Tech

Five of MediaMarkt’s best tech deals today, January 10

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MediaMarkt is about to end its two campaigns, The January Slope and LG Days, which end on January 11 at 9:00 a.m. Until then, we can take advantage of the numerous offers we can find in technology. Therefore, in this article we are going to review five of the best deals that are still available. Lenovo LOQ 15ARP9 by 799 eurosa gaming laptop with 24 GB of RAM. LG OLED55B56LA by 791.10 euros When registering in the store, an excellent OLED television with a very reasonable price. Google Pixel 9 by 499 eurosan ideal mobile phone for those who prioritize the photography section. TP-Link Tapo P100 Mini by 9.99 eurosan excellent accessory to turn devices on and off from your mobile. Google Pixel 9a by 449 eurosa Google mobile with 256 GB of storage. Lenovo LOQ 15ARP9 You don’t have to spend a fortune to have a gaming laptop with which you can play practically all video games, even if it’s not in a high resolution. He Lenovo LOQ 15ARP9 right now it costs 799 euros and comes with a 15.6-inch display, AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS processor along with 24GB RAM and 512 GB of SSD and a graphics card RTX 4050. Additionally, it includes Windows 11 Home. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links LG OLED55B56LA The same thing happens with televisions, which 791.10 euros We can find a very decent model with OLED panel technology at MediaMarkt. We talk about LG OLED55B56LAa TV with a 55-inch screen that offers a 120 Hz refresh rate, 4K resolution, compatibility with Filmmaker Mode and with Dolby Vision and Dolby Digital. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 9 If what we are looking for is a good mobile to take photosthat will be updated for many years—in this case until 2031—and that has a good screen and good audio sectionhe Google Pixel 9 Right now it is discounted by 499 euros. It is also a fairly compact phone that incorporates a 6.3-inch panel and has a very elegant design. Of course, it only has 128 GB of storage. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links TP-Link Tapo P100 Mini He TP-Link Tapo P100 Mini It is a very practical accessory when taking the first steps to build a smart home network. By 9.99 eurosallows you to turn connected devices on and off whether we are at home or away through its app. Also compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant. Personally, I use it to turn on and off lamps or power strips where I have many outlets occupied, for greater security at night. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 9a If the 128 GB of internal storage falls short on the previous Google mobile, for 50 euros less we find a good offer on the Google Pixel 9awhich in this case remains 449 euros. Comes with 256GB storageits photographic section offers very attractive results and its brightness on the screen allows you to view content outdoors without any problem. 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 | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header), Lenovo, LG, Google, TP-Link In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best gaming laptops in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

Agentic AI was the new race for Big Tech and Meta was far behind. It has bought the company most capable of recovering

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Meta has closed the purchase of manusa Singapore-based artificial intelligence startup, for more than $2 billion. Throughout this year, Meta has reinforced its AI operations by acquiring several companies focused on different specialties. In July bought Play AIfocused on voice with AI. In August acquired WaveFormsan audio-focused startup. And in September was done with Rivosa company specialized in the design of semiconductors and RISC-V chips. Manus’s is already the fourth major purchase this year, and it is his hope not to be diluted in the race to dominate AI when all this time he has focused his efforts on Llama and his open weights approach. Why it is important. The Agentic AI (agents capable of performing complex tasks with minimal human supervision) has long become the new battlefield for big technology companies. Although companies like Microsoft or OpenAI had sufficient resources to develop in this field, Meta needed to strengthen its position in this segment if it did not want to be left behind. Manus came to reach 100 million dollars in annual recurring revenue just eight months after its launch, which offers Meta a product that generates money right away, something not very common in this sector. What does Manus do? The startup rose to fame in March with a video demo that went viral, showing how its AI agent was able to produce detailed research reports, build custom web pages, filter job candidates, plan vacations, and analyze investment portfolios. All using AI models developed by companies such as Anthropic and Alibaba. At the time, Manus even claimed to surpass OpenAI’s Deep Research. Currently, the company has around 100 employees, mainly in Singapore, offers subscriptions of $20 to $200 per month and already has a user base of millions. Initial success. Manus emerged a few months after the debut of DeepSeekthe Chinese model that shook the foundations of the industry due to its capabilities supposedly developed with less computing power than its American rivals. Just like account WSJ, the startup secured a $75 million funding round led by Benchmark in April, which valued the company at $500 million. Among its investors are firms such as Tencent, ZhenFund or HSG. Untying ties in China. The parent company behind Manus, Butterfly Effect, was founded in 2022 in Beijing by two Chinese entrepreneurs, including its CEO Xiao Hong, known as ‘Red’. Although most of its researchers and engineers were located in China, Manus launched outside the country because it used American AI models that are not available there. Shortly after securing its investment with Benchmark, the company officially moved its headquarters to Singapore. According to account WSJ, Manus has ruled out developing a version for the Chinese market. Goal declared to Nikkei Asia that, following the acquisition, Manus will have no ties to Chinese investors and will no longer operate in China. All existing investors have been excluded from the operation, according to they count from Bloomberg. What’s coming now? Meta plans to keep Manus running independently while integrating its agents into Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, platforms where Meta AI is available. According to WSJManus CEO Xiao Hong will report directly to Javier Olivan, Meta’s chief operating officer. “Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” Xiao stated in the official announcement. No return guarantees. Mark Zuckerberg continues his mission to prove that AI can deliver tangible returns. Goal plans to spend $600 billion in American infrastructure over the next three years, much of it related to AI. Just like assures Bloomberg, it is an amount that causes some skepticism in some investors, since there are no guarantees that this expense will generate significant income soon. Cover image | TechCrunch In Xataka | NVIDIA has paid $20 billion to “license” Groq’s technology. He actually bought it

MediaMarkt’s five best tech and entertainment deals today, December 21

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There’s nothing left until Christmas, so the current campaigns of stores like MediaMarkt will end very soon. But it’s still early, so we can take advantage of the many discounts that are still available. In this article we are going to review the five best deals on technology and entertainment that are now available at MediaMarkt. nintendo switch 2 by 469 eurosa very reasonable price for the pack that comes with ‘Mario Kart World’. Asus Rog Xbox Ally by 499 eurosan offer on the new established Asus PC. Google Pixel 10 Pro by 764.15 euros with coupon, a high-end mobile phone that has double discounts. Kobo Clara Color by 149 eurosan eReader with a color screen that is ideal for devouring books. Fire TV Stick 4K Plus by 29.99 euroshe dongle from Amazon that offers 4K resolution. nintendo switch 2 The nintendo switch 2 It was launched this year and we have already seen a huge number of offers. The current one from MediaMarkt is quite interesting because for 469 euros We are talking about the same official price as the console without the game. In this case, it includes ‘Mario Kart World‘, a very fun title to play alone or with friends. Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Asus Rog Xbox Ally A little over two months ago, the new established Asus PC arrived, the model Asus Rog Xbox Ally. It did not take long for the price to drop in many stores, since, for example, MediaMarkt considers it 499 euros instead of 599 euros. Among the highlights, it is worth mentioning that it comes with the Ryzen Z2 processor, incorporates a 7-inch IPS screen with anti-reflective treatment and has 512 GB of internal storage. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 Pro Almost all Google phones have dropped in price many times in recent months and MediaMarkt right now has one of the best offers we have seen to date. Through direct discount and entering the coupon “MM15GOOGLEPIXEL“, you can buy the Google Pixel 10 Pro by 764.15 euros. However, it is worth mentioning that this coupon is valid with all Google Pixel 10 and its storage configuration variants. These are the prices on base models (with the smallest storage capacity): Google Pixel 10 by 594.15 euros instead of 769 euros. Google Pixel 10 Pro by 764.15 euros instead of 1,079 euros. Google Pixel 10 Pro XL by 883.15 euros instead of 1,199 euros. Google Pixel 10 Pro (128GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kobo Clara Color If you like to devour books and want to make the leap to digital format, MediaMarkt right now has a discount on the Kobo Clara Color by 149 eurosalthough Fnac has it a little cheaper: for 129.99 euros. It is an eReader with 6-inch color anti-glare screen which is ideal for reading at home or on the go. It’s not so much geared toward reading comics or magazines, but rather for enjoy the covers and color illustrations or to underline dialogues with different colors and thus differentiate them from, for example, characters. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Fire TV Stick 4K Plus MediaMarkt also has on offer the Fire TV Stick 4Ka dongle from Amazon that is perfect for watching streaming content on almost any TV that at least has an HDMI port, whether it’s an older TV or a smart tv (if we want to have another operating system or if the software is not updated). The most notable thing about this model is that it offers good performance and is compatible with 4K content and technologies. Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Its price in this case is 29.99 euros. 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 | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header), Nintendo, Asus, Google, Rakuten Kobo, Amazon In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2025), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best Amazon Fire TV. Which one to buy and recommended models to convert your TV into a smart TV depending on use

All tech companies are putting AI in all their products. The problem is that nobody wants them

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It’s been a year and a half and it seems like 10 have passed. In May 2024, Microsoft announced the launching Windows Recallan artificial intelligence option that allowed us to remember and recover things we had done on our PC. It seemed like an interesting idea, but soon he was criticized his approach to privacy and security and the company had to delay it and then relaunch it without making too much noise. That was one of those AI features that promised to transform our PC experience, but three years after the launch of ChatGPT, one thing is certain: AI has not meant no revolution. Not at least on the PC, we insist. Microsoft, of course, has not stopped adding more and more AI functions to Windows 11. We have co-pilots and theoretically revolutionary functions to bore, and that obsession with putting AI even in the soup has been demonstrated with the legendary Notepadwhich has gone from being a minimalist app to one that is losing focus. Microsoft’s reasons are legitimate: they have invested a real fortune in AI and they will want to take advantage of it. Surely the intention was good (at least, in part) when it came to offering new ways of working and enjoying our PC. The problem is that good intentions have caused just the opposite of what Microsoft intended. Instead of us wanting to use Windows 11 more and more, is making us want to use it less and less. We have seen it with renewed interest for some Linux distributionsbut also with the appearance of an app that is exclusively dedicated to eradicating Windows 11 any trace of AI functions. AI fatigue The same thing is happening with AI browsers. Comet, Day and Atlas They are two striking proposals for this integration of AI functions, but neither of them seems to have caught on, and Microsoft Edge – which of course has integrated Copilot – has not proposed any change in trend either: the browsers we want to use, at least for the moment, continue to be the traditional ones, without AI. And there is the key. In what We users have not asked for so much AI. That is precisely the great criticism of these industry efforts to boast that their products have AI. Those two magic letters no longer get expectations. What they are starting to get is rejection. Firefox is the latest example. Mozilla has just appointed a new CEO, and in its first public statement it pointed out its intention to transform Firefox into a product in which AI was the central axis. The users of this browser – and I count myself among them – are not at all clear, and the unified response message has been clear: “Firefox does not need AI, but rather listen to its users“. What has happened and is happening with Windows 11 and Firefox shows that we are entering a new stage in which AI no longer excites, but rather fatigues. It’s everywhere: The list is of course much longer, and in many cases there is another added problem: that AI is the excuse to raise prices. Microsoft is here again a notable example with Microsoft 365but we have also seen it in Adobe, which He raised the price to his customers right off the bat because now they could enjoy an AI that they had not asked for. It’s happening everywhere because the promised AI revolution still hasn’t happened. There are, of course, areas in which it has proven to be transformative—programming is the clear case—but in many others that acronym has lost its meaning. The industry’s commitment to making this work is logical: companies have invested hundreds of billions of dollars invested with the idea that this was going to explode… and so far it hasn’t. But they continue to fill everything with AI. And as often happens, that’s the bad thing. It tires you a lot…And if we haven’t asked for it, even more so. In Xataka | Adobe has presented itself as the champion of copyright in the AI ​​era. Now we know that maybe not so much

Big Tech is turning India into the new darling of its AI expansion

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Microsoft just announced an investment of $17.5 billion in India over the next four years, the technology giant’s largest in Asia. amazon has followed in his footsteps with 35,000 million dollars until 2030. Google already had announced 15,000 million for the same period. The big tech companies They are turning to the Asian subcontinent like never before, and it makes all the sense in the world. Why India has become irresistible. The Asian country brings together three characteristics that make it a strategic target for technology companies: a population of more than 1.4 billion inhabitants with growing access to the internet and smartphones, infrastructure costs significantly lower than in other Asian markets such as Japan or Singapore, and a government that actively promotes digital transformation. According to Ericsson dataan active smartphone in India consumes an average of 36 GB per month, 44% more than in North America and 71% more than the global average. Additionally, the country’s data center capacity has increased 2.5-fold since 2021, reaching 1.5 gigawatts. The perfect time for investments. The race for artificial intelligence has accelerated this trend. Microsoft plans to open its largest cloud region in India, located in Hyderabad, by mid-2026. The company will also expand its three existing data center regions in Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. For its part, Google will build an AI hub in Visakhapatnam which will include data centres, power sources and fiber optic networks. These investments seek to stay ahead of the competition in a market where demand for cloud services and AI tools is growing rapidly among companies, startups, and government agencies. Beyond data centers. Investments are not limited to physical infrastructure. Microsoft has committed to train 20 million workers from this country in AI skills by 2030, doubling its initial goal. The company claims to have already trained 5.6 million people since January 2025. Amazon, for its part, claims to have digitized to more than 12 million small businesses and enabled $20 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports. Both companies are integrating their technologies into the Indian government’s digital public platforms, such as the e-Shram and National Career Service systems, which serve more than 310 million uncontracted workers. The battle for digital sovereignty. A key element of this strategy is the proposal of “sovereign” solutions. Microsoft has launched its Sovereign Public Cloud and Sovereign Private Cloud specifically for customers in India, allowing data and workloads to remain within the country’s borders. As the company announced, Microsoft 365 Copilot will process data within India by the end of 2025, making the country one of the first four global markets to receive this capability. “This investment signals India’s rise as a reliable technology partner for the world,” counted Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology. There are challenges. Despite investment enthusiasm, India presents significant obstacles. Irregular power supply, high energy costs and water shortages in several regions complicate the expansion of resource-intensive data centers. These factors could slow the deployment of AI infrastructure and raise operating expenses for cloud providers. However, New Delhi is deploying incentives for AI and semiconductor projects, it has relaxed some regulatory requirements and fosters alliances with telecommunications operators and local technology companies to continue adding value to the global AI race, from local territory. Capacity or mass consumerism. The interesting thing would be to know if India will obtain real technological capacity of its own in the face of so much investment or if it will simply consolidate itself as another consumer market for Big Tech. The government has approved semiconductor projects worth more than $18 billion under its India Semiconductor Mission, seeking to reduce dependence on imported chips. “India is becoming a hot spot for technology investments,” pointed out Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities. It remains to be seen what all this materializes into. Cover image | İsmail Enes Ayhan and Naveed Ahmed In Xataka | Steve Jobs hated obedient teams: he paid his managers to contradict him, not to obey him

We criticize the EU a lot with its obsession with regulating Big Tech. There are at least two examples that justify this obsession

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The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the AI Law They are two of the great exponents of something that the European Union is highly criticized for: his regulatory obsession. It is true that these regulations restrict companies and can slow down European innovation – this has happened with AI – but these worrying side effects are accompanied by others that are much more welcome. Especially because this regulation has made the world a little more interoperable. There are two great examples of this. First example: USB-C. The adoption of the USB-C connector as the mandatory Being able to charge mobile devices and other hardware products is undoubtedly positive for users. Although the standard has its own problemsits use as a universal connector has avoided the use of proprietary connectors that made interoperability difficult and caused greater problems for the environment in the form of electronic waste. Second example: Universal AirDrop. We have also recently seen how Google offered support on the Pixel 10 to be able to transfer data to an iPhone or iPad thanks to AirDrop support in QuickShare. That support will be extended to other Android phones soon, and that improves interoperability between both platforms. From now on it will be much easier to transfer photos directly from mobile to mobile (be it iPhone or Android) wirelessly, and there we have to thank the European Unionwhich forced Apple to modify the way AirDrop works to comply with the DMA. And there is still more. These efforts to improve interoperability will soon be even more rewarded. Google and Apple have announced their collaboration in making portability between different platforms much easier. Thus, changing from an Android mobile to an iPhone or vice versa it’s going to be easier thanks to the efforts that both companies are making. Why have they made that decision? Again, due to the “regulatory obsession” of the EU. The EU sticks out its chest. Euroregulators in fact celebrated this decision by Google and Apple these days, and affirm that the renewed interoperability “is an example of how the Digital Markets Act (DMA) offers benefits to both users and developers.” That same regulation was what allowed iOS 26 to add support to transfer an eSIM to and from an Android mobile, for example. The EU against (almost) everyone. The EU’s regulatory obsession may often be criticized, but the truth is that it is the great reference when it comes to confronting the unlimited ambition of Big Tech. It has done so in the past with the RGPD or with the DSA and the DMAand now with the AI ​​Law. In all of them the ultimate goal is normally reasonable, although it often happens that the regulation ends up being exaggerated or, as with AI, comes too soon. The last chapter of obsession. European regulators suspect that Google is using content from news publishers and other creators to train their generative AI without permission and without offering compensation. These practices may constitute an abuse of Google’s dominant position in the market, which would negatively affect both competition and content publishers themselves. This research also affects “AI Overviews,” which extract and summarize information from other websites, potentially reducing traffic to those original sources. Brussels Effect. The application of these regulations in a market like the European one causes the so-called “Brussels effect”. For large technology companies such as Apple or Google, it is more efficient and profitable to adopt a single standard for all their products worldwide than to design specific versions only for the European market. Thus, this obsession not only benefits us European citizens (when it does), but also ends up becoming the de facto standard worldwide, as has happened with the USB-C connector. This regulation ends up becoming a powerful engine of global change. It is not perfect by any means, and we are seeing it with the AI ​​Law or the cookie nightmare, but even in those cases the EU seems to have realized and is trying to change things. The challenge of the AI ​​Law. If the DMA pursues interoperability, the AI ​​Law seeks transparency and compensation to prevent these monopolies from consolidating in this era of generative AI. The investigation into Google is not only a defense of copyright, but a preventive measure against competition. Meanwhile, the US and China seem turn a blind eye and we have even seen how the leaders of big technology companies They ask that copyright laws not be applied arguing the famous “fair use” of those contents that have little de jusot, at least for content providers. In Xataka | All the big AIs have ignored copyright laws. The amazing thing is that there are still no consequences

eight original tech (and non-tech) gifts to advance Christmas shopping

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There is very little left until the arrival of Christmas, so it is a good time to buy gifts. If this year you have to give a good gift, in this article we are going to review eight original ideas of tech and entertainment with which you can hit the nail on the head. Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite by 53.99 eurosa TV accessory with which to have a very different experience when watching movies and series. Ember 2 by 148.95 eurosa smart cup with temperature control. Sofa strip pro 34.43 eurosa power strip with several sockets. OutIn Nano by 119.99 eurosa portable coffee maker to make coffee anywhere. Rocketbook Core by 30.64 eurosa reusable notebook in A5 size. Playmobil from ‘The Fantastic Car’ by 59.97 eurosincludes three figures and lights and sounds. LEGO from ‘Home Alone’ by 299.99 eurosa set with many traps hidden inside. Donkey Kong Game & Watch by 125 eurosa second-hand console of the iconic character. Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite Philips Ambilight technology can offer a very different experience when watching movies and series, which is why some brands have tried to get closer to it through their devices. He Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite It is a pack that includes a strip of LED lights that is placed behind the television and a camera that captures the colors of the TV to reproduce them on the LED strip. It can be found for different prices depending on the size of the television: Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite for TVs 32 inches by 42.49 euros. Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite for TVs 40 – 50 inches by 45.49 euros. Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite for TVs 55 – 65 inches by 53.99 euros. Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite for TVs 75 – 65 inches by 72.99 euros. Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Ember 2 The Ember 2 It is a curious smart cup that is capable of maintaining the temperature for a long time. Costs 148.95 eurosYeah; but it is very interesting for everything it offers: up to 90 minutes of constant heat (from 50 to 62.5 ºC) and is capable of maintaining the temperature. In addition, it can be paired to the mobile phone through the app to set the ideal temperature, personalize the settings or receive notifications. Of course, it can only be washed by hand. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Sofa strip Not everyone has an electrical outlet next to the sofa, so a good power strip can be very useful. The one of Brennenstuhl Not only is it beautiful thanks to its textile surface, but it can be placed on the sofa and has a good price of 34.43 euros. Furthermore, it incorporates two USB-A ports and an electrical outlet (European) and includes a three-meter long cable. Brennenstuhl power strip The price could vary. We earn commission from these links OutIn Nano For the most coffee lovers, on Amazon we can find the OutIn Nanoa portable coffee maker with which you can prepare coffee anywhere. By 119.99 euroswe are talking about a travel coffee maker that weighs only 670 grams and that, according to the brand, is capable of preparing coffee in 200 seconds. On the other hand, it incorporates a battery, it can be recharged in the car through a USB port and You can prepare ground coffee or capsules. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Rocketbook Core Beyond traditional notebooks, there are some very practical smart notebooks. He Rocketbook Corefor example, has a price of 30.64 euros and it is reusable, so using the erasable gel pen that is included we can erase what we have written to continue writing. Through your app we can send the written pages and view them on the mobileits cover is waterproof and the pages are A5 in size. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Playmobil from The Fantastic Car Playmobil has a good catalog of sets based on movies or series and the ‘The fantastic car It is now on sale for 59.97 euros. Includes lights and sounds, plus three character figures Michael Knight, Devon Miles and Bonnie Barstow. In addition, it is also worth mentioning that it comes with scenery in case we want to display it. Playmobil The Fantastic Car The price could vary. We earn commission from these links LEGO Home Alone Now that Christmas is coming it’s a good time to watch some movies like ‘Home Alone’. And what better than to do it together with him Home Alone LEGO set. Its price in the official store is 299.99 eurosconsists of 3,955 pieces, comes with five minifigures and can be opened to see the many traps inside. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Game & Watch If you want a good dose of nostalgia, be careful because on eBay we can find the Donkey Kong Game & Watch by 125 euros. It is expensive and not new (used, works and sold by TodoConsolas), but it is one of the few ways that can currently be purchased. It can be folded and has a similar format to the Nintendo DS. If you are interested, you can also find the Green House Game & Watch for a price of 135 euros. This is also a used console which, as mentioned in the store, may show signs of use. Nintendo Game & Watch Donkey Kong 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. Image | Govee, Ember, Brennenstuhl, OutIn, Rocketbook, Playmobil, LEGO, Nintendo In Xataka | Capsules, automatic or manual. The best coffee makers according to your tastes and needs In Xataka | Ambilight technology and alternatives: buying guide for LED systems to create ambient lighting on the … Read more

China continues to draw up five-year plans in the old communist way. Objective: tech self-sufficiency

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Let’s talk about five-year plans. Alexei Grigorievich Stakhanov She had no idea, but her exaggerated productivity ended up messing her up. In 1927 he began working in the Tsentrálnaya-Írmino mine and realized that he was good at it. In fact, he was much better at it than the others. In August 1935 smashed the record of mine productivity and extracted 102 tons of coal (14 times its quota) in five hours and 45 minutes. Days later he crushed it again and extracted 227 tons. He became a hero to socialist workers—in addition to appearing on the cover of Time magazine—and from that was derived the stakhanovismwhich advocated the increase in labor productivity based on the workers’ own initiative. That didn’t matter to Stalin: the Soviet Union was already completely immersed in its second five-year plan with a clear objective: the frenetic industrialization of the country based, of course, on trying to convert all workers into new Stakhanovs. And from those five-year plans we ended up moving on to others. China signs up for the five-year period That idea of ​​five-year plans ended up being used by China, which began to apply them in 1953 – with the help of the former Soviet Union – and has maintained them until now. In fact, the Asian giant has debated these days what will be your 15th Five Year Plan and the focus is clear: technological self-sufficiency. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China published on Thursday a statement in which he made it clear. Its objective was to “greatly increase” the self-dependence capacityand in that plan there are clear fronts for the medium-term future of the Asian giant: Promote R&D in critical technologies such as semiconductors, robotics, high-performance computing and, of course, artificial intelligence. Build a “modern industrial system“that allows reduce dependency of foreign components, equipment and knowledge. Promote the domestic market as a pillar of growth and reduce exposure to possible impacts of the export model Integrate technological development with national security: self-sufficiency not only makes economic sense, but also geopolitical sense. This five-year plan is clearly a consequence of the times we live in: the trade war with the US that it started years ago has marked the apparent end (at least partial) of globalizationand now both are looking for the same thing: not depend on others. China’s new five-year plan goes precisely in that direction, and has a clear impact both for that country and for the rest of the world. On the one hand, greater state investment in strategic sectors and greater interventionism are proposed (Hello Mr. Trump). On the other hand, this move may reduce Chinese demand for foreign technology, exacerbating technological rivalry with the US but perhaps opening new opportunities for collaboration with other countries. If successful, China’s five-year plan can stabilize growth in the face of potential external threats, but if self-reliance is prioritized too much, international openness and competition could be neglected, which could slow innovation or lead to less efficient companies. Source: Bloomberg And there is another problem: as they point out on BloombergChina is the great world exporterprecisely because their internal consumption is insufficient: they produce much more than they need. The contribution of exports to the country’s GDP is getting biggerbut consumption has stagnated or falls. All the details of the final five-year plan will be published in March, and will intensify the focus on everything related to the technological field. This effort, which began after that first veto of the Trump administration on Huaweiseems to be bearing promising fruits for China, which is becoming in an overwhelming machine of technological innovation. That pace will not slow down. Alexei Grigorievich Stakhanov would probably be proud. Image | Chinese Communist Party In Xataka | Spain has an antidote to mental and emotional exhaustion: the nap

Big tech companies are fleeing China like the plague. Their future depends on it

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The growing tension between China and the United States is causing a stampede among big technology companies. Apple already made a move at the beginning of the year and now Microsoft and Amazon follow. They are not the first companies that They move from China to manufacture in other Asian countriesbut this migration is different as they are trying to eliminate China from the entire supply chain down to the smallest component level. What is happening. They count in Nikkei Asia that Microsoft wants to manufacture most of its products outside of China and has set a limit of 2026. This movement would affect the production of Microsoft Surfaces and especially data centers, since it is a much more sensitive product. In fact, they have already managed to move a large part of the production of server components because it is a more sensitive product, but their goal is for at least 80% of the components to come from outside China. They also want to move some Xbox production out of China, although in this case they are not being as strict. Why is it important. This move by Microsoft consolidates the trend of big technology companies moving towards independent supply chains from China. It is not a question of patriotism, it is an attempt to ensure their survival and minimize risks derived from the increasingly tense trade warsuch as interruptions in supply and price increases. Besides, in the middle of the AI ​​raceindependence becomes even more necessary. Something has changed. As we said, this is not the first time that technology companies have tried to become independent from China. The improvement in working conditions has made it not so cheap to produce there (although have found ways to retain manufacturing), so its status as the “factory of the world” has been lost in favor of other Southeast Asian countries. However, this time it is a broad movement that covers everything from assembly to materials and components such as PCBs, connectors, cables and fibers. The challenge. Moving the assembly is the easy part, but moving the entire production to the last component is a huge challenge. The date that Microsoft has set does not seem very realistic, especially considering that we are talking about a large production volume. According to Omdiadistribute about 4 million Surfaces per year. amazon. AWS is also moving towards ‘non-Chinese’ production for its AI data centers. They were considering reducing the presence of SYE, their printed circuit board supplier, but realized that it was not so easy to replace them. They are companies with which they have a relationship for decades and offer good prices, as well as quality and great production capacity. Google. Those in Mountain View are also embarking on a similar path. According to Nikkei, they are asking their suppliers to expand server production in Thailand. At the end of 2024 we learned that They planned to invest 1 billion dollars and it seems to have paid off because they have managed to double their production capacity with four new facilities. Image | Flickredited In Xataka | The problem is not that Europe has “expropriated” Nexperia from a Chinese company: it is that it approved its sale just a year ago

Big Tech are already dedicating up to 70% of their ebitda to AI. The same figures prior to the outbreak of the points

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The most powerful technology companies are immersed in A frantic career for mastering artificial intelligence. Therefore, the investment in infrastructure and technology that allows them to advance in that race is crucial. From its operational benefits a very high percentage is destined in the construction of data centers, buy chips, expand your computational capacity and the like. For some experts and analysts in the sector, this expense level is already reaching Typical levels of past bubbles. Echoes of the Puntocom. Big Tech are already allocating between 50% and 70% of their EBITDA (Operating Benefit before Tax) to fixed asset investments, mostly from AI and cloud infrastructure, according to the GQG Partners analysis. This resembles AT&T behavior in the Puntocom bubble (a company that before the debacle allocated 72% of its benefits) or Exxon in the energy bubble 2014 (allocating 65%). Percentage of operational benefit that Big Tech are spending against the level of AT&T and Exxon before bubbles. Image: GQG Partners Issues. For GQG Partners and as Share Also Tobias Carlisle, founder of Acquirer’s Funds, this high proportion is usually a sign of structural risk, with many expensive investments, assets that can be obsolete, and delay in seeing real returns. In the image we can see the percentage of total operational benefit that Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Oracle invest in fixed assets (CAPEX) In detail. There is a huge investor appetite, and the figures reflect it. Alphabet has raised its forecasts and Plan to spend more than 85,000 million dollars This year, almost everything destined to reinforce your cloud and your services. Goal, meanwhile, provides A range of between 66,000 and 72,000 million In 2025, promising to invest a total of 600,000 million dollars By 2028. On the other hand, Microsoft has also announced tens of billions in new facilities to accelerate the training of AI models. Together, Financial Times esteem That the annual capex added of the large technological will exceed 300,000 million dollars, an unpublished figure in the sector. That level of investment worries analysts. Goldman Sachs He pointed out Recently, Hyperscalers (AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud) have already committed hundreds of thousands of millions in Capex and R&D, which implies that, to justify it, they must generate much higher income in the coming years. On the other hand, Bank of America warns That the costs of depreciation and amortization of these infrastructure can grow even faster than the income that companies manage to extract from them, which could put their operational margins at risk. Morningstar, meanwhile, remember That the semiconductor industry, a centerpiece of this race, remains prone to boom and fall cycles, at risk that the current euphoria due to AI derive in a cooling in 2025-2026. Even Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAi, He has admitted That there is a “bubble” around AI, although it clarifies that technology itself will have an immense long -term value. Between the lines. Investing a lot in infrastructure does not guarantee on its own that future income will compensate for such high expense. If the euphoria between investors is maintained, perhaps yes, but if subsequently penetrates doubt and uncertainty, things can change. He GQG Partners analysis It also talks about “hidden” costs, accelerated depreciation, technological obsolescence, Huge maintenance of data centersenergy, and other factors that could erode much faster than real benefits are believed. Cover image | Generated by AI with Freepik In Xataka | “Psychosis by AI” does not exist, it is only another invented diagnostic label: one that has come to stay

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