stand

Tencent has a significant stake in US military training tools. Trump is going to stand up to it

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The Trump administration is debating if it forces the Chinese giant Tencent to get rid of its stakes in the largest Western video game companies. At stake are Riot Games, Epic Games and Supercell (more than a billion players) and the Unreal Engine, used in military simulations. The ghost of TikTok returns, but this time the affected market is different. Why Tencent. Tencent is not only the largest video game company in the world. It is also the largest silent shareholder in the Western industry: it owns 100% of Riot Games, 28% of Epic Games and majority control of Supercell, the Finnish company behind ‘Clash of Clans’. To this we must add participations in Larian, Remedy, Ubisoft and Discord, among dozens of other studios. For years, that capital has flowed to the West: the studios needed investment, Tencent had liquidity, and no one was looking for trouble. The White House sniffs. Washington, however, he has had doubts for years. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) began to review these investments during Trump’s first termand the case became one of the longest in the history of the organization, going through two administrations without reaching a clear resolution. What worries the White House is that video game platforms collect financial information, personal data and chat logs from hundreds of millions of users, many of them Americans. These databases are candy for any intelligence agency. The Epic case. The Unreal Engine adds an extra issue in which the White House has a special interest. The engine not only gives life to video games like ‘Fortnite’; It is also used by defense contractors and the US military itself for military simulation and training. In fact, the country’s Armed Forces have worked directly with Epic for years on that development. That Tencent is a shareholder in the company that builds this technology is what turns this issue into a national security problem. So much so that in January 2025, the Pentagon formally classified Tencent as a company linked to the Chinese military. Tencent rejected that classification, but the Pentagon did not withdraw it. There are problems. During the Biden administration, the issue was entrenched by an internal disagreement that no one knew how to resolve: Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco defended forced disinvestment, but the Treasury Department preferred to keep investments under data segregation protocols. Without consensus, the case was frozen. The cabinet meeting scheduled for March 4 was postponed due to scheduling conflicts. That same day, Tencent shares fell 1.72%. Parallels with TikTok. There are similaritiesbut also differences. With ByteDance, the US forced the creation of a new entity with 80% in the hands of US investors, as a condition of operating there. But the problem with Tencent is that it does not operate on American soil, but rather is a shareholder in companies already established there. Getting rid of these stakes is not the same as closing an app, it is more a restructuring of private capital. The consequences in the case of Tencent would go beyond Riot and Epic: the Chinese company has been the main injector of capital into studios for a decade, and a forced disinvestment would change the financing conditions of the entire sector, favoring large publishers. When will there be a solution? The decision has an undeclared but known deadline: Trump travels to China in April to meet with Xi Jinping. Forcing Tencent to sell would send a message of maximum pressure before sitting down to negotiate. In any case, neither the US Treasury, nor Tencent, nor Epic nor Riot have made public statements. Silence, in this type of situation, is louder than if they were discussing it loudly. In Xataka – China has made a drastic decision: prioritize ‘its’ technology, even if it is worse

“A generation that cannot stand boredom will be a generation of little value”

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Before we get into philosophical matters, let me ask you a personal question: When was the last time you got on a train, no matter if it was an AVE or the subway that takes you from home to the office? And what did you do during that trip? What were the rest of the passengers doing? I don’t know the first answer. Regarding the other two… it is quite likely that I will be right because they will coincide with what I myself do when I travel: I take out my phone, read the news, open Instagram, browse TikTok, X… Anything to distract myself. Is the most normal No? The same thing happens when we are in the dentist’s waiting room, we wait our turn at the butcher shop, we wait for our son to get out of the pool or we are simply in the elevator that takes us from the hall to the floor where we live. We look for stimuli, a quick way to fill our attention. The opposite would be almost counterintuitive because, after all, who would choose to be bored when they have unlimited distractions in the palm of the hand? Who wants to be bored? Networks and cell phones may be relatively modern inventions, but the ‘allergy’ to boredom is not. Neither the debate about the place it occupies (or should occupy) in our lives. In fact, a few decades ago, one of the most prominent and media thinkers of the 20th century, the British philosopher, logician, mathematician and writer, was already reflecting on this matter. Bertrand Russell. Throughout his prolific career Russell delved into the highest terrains of mathematical theorybut he also wrote a huge number of articles and essays on topics much closer to the asphalt, with titles as suggestive as ‘Why I’m not a Christian’ (1927) or ‘The conquest of happiness’ (1930). In one of his many memorable lines he left a phrase precisely about idleness and boredom that today sounds with a special force. So much in fact that every so often it sneaks in articles about psychology or in those proverb collections philosophical ones that then tend to populate the footers of the agendas. The phrase in question says: “A generation that cannot stand boredom will be a generation of little value.” A whole plea in favor of torpor that is reminiscent of the proclamation of another great intellectual of the 20th century, Miguel de Unamuno, who in his day also confessed to appreciating boredom. “something sweet and calming”. But… What the hell does Russell mean by a “low-value generation”? Is it so important to know how to be bored? At the end of the day, Europe at the beginning of the 20th century in which he lived is one thing and our hyperconnected world, that of TikTok, Spotify and Netflix, is another. What sense does it make to tolerate boredom in an era in which production, efficiency reign, and in which there is no pocket without a cell phone? Should we cross our arms on the subway instead of take out the smartphone and see how our cousin is doing on his vacation, read the latest Xataka posts or watch videos of kittens on TikTok abandoned to the pleasure of scroll infinite? Today we know that Russell I was not wrong. At least if we base ourselves on the observations carried out a few years ago by Dr Teresa Belton, from the University of East Anglia, who already in the 1990s began to explore how television was affecting the development of children. It wasn’t the first. Their work was supported in turn in other previous studiessuch as macro research conducted in the 1980s in Canada that found that children raised in communities without TV obtained higher scores in “divergent thinking skills,” an indicator of their imagination. That advantage disappeared as soon as the small screen came into their lives. What did Belton verify? Basically, despite the ‘bad press’ of boredom, there are certain professionals who claim that boredom has played a key role in their creative development, both in childhood and in adulthood. As an example, he quotes Meera SyalEnglish writer, playwright and actress. “Boredom led her to keep a diary, and this is what she attributes her career to,” explains the researcher. Another example he presents is that of the neuroscientist and writer Susan Greenfieldwho is also convinced that the time she spent as a child with no other occupation than writing and drawing laid the foundations for her career as a student of human behavior. “You don’t need to have a special talent. You just let the mind wander from time to time seems important for mental well-being and functioning. One study has even shown that if we do some simple, undemanding activity, the wandering mind is more likely to generate imaginative ideas and solutions to problems,” reflect in The Conversation. “It’s good to help children learn to simply enjoy leisure, and not grow up with the expectation that they should always be active or entertained.” “Children need time to stop and observe, time to imagine and develop their own thought processes or assimilate their experiences through play or simply observing the world around them,” comments Belton. before warning that screens can “short-circuit” that process and the development of creativity. In one of his articles he even remembers “flow” concept coined by the psychologist Mihalyi Csickzentmihalyi, something that can also be transferred to adults who like to escape by taking out their cell phone in the subway or elevator. “Paradoxically, this attempt to avoid boredom can result in a kind of dissatisfaction that is experienced as boredom,” comment. “He flow is the satisfying feeling of total absorption that we obtain when we concentrate on an enjoyable activity, over which we have control, but which tests our ability. Climb, write, solve equations or assemble furniture. But if our skills are greater than those needed for that activity, such as casual use of the Internet, the … Read more

stand up to Google’s Nano Banana Pro phenomenon

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You may remember when, a few months ago, half the internet started creating Studio Ghibli-style images with ChatGPT to upload them to social networks. The “magic” behind that fever was OpenAI’s new image generation model. But everything moves so fast that the conversation lasted just long enough. Some time later, our attention was already elsewhere: on how difficult it was to distinguish some images created with Nano Banana Pro. In a very short time, half the world began to talk about the benefits of Google’s new generative model, and there were many who placed it ahead of that of OpenAI. But this is an open race, with technology giants fighting for AI leadership. And, as expected, the company led by Sam Altman has responded. This Tuesday it launched ChatGPT Images, which comes boasting several improvements for users. Editing as a key element. One of the great historical challenges of image generation tools has been the specific editing of specific elements. ChatGPT Images directly aims to solve this limitation, allowing us to modify only what interests us, from a specific object to lighting, composition or even the appearance of people. This opens the door to combining elements or introducing very specific changes without having to remake the entire image, something that until now used to be a weak point in this type of model. See yourself in an ad or “travel” to your favorite place. Another section where ChatGPT Images makes a leap is in creative transformations. Simply upload your own photo and accompany it with a simple prompt to obtain, in a matter of seconds, surprisingly convincing results. It is worth clarifying that this idea is not completely new. In fact, it is one of the most outstanding virtues of Nano Banana Pro, a model that our colleague Javier Lacort was able to test thoroughly and was already pointing in this direction. Let’s look at some examples with ChatGPT Images. Original image: “Create an image of this man, but in Time Square, New York, with clothes, looks, surroundings, etc., that are believable for winter 2025” “It places this person in full body in a Japanese city during a rainy night, with neon, reflections on the ground and cyberpunk aesthetics” Precision as a flag and improvements in the text. OpenAI also places emphasis on improving accuracy. How many of us have had to ask for something specific and receive just the opposite, or find that the model has not understood the instruction correctly? Part of that problem, according to the company, should be left behind. If we provide detailed instructions, the system should be able to honor them more faithfully. In addition, the generation of text within images is reinforced, a key aspect for creating posters, promotional ads and other content where typography and the message are as important as the image itself. Images | OpenAI In Xataka | We believed that Microsoft had already put Copilot everywhere. LG shows us that we were very wrong

Ouigo already has permission to stand up to Renfe between Murcia and Alicante. And that only means one thing

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There will be two trains between Alicante and Murcia, stopping in Elche, and another additional train for this last link from Elche and Murcia. It is the approval that the CNMC has given to the Ouigo service that will rival Renfe in the east of the country. A service that will be provided on the high-speed line and that, if everything happens as before, will have an immediate effect on prices. The line. The line between Alicante and Murcia is currently operated by Renfe with two services, one high-speed and another Cercanías. Now it will be Ouigo that also provides service on that last line, the one that Renfe operates with Avant trains, those high-speed ones for medium distances. has confirmed it the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) in a statement in which it gives the go-ahead for Ouigo to offer two daily trains in each direction to cover Alicante-Murcia, with an intermediate stop in Elche. In addition, there will be an additional train in both directions each day to cover the Elche-Murcia route. Does not affect. According to the CNMC, the new service proposed by Ouigo does not affect public services. They point out that the conventional network is guaranteed by Renfe, with a service with many more stops and slower. High speed, they say, is also assured because, they point out, Ouigo services “have much fewer frequencies and are more expensive.” Right now, if we take a look at the price of trains Within a few months, we can find Avant or AVLO high-speed trains between Alicante and Murcia between 10 and 15 euros. The AVE trip costs about 25 euros. The current offer is also supported by 10 Avant or AVLO services and two more AVE services in each direction from Monday to Friday. Ouigo’s proposal. Until now, Renfe has been offering this service with an average duration of about 55 minutes. The Ouigo proposal, which is already active, allows you to take the same route for nine euros but saving travelers 10 minutes, covering the section between Alicante and Murcia in 45 minutes. With the very low prices that Renfe currently offers on the line, Ouigo does not have much room for maneuver but hopes to attract passengers who travel without large suitcases (these options can raise the price up to 26 euros, equivalent to the price of the AVE). What is clear is that it is tough competition for the 15 euro Avant services which are only more attractive if you cannot travel at another time. The proposal between Murcia and Alicante It’s clear. The train leaves this first city at 06:35 in the morning and offers a return to Murcia at 21:27. From Alicante to Murcia, the train leaves in the morning at 10:57 and offers a service to Alicante at 19:53. That is, the day will be more useful for those who travel from Murcia to Alicante and return on the same day, since there is only one train available between both cities. With transport doubts. The approval from the CNMC comes after Transport has tried to stop the process or, at least, delay it as much as possible. And the Ministry asked the organization for an economic report on the impact on Renfe’s public services. That is why the CNMC highlights in its statement that they do not observe an impact on it. What is certain is that Renfe now faces new complications in a corridor that is on the rise. They point out in The Economist that the corridor between Madrid and Alicante registered its historical passenger record in the last quarter analyzed, adding 1.29 million travelers between July and September. Now, travel between Madrid and Murcia, after passing through Alicante, has more offers than ever. a trend. Although in this case the room for maneuver is much less, it is expected that the average prices between both cities will decrease slightly. With Ouigo offering trips for nine euros between Murcia and Alicante and, above all, saving 10 minutes of travel in a stretch of less than an hour, there are not many reasons to go for more expensive options. It is a maxim that has followed Ouigo in all the corridors where he has put up a fight against Renfe. For very little, where they compete Ouigo always has the cheapest ticket price and has managed to reduce them drastically in the first months of competition. Although with time It is something that is softening and tending towards stabilitythe first step is always to lower prices. Photo | Eric Salard and Joana Hall In Xataka | Renfe is selling its AVLO for 7 euros in Andalusia: it is the new battlefield in the price war against Ouigo and Iryo

30 years ago a young Chinese man set up an ice cream stand. Now he leads an emporium with more stores than McDonald’s

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It’s hard to believe in a world dominated by big brands and multinationals, but there is a hospitality chain with more stores than McDonald’s and Starbucks that you’ve probably never heard of. His name is Mixue (Mìxuě Bīngchéng) was founded in the late 90s by a university student from Zhenghou, China, and today it is considered the largest food and beverage chain in the world. This is how it is recognized, for example, by the magazine TIMEwhich has included it in your listing of the 100 most influential companies of 2025. It is estimated that it has more than 46,000 stores spread throughout Asia, Australia, the Middle East and South America, a vast network of stores offering a menu based on ice creams, smoothies, coffees, traditional teas and bubble teas. Bigger than McDonald’s? Yes, if we talk about the number of establishments. The benefits already they are something else. While McDonald’s boasts of having more than 43,000 restaurants spread across more than a hundred countries and Starbucks managed 40,576 stores At the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, Mixue surpasses (and quite comfortably) both figures. A few months ago the magazine TIME assured that the chain has more than 45,000 spread mainly throughout mainland China, although it also operates in other regions. Do you have so many stores? Yeah. Fortune calculate which exceeds 46,000 points of sale throughout Asia, Austria, the Middle East and South America. Other sources speak of more storesraising the total network to 53,000 points selling. Beyond these dancing numbers, one thing is clear: Mixue is normally considered the food and beverage chain with a greater deployment of establishments in the world. In addition, its branch network continues to expand to good If in the West its brand is less known to us than McDonald’s or Starbucks, it is because (despite the international jump that has given in recent years) most of the Mixue stores they remain focused in China. The firm also has another handicap that helps understand its global expansion: while in the case of Starbucks more than 50% of the stores are in the hands of the company itself, in Mixue practically all They operate through franchises. What is your story? Mixue’s is the typical story of improvement and accelerated growth that gives shine to the classes of coaching business. The father of the company is Zhang Hongchao, who laid its foundation almost 30 years ago from scratch. Your story starts in 1997in Zhengzhou, when Zhang, then a university student, managed to get his grandmother to lend him 3,000 yuan ($420) to set up a small slushie and soft drink stand. Despite the challenges that were encountered along the way (and some other business failure), Zhang moved forward, managed to adapt to the changes in Zhenghou, reinvested in machinery and found the key to creating a million-dollar business. Sam Tang account that his first success came in 2006, when he launched ice creams for one yuan. In 2014, its brand already had 1,000 stores. In 2020 there were 10,000. And how has it succeeded? The big question. Mixue’s business model has several clear characteristics. The first, its commercial approach. The chain basically sells ice cream. soft servesmoothies, tea drinks and bubble teasalthough in your menu coffee and Fortune assures which in the future plans to expand its offering with beer. The other great features of your menu are the affordable priceswith ice creams for less than one euro. Other peculiarities of the company are its commitment to dominate the supply chainits commitment to a clearly identifiable brand thanks to symbols such as its mascot (Snow King) and, above all, an expansion through franchises. In a report from a few months ago the company itself recognizes that almost all of its stores (99%) are opened and operate through franchises. Mixue is responsible for supervising businesses, choosing locations, decoration and assessing the capacity of the staff. For her, the business is not so much in the fee that those stores then pay as in the equipment, merchandise and packaging that she sells to them. And the future? It doesn’t look bad. In spring the company went public in Hong Kong and managed to raise nearly 450 million of dollars, starring in one of its best premieres of the first half of 2025. The company seems willing also to get into the powerful (and disputed) US market. According to precise Fortuneduring the first half of the year the company reached a revenue volume of 2,000 million dollars (40% more than in 2024) with profits of 370 million. Despite its humble origins, its founder and his brother now manage a fortune of billions of dollars. Images | Choo Yut Shing (Flickr) 1 and 2 and Jeremy Thompson (Flickr) In Xataka | One of the biggest wine critics is French and has toured China. There is no good news for French wine

Only one game has dared to stand up to ‘Silksong’ and go on sale the same day. The result has been apocalyptic

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Among all the phenomena that have surrounded the very expected ‘Hollow Knight: Silksong‘, without a doubt, one of the most peculiar has been the delay of video games that had planned their departure on September 4. However, some irreducible competitor has remained firm before the media avalanche that knew that he was going to guide their looks exclusively to Team Cherry game. The result has been as predictable as unfair. We are used to seeing it with AAA games. When a mastodon arrives from a franchise like ‘Call of Duty’ or ‘Assassin’s Creed’, they leave a plot on the calendar: nobody wants to leave in the immediately previous or later weeks. In fact, we are already talking about seeing a phenomenon comparable to ‘GTA VI‘… and that there are still months to arrive. What is strange is to see it around An indie of 20 euros: But in this case it is not a matter of price, but of media attention. After years waiting, all its competitors knew that the news and attention of the players was going to orbit exclusively around ‘Silksong’. There is no space for others. Some games that delayed its launch. These are some of the most striking, in a phenomenon that in different forums has been known as “being silksonado”: Aeterna Lucis: It has been delayed a whole year, from September from 2025 to 2026, indicating that they will take the opportunity to polish the game. Demonschool: From September 3 to November 19, and expressly cite the launch of ‘Silksong’ as a reason. Cloverpit: From the beginning of September they go to September 26. And many more: Baby Steps, Faeland, Megabonk, Moors Protocol, Comfy Girl either Little Witch in The Woods and others have postponed their original launch date weeks or months. An exception. But there is a game that has decided to remain firm and not retire. This is another Metroidvania, such as ‘Silksong’ itself, and that comes from the hand of a video game classic, Atari. This is ‘Adventure of Samsara’, and he paid his daring expensive: while Team Cherry’s game beat records of concurrent, ‘Adventure of Samsara’ had a peak of peak Twelve simultaneous in Steam. Maybe buyers were busy with other things (playing ‘Silksong’, for example), but the equivalences of concurrent-sales players do not usually fail. Possibly Atari did not reach amounts of three figures in sales. It’s not fair. ‘Adventure of Samsara ‘is a very resulton game: it has absolutely delicious animations and a Pixel art Very worked, with that microscopic style that gives him a peculiar personality. The design of the bosses is excellent and although it does not invent anything in their development, pure coming and going by labyrinthine maps in search of improvements that allow us Shooter 2D in some action areas. A non -revolutionary game, but very defensible. Something happens with Samsara. In any case, the little attention that Atari herself has to her game is strange (which in 2021 appointed a new CEO But he has not done any relevant movement): he announced the game three months ago, he has not worried about giving him visibility in the press … Maybe they thought not to follow the current of the other games would it be promoted? It can, but … there has been no promotion. A true suicide against the colossus that has devoured all our attention in the last week. Header | Atari In Xataka | This cleaning products brand has launched the perfect promotion: a free horror survival to clean Moho Demoniaco

His name is Jules and seeks to stand up for OpenAi

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Google qualifies it as an “asynchronous programming agent”, but it is much easier to define Jules as what it is: an AI system that helps you program more and better. But it is also something else. War of “Vibe Coding “. Cursor or Windsurf have become banners of a new fever for the program assisted by AI. That of “Vibe Coding” in which you talk to do the job or ask you to self-refle the code based on pressing the tab repeatedly (“Tab-Tab-Tab”). OpenAi in fact just Buy Windsurf for 3,000 million dollarsand the reason is evident: to conquer the developer community to use their programming tool with AI and not another. And right is where Jules enters. The machines that scheduled for us. Jules was presented in December on Google Labs preliminary with one objective: not to offer only a co -pilot to program or a code self -completed tool, but an autonomous agent who reads the code, understands what he intends to do and starts working to solve the problem. Jules “sneaks up” in your repository. As his rivals, one of Jules’s keys is that he is able to integrate (“sneak”) in your code repository to be able to analyze it and help you with your project. Clona all the code in a virtual machine on Google Cloud, studies that code to understand it and from there you can perform various tasks. For example: Design execution tests Create new features Provide audio -shaped changes Correct errors Update dependencies versions An assistant in the background. Jules does all this while you focus on any other task, and when he ends up “thinking” what he has to do and presents the registration of changes (diff) made. Your code is yours. As explained in Google, Jules is private by default. Not only that: Google’s model will not make use of that code as data for your delivery, and all the data you use are kept isolated in that execution environment that is created when using this powerful tool. Integrated with github. Another of Jules’s key elements is that it works totally transparent with Github, the par excellence code repositories. You will not have to install anything extra, which will make the workflow theoretically perfect. Public beta. Google stressed that Jules is now available for all United States users in the URL Jules.google. That will allow anyone to try it for free (and without limits as long as the use is not exaggerated) during this preliminary phase of development and deployment. They are good news for developers who want to try it, including those who do not live in the United States, who can do so with the traditional solution: use a VPN to “simulate” that they are in the US and then connect to that website. In Xataka | Openai has just launched his new programming agent. The interesting thing is what you can do when nobody looks

Ten years ago, a mobile brand wanted to stand up to Apple and Samsung. That brand is Meizu, and has returned in style

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In 2003 there was a Chinese brand that began by manufacturing MP3 players. That brand was called Meizuand was founded by Jack Wong, a former Soken worker, Singapore -based audio company. Meizu ended up becoming one of the Chinese referents with their MP3. In 2006, its Meizu sales were worth more than 10,000 million yuan, becoming the first local success manufacturer in the MP3 market. The next logical jump went to the MP4 and, just three years later, he ventured with something that would change everything: mobile phones. The Meizu M8 Meizu began to focus on the creation of mobile phones in 2006, but it was not until 2009 when the market launched its first proposal: the Meizu M8. It is not necessary to mention the gagdet that I imitated, since it was quite evident. With a 3.3 -inch touch screen, resolution 720×480, bluetooth connectivity and an ARM processor, this first phone landed with Windows CE 6an operating system developed by Microsoft for consumer electronics. One of the first predecessors of Windows Phone. What had to happen happened: the Meizu M8 generated a lot of stir because it was an iPhone tracing, although the company raised that its phone came to the market before. He was not right: the iPhone appeared four days later, on January 9, 2007. The Meizu M9 With the Meizu M9presented in December 2011, the company looked at the face of Galaxy S. The new model arrived with a 960×640 resolution (the same as the Apple Display retina) and with the same processor as the processor of the Samsung Galaxy s (S5PC110) and Android 2.2 Custom with the meizu layer. It is important to highlight that these phones were only sold in China, the main market for Meizu at that time. It is easy to understand why Meizu began to look towards Android. In that same 2010, Apple started responding to Meizu. He denounced before the patent office that phones like the M8 were a tracing of his iPhone. China ended up giving the reason to Apple, and Meizu was forced to M8 sales. The MX3, MX4 and international expansion In September 2013, Meizu launched an iconic device. One that server had in his pocket. It was about Meizu MX3a phone with Flyme 3.0 (Meizu’s customization layer), Exynos processorSony cameras, screen signed by Sharp and Japan Display … It was the beginning of a stage in which Meizu began to expand internationally, and that reached a high peak with the MX4. Meizu never became a mass brand. In fact, the MX4 version that was sold in Europe (low invitation system) He arrived with Ubuntu. However, there were agreements with retail partners for distribution (Gearbest, mainly). There is no data on sales that the company achieved. In forums such as Htcmania he managed to earn the love of users, and Flymeos was one of the most different customization layers in the market. A competition that could with them Although Meizu made very good phones, there were two Chinese manufacturers taking absolutely all the cake: Huawei and Xiaomi. Meizu made no investment in marketing or post-sale, while its competition began to sign agreements with operators already have a presence throughout Europe. Meizu was reducing his collaboration with partners and, over 2017, he ended up retreating to China and emerging markets. In short, Meizu was always focused on his native country, but gave small steps to try to approach Europe without too successful and without a solid distribution network. Geely’s intervention Geely is a Chinese giant in the automotive market. Is behind Zeekr, Lynk & Co and even Volvo, and Meizu bought through one of its subsidiary companies to integrate it into its intelligent mobility ecosystem. Its founders maintain participation, but the strategic direction is in the hands of Geely. The plan: strengthen its technology division for vehicles, with systems such as Flyme Autothe interface that gives life to Lynk & Co. Geely cars found in Meizu a key ally in software, and Meizu obtained a new business course and resources under the umbrella of a giant in growth and expansion. The return Globalization It is the word that Meizu wanted to highlight in the presentation of its new products. Specifically, the company has just made five phones officers, new VR glasses and an intelligent ring. Namely: Meizu Mblu 22 Meizu Mblu 22 Pro Meizu Note 22 Meizu Note 22 5g Meizu Note 22 Pro 5g Meizu Starv View Meizu Starv Ring 2 The company has presumed to be expanding for more than 30 countries, including Spain. It is the most important launch in its last years, one in which Meizu’s reentry in the international market marks. Meizu is going to focus on input and medium -end mobiles. The crown jewel is the meizu note 22 pro 5ga telephone with IP68 water resistance, 6,200MAH battery with fast charging of 80W, Snapdragon 7s Gen 3, 1.5K screen with 4,500 nits and main camera of 50 megapixels. Its price will be around $ 299 to 369. Regarding the rest of the models, they have more humble specifications (such as MediaTak Helio G99) and prices that are around $ 200. A product-centered strategy affordable with simple specs to conquer the market in quality-quality. You can consult The Specs of each of them on their website. Even more striking are the Starv View, their glasses with a 188 -inch projector. They have speaker system, weigh only 74 grams, they come with Flyme XR 2.0 (Android based on the Meizu layer), 700 brightness nits and Full HD+ resolution for each eye. Meizu now has two challenges. The first is to make your distribution system as powerful as that of its rivals: operators, Amazon and main Spanish distributors. The second, achieve a convincing product marketing. The brand is an absolute unknown in Spain, but has the opportunity to conquer by quality-price. Image | Meizu In Xataka | The smartphones that failed in Kickstarter show that some concepts are as original as useless

The huge ZTE stand in the MWC is a reminder that it is still alive under the radar. And it is also a message: they will return

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This is my fifth time in the Mobile World Congress. The first four were between 2013 and 2016, and from all those editions I remember the imposing Zte stand well. They didn’t have then an especially relevant market share or a reputation that will justify so much space (At that time I dedicated myself to trying mobiles and I took a 3 a zte, the lowest note I have ever put), but its staging suggested otherwise. ZTEs set up show. Of the good, with thunderous music and a generous free bar of life -threw canapés for journalists in trouble, and also of the Chungo, resorting to hostesses with attire that made eyebrows arise even in an environment as little progressive as a global technological congress. His strategy seemed clear: to be noticed as it was. Nine years after my last MWC I have returned to the fair, and there is still Zte, with a stand As big as then. But something has changed, in addition to the fact that they already dress more elegant to their hostesses: the manufacturer has vanished from the Spanish market. Their phones no longer occupy space in the lines of the stores, they do not appear in any sales ranking and It is virtually impossible to cross one on the street. What has been of that Chinese giant who tried to conquer the West? Where has Zte got while we didn’t look? The perfect storm To understand the apparent disappearance of ZTE of the European panorama, it is necessary to go back to 2018, the year in which This manufacturer suffered an existential crisis. He Department of Commerce From the United States, he imposed a veto for the sale of US components to ZTE for seven years for violating a prior agreement related to sanctions to Iran and North Korea. The measure was devastating: Zte depended completely on Qualcomm chips and Google software among other American technologies. The company literally stopped its operations for three months, until it agreed to pay a fine of 1,000 million dollars, change its entire directive dome and submit to the supervision of an external committee designated by the US. It was a blow that never recovered completely in western marketsespecially because it coincided with the beginning of the commercial war between China and the United States. Touched and sunk. Unlike Huawei, which Betterly resisted geopolitical attacks, Zte was more vulnerable. With less resources and a much weaker brand positioning, they opted for a strategic withdrawal of the markets in which their profitability was compromised. A silent strategy The surprising thing is not that ZTE has disappeared – he has not done it – but that he has reconfigured his business completely … without making noise. He has pivoted from a global conquest strategy to a more selective and pragmatic approach: Geographical concentration. ZTE has reinforced his presence in markets where he had competitive advantages or privileged relationships: China, of course, but also Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East, Africa and some areas of Latin America. Focus change. Their smartphones were the most visible for the final consumer, but only represented one third of their income. The true ZTE nucleus was always the telecommunications infrastructure equipment, a much less visible but much more profitable B2B business. 5G specialization. ZTE has become one of the main world suppliers of equipment for 5G networks, competing directly with Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia. According to data from Dell’oro GroupZTE maintains approximately 10% of the global 5G infrastructure market. Zte not only survived the storm, but has grown, but otherwise different from the previous one. His income in 2024 was about 16,000 million euros. Far from the figures of the greats, but also far from the ghosts of bankruptcy. Invisible markets ZTE’s commercial map today is curious. They have opted strong for countries that do not usually appear in Western technological headlines: Mass bathroom of ZTE managers after announcing an agreement with the largest Turkish telecus. Another somewhat alien market for the western radar. Image: Xataka. This presence in “invisible markets” for Western radar Add contracts that are worth a lot of money although they impose so much on their Newsroom. While Europe and North America have progressively restricted the access of Chinese manufacturers to their critical networksthese other territories have received with open arms to the affordable alternatives to traditional suppliers. A silent industrial revolution Maybe ZTE’s most interesting turn has been towards industrial digitalization. Has developed solutions for “smart factories”digital mining, autonomous ports and intelligent energy networks. This market, much less sexy than that of smartphones but much more profitable for a brand like yours, has allowed Zte to grow under the average consumer radar. It is the silent metamorphosis of a manufacturer of Gadgets to an industrial technological provider. Contrary to what it may seem to us from Spain, ZTE continues to manufacture mobile. It maintains several product lines, including some names that are still familiar to us, such as the Axon series of high -end and the mid -range blade. They are sold mainly in China and emerging markets, where Google’s absence is a minor barrier. The intersection between telephony and gaming remains a constant in ZTE. Image: Xataka. It also maintains Nubia, a more innovation and design oriented submarket. The clouds Z50 and Redmagic 8 Pro (The latter focused on Gaming) They have had some reception in Asia, although they go completely unnoticed in Europe. At this fair his asset has been to announce A fairly reasonable folding for less than 1,000 eurosin addition to Hold the commitment to telephony Gamer. It is a calculated movement: they do not aspire to master the market, but to occupy specific niches where the benefits/price ratio can make them competitive. In product positioning, and in regional availability. ZTE’s strategy with his smartphones is clear: Do not compete where you can’t win. Why invest in marketing and distribution channels in Spain, where getting a 1% market share would cost millions, when that same … Read more

Novo Energy wanted to stand up to Chinese batteries for electric cars. It has ended in the hands of a Chinese company

by

Point and apart for the soap opera of the Great European hope In the battery segment for electric cars. In the European assault on electric car industryVolvo and the Northvolt battery manufacturer founded Novo Energy. Both were Swedish and it was a Join Venture with the aim of producing batteries in Europe. It seemed that everything was going to be A ROSA pathbut a few years later and after thousands of layoffsNorthvolt sell His participation in Novo Energy A Volvo. And behind Volvo is Geelyan important Chinese holding. Culebrón. Things stopped going well for Northvolt practically from the beginning. During the first years, the European Investment Bank, BMW, Goldman Sachs or Volkswagen invested sums of hundreds of millions of euros in the company. The Swedish company, founded by two Exegutive of Tesla, became the great European promise to create batteries and be the heart of that European flying towards the electric car. In a market increasingly controlled by ChinaIt seemed like a great idea and everything pointed in good sense. In addition, together with Volvo they founded Novo Energy in 2021 to produce the batteries of both Volvo and Polestar. However, things began to twist in 2023, when it was uncovered that the company had been operating with losses of 1,000 million dollars during the first nine months of the year. And, in 2024, the situation exploded. Last nail in the coffin. Everything happened very fast. After the delays in the delivery dates, BMW canceled its agreement of 2,000 million euros, there were a series of employee deaths in work shifts, fired more than 1,600 workers in September and, shortly after, the bankruptcy arrived. In November 2024, Northvolt requested bankruptcy protectionarguing that they had 30 million in cash and, with them, they could only operate for a week. The hole they had was 5.8 billion dollars. A skinny dog, everything is fleas, and a day later one of the founders resigned, arguing that the company would need 1.2 billion dollars to save itself. After a few days of 2025 in which the company was still looking for financing, something that nobody seemed willing to do, sales arrived. It was even rumored that Catl, the main Chinese rival in battery manufacturing, I could give a hand. Volvo. After getting rid of some services, this January 29 we learned that the Swedish company sold its participation in Novo Energy to its partner in this adventure, Volvo. It is something that does not catch by surprise, since, as with BMW, Volvo saw that Northvolt’s delivery plans were not being fulfilled and in October last year he showed his interest in acquiring participation in Novo. Last week, Novo Energy advertisement which had to reduce its workforce by 30% due to “the changing market conditions and a modified business plan”. Northvolt wants to reduce everything possible and focus on its Swedish plant, but they have also signed an agreement with Volvo to explore joint collaboration paths in the future, so everything is not lost. China looks out to Europe. Therefore, Volvo will now be the one Novo Energy, we will see if alone or with partners, but the interesting thing about this operation is that, although Volvo is a Swedish company that is in the bag of his country, the matrix is ​​Geely, A Chinese holding. They are present in multitude of companies and sectors, with an important participation in Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin or Lotus, as well as co-owners of smart, polestar and with a participation of more than 80% in Volvo. It is curious that Northvolt was born to stand up to the Chinese battery industry and that the Join Adventure That I had with Volvo to produce batteries in Europe, now, is controlled by a Chinese company, in the absence of seeing the resolution of the authorities. And all this, shortly after Tariffs imposed by Europe To the Chinese electric car. In Xataka | Catl’s investment in Spain is not accidental: China is punishing those who supported tariffs on their electric cars

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