel XMP Desktop Computer Memory – White (CMK32GX5M2E6000Z36W) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 3200MHz CL16-20-20-38 1.35V Intel AMD Desktop Computer Memory – Black (CMW16GX4M2C3200C16) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links CORSAIR Vengeance DDR5 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) up to 6000MHz CL30 AMD Expo Intel XMP 3.0 Desktop Computer Memory – Gray (CMK32GX5M2B6000Z30) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | corsair In Xataka | DDR4 or DDR5? What RAM to choose so as not to pay even more than necessary in the middle of the price crisis In Xataka | Buy and assemble your PC in parts: guide to choosing processor, SSD, RAM and graphics card

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