technological

China dominates technological industries invented by the West

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iRobot, pioneer of domestic robotics and creator of the Roomba, has gone bankrupt and ends up in the hands of Piceaa Chinese manufacturer. It is not an isolated case but rather the symbol of a devastating trend in which Western companies develop technologies for decades and China ends up appropriating entire industries. iRobot was founded in 1990 by three MIT researchers. It launched the first Roomba in 2002 and sold 50 million units. For two decades it dominated the robot vacuum cleaner market. In 2021 it was worth $3.5 billion. Today it is worth 140 million25 times less. Picea cancels its 264 million debt and keeps everything. Why is it important. It’s not just about vacuum cleaners. Chinese manufacturers – Roborock, Ecovacs, Dreame, Xiaomi – already control almost 80% of the global robot vacuum cleaner market. With Picea purchasing iRobot, that figure is close to 95%. China not only manufactures cheaper: it now owns Western innovation that it previously only copied. The pattern repeats: Volvo has been Chinese since 2010. Motorola too. Segway, the scooter that was going to revolutionize urban mobility, ended up in the hands of Ninebot. Lenovo bought IBM PC. Haier took over GE Appliances. Geely owns Lotus. Western brands survive, but only as shells with Asian engineering inside. Between the lines. Europe blocked Amazon’s purchase of iRobot in 2024 for fear that it would dominate the smart home. The result: the company was not independent, but ended up owned by its own Chinese manufacturer and creditor. European “protection of competition” resulted in iRobot falling into the hands of its foreign rivals. iRobot outsourced its production to Vietnam to avoid Chinese tariffs, but Trump’s 46% tariffs on Vietnam cost it an extra $23 million in 2025. Meanwhile, Picea was simultaneously its manufacturer, its major creditor, and its indirect competitor. It didn’t even take a hostile takeover: just financial patience. He waited for iRobot will drown in debt and collected the remains. The invisible cost of innovation. iRobot invested decades in R&D: military robotics, space robotics, domestic autonomous navigation… That research is expensive, slow and risky. Chinese manufacturers have not had to pay that cost. They just had to wait for the technology to mature, copy what worked, and improve execution. The asymmetry is total. The West imposes antitrust restrictions on itself that slow domestic consolidations while Chinese companies operate with extensive state support, protected access to a domestic market of 1.4 billion consumers and regulatory scrutiny that cannot even be compared. Europe has recently blocked other similar operations, such as that of Adobe and Figma either that of Broadcom and Qualcomm. Yes, but. It is not about approving any acquisition without scrutiny, but about recognizing that blocking the purchase of Amazon has led to an objectively worse result: pioneering American technology that ends up in Chinese property. If you are truly concerned about Chinese companies dominating strategic sectors, this was a blunder with predictable consequences. Western governments constantly talk about technological sovereignty and their willingness not to depend on China. But concrete actions are producing the opposite effect. Ultimately, the only thing the West loses is not its industry, it is ownership of its technological innovation. In Xataka | The largest food chain in the world is Chinese, surpasses McDonald’s and is unknown in Europe: Mixue Featured image | Onur Binay

There is already a first crack in Chinese technological optimism: DeepSeek

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Chen Deli, senior researcher at DeepSeek, has admitted at a state conference who is “extremely positive about technology, but pessimistic about its impact on society.” It is the first time that a representative of the Chinese company has spoken publicly since February, when its founder met with Xi Jinping after provoking that world earthquake with the launch of R1. And he has done it with that pessimistic outlook. Why is it important. This message comes from a company that the Chinese government has turned into a symbol of technological capacity and resilience in the face of US sanctions. That one of its leaders recognizes great risks for employment is a notable turn in a country where the official discourse is usually triumphalist. The facts. Chen participated in the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen along with the heads of five other companies known in China as “the six little dragons” of AI. His diagnosis has a gloomy tone: in one or two years, AI will be good enough to start replacing human jobs. In a decade or two it could take care of the rest. “Society could face an enormous challenge,” has said. “Tech companies need to take on the role of advocate.” Between the lines. This is not an American CEO peddling apocalypse smoke to inflate his valuation. In China, the State regulates technology with a firm hand. When Sam Altman says that AI will “probably lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime there will be big companies,” it sounds like marketing. When a DeepSeek executive says it at a conference organized by the government, after many months of silence and after its founder met with Xi, it sounds like a party line. The context. DeepSeek exploded in January with DeepSeek-R1a low-cost, open-source language model that was on par with American leaders. Since then, absolute exit. The founder, Liang Wenfeng, has appeared only once in all this time: at a televised symposium with Xi Jinping in February. Neither Liang nor the company has made public comments since then, and they have skipped all major Chinese tech conferences. Yes, but. While sending this message of caution, DeepSeek is in the process of consolidating itself as a cornerstone of the Chinese AI ecosystem. Chip manufacturers such as Cambricon and Huawei have developed hardware compatible with their models. In September, the company launched an “experimental” version of its V3 modelnotable not so much for its efficiency as for creating an alternative to NVIDIA’s CUDA API and its support for Chinese GPUs. In August, the simple announcement of a model optimized for national chips shares of the sector skyrocketed in the local market. And now what. Xi Jinping has proposed a little over a week ago on the APEC forum that there should be a global body that governs AI, making it “a public good for the international community.” Now a DeepSeek representative talks about AI as a potential threat that requires a unified approach from the technology sector. The narrative is shifting from triumphalism to preventive regulation. Featured image | Xataka, DeepSeek In Xataka | We believed that no open model could outperform GPT-5. A Chinese startup proves us wrong

In China they have created a material for their fighters that opens a new technological direction: it aims directly at radars

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From the early days of World War II to the stealth fighters of the 21st century, the goal of remaining unnoticed by the enemy has been a constant obsession in military aviation. Aerial “invisibility”, more than a myth, It is a technological challenge that has marked decades of innovation in materials and design. A team from Chinese universities describes a flexible and ultra-thin coating capable of absorbing radar waves without losing thermal resistance, collects SCMP. If its effectiveness is confirmed in flight, it could change the conversation about modern aerial stealth. The development was detailed on October 14 in Advanced Materials. The study, signed by Cui Guang, Liu ZhongfanHuihui Wang and Maoyuan Li, among others, presents a graphene-on-silica-fabric (G@SF) metasurface that combines flexibility, low weight and thermal resistance of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. According to its authors, the direct integration of the material into the insulating layer of an aircraft would allow the reflected radar signal to be reduced to −42 dB, without compromising the structure or weight of the aircraft. A surface that wants to defy the radar The material is based on a silica textile base on which the researchers deposited graphene using a chemical vapor deposition process. On that layer they applied a laser “erasing” technique, which allowed them to create a precise pattern on the surface and adjust your electrical impedance. In this way, they claim, they managed to make the coating effectively absorb electromagnetic waves without needing to increase its thickness or weight. The result is a flexible, ultralight metasurface with an adjustable sheet resistance between 50 and 5,000 ohms per square. {“videoId”:”x9ri2iu”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”How China, the biggest polluter on the planet, has also become the complete opposite”, “tag”:”webedia-prod”, “duration”:”740″} Laboratory tests showed that the material maintains stable performance even under extreme conditions. After five minutes of exposure to 600 degrees Celsius in air, it retained its absorption capacity, and also withstood prolonged heating to 1,000 degrees in a vacuum without degrading. In tests with air currents of up to 200 meters per second, its loss of efficiency was less than 1%, and neither the surface pattern nor the resistance of the sheet were altered. These properties make it an ideal candidate for high-speed aircraft exposed to intense heat and friction. Withstood prolonged heating to 1,000 degrees in vacuum without degrading The material described in the study poses a possible alternative to conventional coatings, although it has yet to be demonstrated whether its advantages are sustainable outside the laboratory. US stealth fighters, such as the F-22 and F-35they use absorbent compounds They offer good initial performance, but require constant and expensive maintenance. In China, the J-20 has been seen with a coating apparently more stable, although those impressions come from displays and not verifiable technical data. The difference, for now, is in the discourse rather than the evidence. The new coating is still far from becoming a technology in real use, but it illustrates the direction of Chinese research in stealth materials. The challenge is not only to achieve high performance in the laboratory, but to keep it in flight and under extreme conditions. Chinese scientists aim to solve one of the most persistent limitations of modern fighters: the fragility of absorbent coatings. If the material achieves this stability, it could open a different stage in aircraft protection. In Xataka We believed that the F-16s were Ukraine’s great achievement: it has just taken the first step to receive up to 150 European Gripen fighters Beijing has set 2035 as the horizon to complete the modernization of its armed forces. In this context, the development of new compounds, sensors and materials responds to a broader policy aimed at strengthening its technological and military industry. Each advance in the field of stealth materials is interpreted not only as a technical improvement, but also as a step towards greater strategic independence. Images | Wikimedia Commons | Arthur Wang In Xataka | The Chinese ambition to lead each and every area of ​​the planet has found its next adversary: ​​Jaén (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 In China they have created a material for their fighters that opens a new technological direction: it aims directly at radars was originally published in Xataka by Javier Marquez .

China is taking a giant step in its quest for technological self-sufficiency: its own EDA software

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A company called Qiyunfang just done a unique presentation at the Bay Area Semiconductor Expo held in Shenzhen, China. In it he has presented two EDA platforms. And with them it has opened the door to something in which the Asian giant totally depended on the US: designing your own chips. What is EDA. Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software is the fundamental tool and the gateway to be able to design chips and printed circuit boards (PCBs). Historically, this segment has always been dominated by American companies: Synopsys, Cadence and Mentor Graphics / Siemens EDA were the absolute references. They “translate” the ideas of the engineers who design the chips, and convert them into functional plans that manufacturers such as TSMC or SMIC can manufacture. Who is Qiyunfang. This company, founded in 2023, is not just any one: it is SiCarrier subsidiarywhich in turn collaborates with Huawei Technologies. As if that were not enough, SiCarrier is a semiconductor manufacturer that has financial support from the Shenzhen government. The US had China tied. In May of this year, China began to block the export of its rare earths, and the United States responded with a blockade that was equally harmful to China: the aforementioned American companies They could no longer sell their services and their EDA software to its Chinese partners. It was one of the most effective ways to “strangle” the Chinese semiconductor industry: if you can’t design the chip, it doesn’t matter if you have factories to produce it. SMIC, for example, it’s been 20 years using Synopsys EDA design suites. With the veto he was left unable to use them. China once again opts for self-sufficiency. The solutions presented by Qiyunfang theoretically allow for domestic solutions for EDA software for both schematic designs (conceptual design) and PCB (physical design of the board). Not only that: these platforms run on a completely Chinese software stack—operating system, database, middleware. Qiyunfang is not a product, it is a break with dependency in two of the crucial stages of chip design. The key is technological independence. If these platforms comply, China will have a solution immune to sanctions, also integrated into the Chinese national technological ecosystem. The trade and technology war that the country maintains with the United States has encouraged both parties to seek precisely to avoid dependence among themselves and also with other countries. It’s the “I’ll stew it, I’ll eat it” taken to the maximum extreme. The other challenge: advanced chips. Even having its own EDA software, China still has a colossal challenge with advanced chips that use 3 and 5 nm photolithography and that take advantage of UVE technologies. They continue working on these types of systems, but until they have them, Qiyunfang’s software platforms are a fantastic option for developing more “mature” but equally important chips such as those for the automotive sector or industrial applications. China continues to move key chips. This news confirms the trajectory that Xi Jingping established with its famous “Made in China 2025” plan. It seeks to conquer the key technologies of the future: AI, robotics, automotive and of course the manufacturing of semiconductors without external dependencies are little by little a reality in the Asian giant, and this new milestone of this Chinese company seems to demonstrate it. In Xataka | Before the tariffs, China bought most of its beef from the US. After the tariffs another country has won

Sora’s AI is resurrecting dead celebrities to turn them into cheap viral content: it’s technological nonsense

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What of digitally resurrect deceased public figures It’s not new, but Sora 2 by OpenAI is crossing the line from homage to pure morbid entertainment, with videos ranging from harmless humor to the most explicit cruelty. This phenomenon, which has provoked the indignation of relatives of the daughter of actor Robin Williams, raises serious ethical and legal questions. What is happening. Michael Jackson shows up at a KFC and steals a man’s fried chicken while dancing away. Pope John Paul II does some skate tricks. Albert Einstein gives an interview after a UFC fight. These are just a few examples of what people are doing with Sora 2. There’s more: Martin Luther King, Kennedy, Nixon…many videos have a humorous and seemingly harmless tone. Others, however, are in very bad taste, such as those that show a Stephen Hawking being abused brutally. And the worst thing is that no one seems to be stopping it. The Robin Williams case. Zelda Williams, daughter of the late actor, has used her Instagram account to show her rejection of this trend. “Please stop sending me AI-generated videos of dad. Stop believing that I want to see them or that I will understand them. I don’t want them and I won’t understand them,” he said in his message. Although he does not give details about whether the videos he has received are made with Sora 2, his complaint comes just a few days after its release. The cameos. They are the great novelty of Sora 2 and one of the reasons for its popularity. In fact, the app was launched with a cameo by Sam Altman that has already generated all kinds of memes. With cameos you can create funny videos of yourself or a friend, but Sora won’t let you make videos of real people unless they have given their consent. Except if those people are dead. Blurred boundaries. In it Sora security document 2OpenAI states that “only you can decide who can use your cameo, and you can revoke access at any time. We also take steps to block depictions of public figures.” However, they don’t say anything about public figures who have died, and from what we’re seeing, it doesn’t seem like these guidelines apply in the same way. According to the TechCrunch teststhe app does not allow you to create videos of Jimmy Carter or Michael Jackson (although there are published videos), but it does not cause problems when doing so with Robin Williams or Richard Nixon. defaming the dead. Although it is ethically questionable, at a legal level things change. In the United States, where OpenAI operates, legally it is not possible to open a process for defaming a deceased personso the company would not have any responsibility. In Spain it is similar; the Organic Law 1/1982 includes the right to honor, personal and family privacy and one’s own image. However, according to the article 32 of the civil codecivil personality is extinguished after death. Yes, it could be the case that heirs claim the right to honor of the deceasedbut it is a complex process and full of nuances. The new AI dump. At the beginning of the year we talked about how Junk AI or ‘AI Slop’ had flooded the networks. Were most disturbing videosof very bad tastebut they were clearly made with AI. With Sora 2 a dangerous door opens and it is that of a new AI dump more realistic than ever. If we add to this the use of the image of deceased people as if they were toys with which we can do whatever we want, no matter how legal it may be, it sets a very worrying precedent. Image | tiktok In Xataka | OpenAI and AMD have just signed more than just an AI agreement: it’s the barter of desperation

The war between China and the United States has uncovered a technological “mercenary”: Oracle

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While giants like Microsoft, Google or Meta The headlines monopolize Regarding the AI ​​and the rest of its technologies, Oracle has been silently positioned as the perfect intermediary in the technological pulse between Washington and Beijing. After The acquisition of Sun Microsystems In 2010 to be in charge of Java, a key piece for the operation of multiple technologies in our electronic devices, Oracle’s power was increasing. Now his record It expands thanks to the AI already its involvement in Tiktok’s agreement. THE BUSINESS OF NOT CHOOSE BANDO. Oracle has built its strategy in being the neutral provider that does not directly compete with its biggest customers. While Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure can generate friction because of their direct competition, Oracle offers infrastructure without the threat of removing the business being present. This position allows you to work with both Openai and any rival, becoming the “mercenary” that everyone needs and nobody fears. His role in the rescue of Tiktok. The White House has confirmed that Oracle will be key in the agreement to maintain operational Tiktok in the United States. The company will be in charge of security of the American version of the application, managing the data of the users from centers located in American territory. Bytedance will retain 20% of the property, but Oracle will control the critical infrastructure that reassures legislators concerned with national security. More power, less prominence. While the big technological struggle to capture the attention of the final consumer, Oracle has chosen to remain in the shadow. His Cloud infrastructure business It does not have the glamor of social networks or AI attendees, but it has become essential. And the numbers accompany, because the company He has triggered his income Futures 359%, reaching 455,000 million dollars of capitalization thanks to contracts such as Openai worth 300,000 million to materialize the famous’PROJECT STARGATE‘. The perfect intermediary strategy. Oracle has maintained a position of neutrality in recent years, which has allowed him to benefit from geopolitical tensions without taking part publicly. When the United States needs a Chinese alternative to technological infrastructure, Oracle is there. When the companies of AI They need computational capacity Without depending on direct competitors, Oracle is also available. A network of contacts has been worked from which he has taken a lot of profit. The risks of success. This strategy is not exempt from dangers. The growing dependence of great contracts such as Openai turns Oracle into vulnerable to single -client. In addition, fulfilling such ambitious commitments will require significant indebtedness and an unprecedented infrastructure expansion. Its debt ratio on equity of 427% already overcomes that of competitors such as Microsoft, which is 32.7%, according to data of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Cover image | Oracle In Xataka | Great door or nursing: “circular financing” between Nvidia and OpenAi can be the genius of the century … or the collapse

There is a new “technological giant” in the US. The surprise is that it is not from the US, but from Switzerland

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ANDThe Swiss National Bank (SNB), a traditionally conservative institution, has ceased to be. In fact, it has silenced one of the most important technological investors in the world. The firm has accumulated a portfolio of actions of such magnitude that its value is equivalent to almost a fifth of the annual economic production of Switzerland. What happened. According to records From the US stock and values ​​commission (SEC) of the month of June, the SNB has 167,000 million dollars in shares of US companies, distributed in more than 2,300 positions. That makes the entity a first -order investor in Silicon Valley. Love for Big Five. More than 42,000 million of that portfolio are invested in just five technological giants: Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia. SNB has A special focus on Applecompany in which it has invested almost 10,000 million dollars, and in Nvidia, where it has invested more than 11,000 million dollars. A gigantic entity. The Swiss National Bank is not a sovereign fund as such: its main mission is not active investment to make the country’s money grow. However, its asset balance, which amounts to 855,000 million dollars, places it in a league comparable to that of large investment vehicles from countries such as Singapore or Qatar. Experts, yes, They point that SNB is an entity that does not seek to influence these companies, and only uses its portfolio as a management tool for its currency. Banks do not do this. The SNB approach – which is not owned by the national government – is really atypical. The Bank of Japan For example, it makes use of mechanisms such as ETFs for its operation, and usually also buy shares from your own country. In Switzerland there are requests that the SNB manages that portfolio actively (as an investment fund) to make more profitability. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank warns that shares can be overvalued. And our Bank of Spain? The Bank of Spain, on the other hand, buys governments bonds to control inflation and interest rates throughout the eurozone. They all differ in their strategy, and clearly that of the SNB resembles an investment company than a traditional banking entity. SNB positions in US companies. Source: Financial Times with sec data. Switzerland is small to snb. But the Swiss bond market is too small for SNB operations, and that causes the entity to invest the foreign currencies that it acquires (mainly dollars and euros). He does it in bonds and, as we have seen, in abroad actions, a strategy that some analysts They call “Foreign quantitative flexibility” and that has led him to invest in those actions of technology companies in the US. The powerful Swiss Franco. The argument that defends that strategy is that of the Swiss Franco strengthconsidered a global shelter currency. Having a strong currency is fantastic, but it is not good that it is too much Strong because it slows exports and can cause deflation: the extrin products become very cheap for the Swiss and make the Swiss companies very difficult to compete. To counteract all this, SNB does the opposite of what investors do. Sells francs – adding the offer – and buy foreign currencies that he does not want to have stops, so he invests them in companies such as Apple or Nvidia. Passive-agreesive strategy. Although SNB philosophy is basically passive and does not exercise its voting rights in those companies, this entity adjusts its positions. The sec data reveals a great increase in their participation in NVIDIA or the creation of a new position in Berkshire Hathaway, and a reduction of assets in Meta and Netflix in the last two years. That, of course, has its risksbut SNB does not seem to go bad at the moment. In Xataka | All against Nvidia: the strongest Chinese companies in Chips and IA have created a historical alliance

The great technological technological ones give the teleworking, but the data tell a different story: it has doubled

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In recent months, the great US technological ones They have hardened your policies return to your offices and Eliminating teleworking optionswhile They bet for the accelerated development of AI. However, the Spanish labor market does not follow the same trend with respect to teleworking. The data collected for the report ‘V Telework radiography in Spain September 2025‘ Prepared by Infojobs, they reveal that although it is true that the percentages have fallen with respect to the records from 2020 to 2022, the teleworking has remained stable at levels that double those recorded before 2020. Teleworking in Spain. While in Silicon Valley the headlines proliferate on the end of teleworking, In Spain, work flexibility takes a different path. The data collected by the Infojobs Employment Portal indicate that Spain has maintained sustained growth in terms of Teleworking adoption. 25% of workers currently perform their activity with some remote work formula or in hybrid format. The Last data Of 2024 of the Active Population Survey, they point out that 7.8% of the total active population worked at least half of its weekly day from home, compared to 7.6% who claimed to do it occasionally. In absolute figures, this represents a total of 3.2 million people, placing the percentage of teleworking in Spain around 15.4% of the total employed people working remote. This figure is well above 6% registered in 2019 by the INE, or of 8.3% that was recorded just before pandemic. Source: Infojobs Hybrid work: the balance between flexibility and availability. One of the keys to Teleworking success In Spain it is in its Evolution towards hybrid formatsin which face -to -face days with teleworking days. According to the Infojobs report, 44% of those who telework do so using this hybrid model with between one and four days of remote work. 24% telework two days per week, while 21% of employees who claim teleworking maintain 100% remote activity. The availability of options It has been varying In recent years and, at present, 46% of companies offer some remote work format. Of that group, only 11% of the companies maintain a 100% remote model, marking a decrease with respect to the 12% registered in 2024, but compensated for this fall with more employment offers with hybrid work, which rises from 33% to 35% in just one year. Source: Infojobs Leading sectors on teleworking. While many sectors have experienced an increase in the number of Job offers with teleworkingthe commercial and sales sector leads both in number of workers who exercise remotely and in the volume of new vacancies (39,184 published offers). In the opposite pole, the sectors with less remote work offers are the pharmacist (283 vacancies) and graphic design and arts (499 offers). As for the weight of teleworking by sectors, the sector that most remote employment offers has published is that of computer science and telecommunications (68%) followed closely by legal (58%) and finance (52%). That is, seven out of ten programmers, computer engineers or people, work under some remote work model. According to the study, the sectors with the lowest incidence of teleworking are those inevitably face -to -face, such as tourism and restoration, artisans and trades or health and health, which record values ​​below 1%. Who and where he works remotely. Among the most demanded profiles with teleworking options are, as indicated by sectoral data, IT analysts, Backend and Border developers, ICT consultants and fullstack engineers. All of them with teleworking options between 75 and 90% of the published offers. From the geographical point of view, a curious phenomenon happens and the concentration of teleworking is based on the nature of the predominant industry in that area, instead of allowing disintegration throughout the national territory. This phenomenon is due to hybrid work that, although it allows you to reduce displacements to the office, maintains anchoring with the territory by reducing the chances of workers to move to live outside the community in which the company for which they work for. The greatest proportion focuses in Madrid (40%), followed by Catalonia (19%) and Andalusia (11%), areas with strong presence of technological, commercial and financial companies. In Xataka | Working from anywhere was Teleworking: Not notifying these location changes can make you fire you Image | Unspash (Rodeo Project Management Software)

The submarine cables were from the teleoperators, and now the great technological ones are controlling them

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Submarine cables They transport 95% of data traffic between continents. They hold Ten billion dollars daily in financial transactions, according to figures collected by Telegeographyand feed from streaming to artificial intelligence networks. And yet, its control no longer belongs to the great traditional teleoperators: it has largely passed to technological giants such as Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon. A deep transformation that raises questions about dependence, digital sovereignty and resilience to geopolitical risks. For more than a century, the submarine cables were a matter of consortiums of public operators and large telecos. Installing them cost hundreds of millions of dollars, And it was common to distribute the risk among several actors in exchange for assigning fiber pairs to each participant. Recent examples, as the 2Africa cable, promoted by goalThey follow this model. However, in just a decade, this balance has jumped through the air. Today, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon They control or manage approximately half of the world underwater bandwidth. Between 2019 and 2023, They financed about 25% of activated cable systems, according to Carnegie Endowment. Globally, The construction of about 60 new submarine cables until 2027 is expected, as indicated by the latest telegeography mapwhich gives an idea of ​​the magnitude of the change of cycle in the control of critical internet infrastructure. How technology took over the underwater routes The qualitative leap is not only in participation: also in full property. Google has in full cables such as Curie (USA-Chile), Dunant (USA-France), Grace Hopper (USA-Spanish-Spanish Reino) and Equiano (Portugal-Nigeria-Sudaphrica). Goal, meanwhile, He has planned Waterworth: A cable of just over 40,000 km that will connect USA directly with important markets of the southern hemisphere, including points in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, deliberately avoiding risk areas such as the Red Sea and the Sea of ​​Southern China. The case of 2Africa, although still based on consortium, also reflects the evolution: here, goal participates significantly as a key partner of the consortium with several operators. Europe is the continent with more mooring cables on the planet, according to the Carnegie Endowment. Two thirds of its external connectivity depend on submarine cableswhich underlines your high strategic exposure. Besides, Much of the European traffic is stored in data centers located in the US, as analyzed by the ITIFincreasing its technological dependence. Faced with this panorama, Europe has some strategic assets, such as Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), World leader in kilometers of cable installed between 2020 and 2024and Orange Marine, which operates one of the largest installation and repair fleets. Paris and Rome have already launched movements to protect Asn and Sparkle as “sovereign industrial champions.” The threat to cables It is no longer just accidental. Russia has intensified its underwater patrols around strategic nodes, and in 2025 China presented a ship capable of cutting cables at 4,000 meters deep, according to the South China Morning Postincreasing its asymmetric pressure capacity on critical routes. In addition, the lack of response capacity complicates the scenario: There are barely 80 ships around the world dedicated to laying and cable repair, according to the Carnegie Endowmentand Europe lacks specialized breaking, necessary to operate in Arctic regions or in marine ice conditions, where new strategic connectivity routes are being explored. The underwater critical infrastructure also faces a fragmented legal framework. Several European countries have not even ratified the 1884 convention cablewhich hinders the Persecution of sabotage acts. Meanwhile, installation and repair permits in Europe They have doubled in duration in the last decadecomplicating the response to incidents. To correct it, the EU and the NATO have created joint initiatives, such as the Critical Unclea Infrastructure Coordination Cell and a Task Force Industrial. However, some analysts insist that Without a drastic increase in resources, Europe will remain at a disadvantage. Towards a more fragmented and dependent Internet The massive entry of great technological responds to a clear logic: Control the physical layer of the Internet allows them to reduce costsimprove efficiency and guarantee alternative routes to crises. For traditional telecos, the dilemma is clear: collaborate or be displaced. Some operators continue to play a relevant role, although adapting to an ecosystem with a strong presence of the great technological giants. In the near future, Intercontinental traffic is expected to double every two years5G driven, cloud distributed e artificial intelligence. Alternative routes are being explored, such as polar corridors, which would significantly reduce Europe-Asia latency. In parallel, fears of a physical “splinternet” grow: cable networks segmented by political alliances, with Europe discussing between its historical openness and the need to protect His strategic interests, as Oxford analysts point out. Although we usually imagine the cloud as an intangible space, the reality is that much rest on a complex physical infrastructure. And that infrastructure, more and more, is controlled by US multinationals. For Europe, the challenge is not just building more cables: it is to ensure that the next generation of the Internet does not depend mostly on foreign actors. Images | Goal | Screen capture In Xataka | Digital serendipia is in danger of extinction. Internet understands us too well

Trump’s dinner with Big Tech leaders has not been a dinner. It has been the greatest act of technological vassalage in history

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On Thursday a unique act of vassalage took place. In him CEOS and leaders of the main technology companies Americans attended a dinner in which they paid supplies, without exception, to the president of the United States, Donald Trump. The scene, Continuation of another recentit was almost feudal and it was a spectacular demonstration of what is the balance of current power in the United States. What happened. Last week the White House advertisement That the first lady, Melania Trump, organized a meeting with the aim of creating a “shock force” to promote education in artificial intelligence. To that event They went The CEOs of the great US technology companies, among which they stood out: Tim Cook, Apple CEO Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft SUCBUL PICHAI, CEO of Google Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO Alexandr Wang, Excueo de Scale Ai Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI Grek Brockman, president of OpenAi Smooth his, CEO of AMD Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM Sergey Brin, Google co -founder Elon Musk, the great absent. They went to dinner 33 guests Among those who were those technological leaders, in addition to some administration officials and risk capital investors. There were nevertheless several notable absences: for example those of Andy Jassy, ​​CEO of Amazon – but did David clean (CEO of Blue Origin) and Jamie Siminoff, director of the firm – or that of Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. The most striking was Musk’s He said in x that “I was invited but unfortunately I could not go” although there are data that suggests that I wasn’t on that guest list. Your relationship with Trump, Before idyllicis in the last times going through a much more complex phase in which both They have clearly distanced themselves. Thanks, Mr. President. During that dinner the CEOs of the great technological ones had a brief intervention that in all cases included a thanks aimed at President Trump. Altman, Gates, Nadella, Pichai or Zuckerberg left him evident in his speeches. The OpenAi CEO, for example, said “thank you for being a favorable president to business. It is a very refreshing change.” Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, followed that same line when heading to him: “” Thank you very much for gathering everyone and for the policies she has launched for the United States to lead. “ Tim Cook and his eight “thanks” in two minutes. The most striking of these participations was that of Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, who in two minutes said “thanks” to the president. The shared viral video on social networks has caused the occasional Meme For the surprising submission that Cook showed in his speech. The relationship between the two It is singular From the presidential elections. Modern technological vassalage. The scene was especially striking and in the shared videos on social networks, Trump is seen and the first lady sitting in the center of the table as dominant figures, while the people who currently shape the global economy. The scenery was spectacular: Silicon Vally giants basically went to a dinner in which they transmitted their total subordination to the US president. It was an even more forceful symbol that the one who lived at the investiture ceremony by Donald Trump. Looking for the president’s favor. These acts demonstrate what is the balance of power in the United States. It does not matter that the managers of these companies are responsible for much of the world economy: They all know That regulations, tax sanctions or vetoes can stop their innovation and billing, and Trump does not hesitate to play those letters if he considers it necessary. Political power is able to impose a regulatory framework, and companies know that they depend on that framework to operate. What times those on Facebook (for example) blocked Trump from his social networks. Silicon Valley is afraid. What is also evident is that the technological world in the US cannot be separated from state power. They depend on him antitrust regulations, digital infrastructure and of course gigantic and juicy government contracts. Being good with the US president is crucial for their businesses, and if you have to fold, they fold. That was not an exchange of impressions: it was a demonstration of who directs the score. Strategic calculation. The submissive position of technological leaders probably also responds to a strategic calculation: It is better to be docile in public and then negotiate regulatory benefits in private. The choreography shown at that dinner was full of meaning, because despite the power of the Big Tech, these companies are still anchored to the fact that the US president is a thickery of modern king to which they must pay vassalage so that they do not change the rules of the game in a second. Not so different from what happens in China. The scene also reminded us of a situation much more forceful: The one that is lived in China, where the government and its president, Xi Jingping, hold absolute power. Companies know it and for years have paid an absolute vassalage to their rulers, which intervene and make decisions in the operation and management of private companies. And those who try to rebel pay very expensive: to tell Jack Ma. In Xataka | Protect Trump is a headache, so the secret service has bought a armored golf car: the Golf Force One

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