United

The United Kingdom has found energy gold with geothermal energy

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If there’s one thing Cornwall is known for (apart from the surprising boom of romantic TV movies tabletop) is due to its long mining tradition. Now, the Cornish industry is reinventing itself with a revolutionary deep geothermal project that, in addition to joining the national grid and generating energy for 10,000 homes English, is also capable of extracting lithium by taking advantage of this same geothermal resource. A pioneer plant. Last February it was launched in the town of Redruth in Cornwall the first geothermal power station in the United Kingdom with the hottest and deepest well in the country. It is about the United Downs projectfrom the energy company Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL), an innovative initiative whose objective is to generate electricity and heat using hot granite rocks among the abundant underground resources hidden in this English county. As GEL CEO Ryan Law told The Guardian, “It’s like someone built a huge nuclear power plant underground“We are simply taking advantage of the heat that is generated.” Clean energy 24/7. Furthermore, this plant, like all geothermal plants, has the potential to provide constant electricity and heat from a minimal land area compared to other renewable installations. According to data on the company websitea project of this type can produce 5 MW with only a carbon footprint of between 5 and 15 g of CO2 per kW. But this is not just about energy.. In addition to supplying energy, this plant will also be able to extract high concentrations of lithium from the mineral-rich water it uses. And, curiously, as The Guardian explains, during the process the heat of the used water drops to 50º C, a perfect temperature to be able to separate it from this resource that today is highly sought after for electric vehicle batteries and renewable energy storage. This method is called direct extraction of lithium and it is a physicochemical process that avoids evaporation ponds or open pit miningsignificantly reducing the environmental impact of conventional extraction. Therefore, we would be facing a revolutionary technology that would boost United Kingdom towards a greener and more sustainable horizon (and, of course, less dependent on imports). And how does it work? The geothermal is a renewable energy that takes advantage of the heat that the Earth produces naturally. As the GEL company itself explains, whether through volcanic environments or natural faults under the ground, Geothermal plants access these high temperature areas through drilling of different lengths that create natural hot water wells. On the one hand, the production well pumps that resource to the surface, where the pressurized steam that is created drives a turbine that is used to generate electricity, just like nuclear energy doesbut without the risks or residues of this. It is at this moment when the temperature of the water allows the extraction of lithium. On the other hand, a second injection well, somewhat shallower, is responsible for returning the water already used to the fault and reintroducing it into the geothermal reservoir so that it can be used again and the cycle can begin again, as GEL points out on its website. The rest of the world (and Spain) also looks underground. In a context as fluctuating as the current one, in which enclaves such as Europe seeks its energy independencegeothermal energy with lithium extraction is a more than interesting option for the world. Some countries are already following in the UK’s footsteps, as shown by the UK’s geothermal lithium projects. Vulcan Energy Resources in Germany and Eramet and Strasbourg Electricity in France, classified as strategic by the European Union. However, in our country we will have to wait. In places like the old mining town of Villasrubias in Salamanca or the deposit in the rural area of ​​Cañaveral in Cáceres, managed by the company Lithium Iberiaa high presence of this is hidden white goldbut the extraction projects contemplate conventional mining. Furthermore, although Spain has some geothermal resources, especially in the Canary Islandsfor now there is no project that combines this renewable energy with the direct extraction of lithium. Therefore, it remains to be seen if geothermal lithium plants like the one in Cornwall manage to demonstrate their viability and become a reference for our energy model to advance in this direction. Nothing new under the Cornish sun. For this small coastal county, the mineral extraction industry, especially tin and copperhas been an indisputable part of its identity for centuries. After the decline of its mining, which came to dominate the world market in the 19th century, today companies like GEL are reactivating the sector in the area thanks to the global demand for such elements. crucial in the energy transition like lithium. “People here are proud of their mining tradition,” Greg Foxwell, a member of Gwennap parish council, near Redruth, told The Guardian. According to data accessed by the British newspaper, so far the Cornish geothermal plant has created 100 jobs, including engineers, chemists and geologists, and has hired suppliers, contractors and raw materials, betting especially on local talent and resources. Image | GEL Xataka | The Earth has been providing heat for millions of years and now Google wants it for something very different from heating

OnePlus is preparing to leave Europe and the United States. I had been sending signals for months that this was going to happen.

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OnePlus and Oppo are going to announce in the coming days a total withdrawal from two large markets such as the United States and Europe, according to the German media has advanced WinFuture. Neither of the two companies has confirmed it in public yet, but the evidence has been accumulating for months and this time they all fit. What has happened. WinFuture cites internal sources who speak of “fundamental changes in strategy” that will be communicated this week, a classic euphemism to say that OnePlus is going to stop selling new models in two of its historical markets. There have already been press conferences behind closed doors with specialized media in which neither OnePlus nor Oppo have wanted to explain the reason for the closure. There will be no new launches of mobile phones, tablets or wearables in Europe or the United States. He stocks What remains will be settled in the coming weeks. Devices already sold will maintain software support until the end of their life cycle. India and China are left out of the announcement, although the brand will lose its independence there and will become a cheap line within Oppo. The context. This doesn’t come out of nowhere. In January, a report –without clear sources– he was already talking about dismantling and OnePlus denied it. In March, 9to5Google public that the global withdrawal could come in April. In April, the brand itself admitted that it was “evaluating its roadmap” in Europe, while also cutting its workforce in the region, with layoffs focused on communication, marketing and sales. The team that explains, advertises and sells a brand to the public is not fired if that brand is going to continue to need to be explained, advertised and sold. Then came the rumor of a merger with Realme, the leak that OxygenOS would be integrated into ColorOS (Oppo’s software) and, finally, OnePlus’ own websites in Germany, Spain and France They began to redirect buyers towards Oppo products. Between the lines. The replacement plan has an obvious crack. Oppo wants to fill the gap left by OnePlus in Europe, but its phones do not cost exactly the same. OnePlus built its entire brand on the promise of delivering high-end specs at a mid-range price tag, the “flagship killer” with which it was born in 2014. Replacing that proposal with a more expensive catalog is not a change of logo but a change of a brand’s target audience. There is another fissure that is caused by those who are still their clients. In several EU countries Complaints about unfulfilled guarantees have multiplied: users whose OnePlus headphones damaged under warranty receive compensation a voucher of 199 euros for an online store that barely has stocksand which also does not allow the voucher to be applied to the few remaining discounted products. Some have already opened complaints with the European Consumer Center. When after-sales service begins to systematically fail months before an unconfirmed closure, it stops being a customer service problem and becomes an exit signal. We saw it in Spain with BQ. Yes, but. OnePlus already denied similar rumors in 2023 and did so again in January of this year. Neither of the two denials has aged very well. Neither OnePlus nor Oppo have confirmed anything yet an official confirmation. From Xataka We have contacted Oppo and their response has been to explain to us that they are in talks with the regional teams, waiting to get more information to share. They neither confirm nor deny it, something that says a lot after years of categorical denials every time this rumor arose. Meanwhile, the accumulation of coincidences (execution departures, website redirects, software merger, empty store, guarantees that They are paid with hardly usable vouchers…) leaves little room for the benefit of the doubt. Why is it important. OnePlus was born in 2014 selling the promise that you didn’t have to pay more to have the best, and that promise ended up costing it its own identity: the brand was absorbed by Oppo in 2021which pushed its co-founder Carl Pei to leave to found Nothing. Since then, OnePlus has been losing room for maneuver within the group until it has become, by all indications, more of a label than a company with its own criteria. Its disappearance in the West closes the cycle of an idea (that of the premium mobile without a premium) that the market itself has been eroding as the differences between ranges have become smaller and Chinese brands have preferred to compete by volume rather than by differentiation. And now what. He OnePlus 15 It remains as the brand’s probable last major launch in Western markets. In parallel, similar rumors are circulating about other second-rate Chinese brands, but this week we could have the official announcement of the OnePlus outcome. In Xataka | Nothing is the most fascinating mobile phone brand in years for a very simple reason: it doesn’t sell mobile phones Featured image | Xataka

In 1971, an aquarium in the United States took in an orphaned seal. Five years later he started doing something: speaking in English

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When you go to an aquarium you expect to find ponds full of picturesque fish, seahorses, jellyfish, dolphins, sharks… Maybe, with luck and depending on where the enclosure is and how big it is, the occasional penguin. Those who went in the 80s to the New England Aquarium from Boston, in the United States, are looking for something different: a English speaking seal. And not. There are no quotes or italics here. Hoover (that was the name of the pinniped) spoke with all the law and in a way so clear that still fascinates today to the experts. Yes indeed, his voice It was not the most harmonious in the world. A talking seal? Exact. Seal and chatterbox are not two words that usually go together. But that is precisely why Hoover aroused so much interest in his day. And that is why even today, 41 years after his death, continues starring reports. Before getting into the subject, it is worth introducing the protagonist. Hoover was a male harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) that a fisherman rescued as a hatchling in the waters of Cumberland County, Maine, and spent most of its life at the New England Aquarium. His story would not be of much interest if it were not for the fact that around 1976, when he was around five years old, the animal began to do something unusual: speak broken English. How is that possible? To understand this, you have to take another leap back in time and go back to May 1971, when George Swallow, a Maine fisherman, did something unconventional: he brought home a baby seal. In theory it was not a whim or an eccentric raving. The poor animal had lost its mother, so Swallow decided to welcome her: He hand-fed her, played with her and (in short) took care of her as if she were a dog. He even gave him a name: Hoover. The problem is that as the seal grew it needed more and more fish, which made it unfeasible for it to continue with the Swallow family. His destination was the New England Aquarium, where he arrived when he was three months old. What did that seal say? Hoover’s life was relatively normal until the mid-1970s. When he was around five years old, the aquarium keepers realized something: the seal was making sounds similar to human speech. “The vocalizations were common especially during the mating season and often seemed intended for females, suggesting that they could have acted as ‘mating songs’, similar to those produced by male harbor seals,” a group of psycholinguists and behavioral biology experts recalled in 2023. a paper published in Current Biology. That observation is interesting. The aquarium staff did not teach Hoover to speak. They also didn’t train her to imitate sounds. It is assumed that what the animal learned about human vocalization was assimilated when it was a baby and lived with the Swallows. Some versions They claim that when the family gave her to the aquarium they had already heard her ‘talk’, but experts usually place her first ‘words’ at the age of five, when she reached sexual maturity. And what exactly did it say? That’s the most surprising thing. As remember From the aquarium itself, Hoover was able to pronounce words like “hello”, “let’s go” or “hey”, all in English. The Guenther Speech Neuroscience Lab even notes that he uttered entire phrases that he probably heard at the Swallow home, such as “Hoover get over here! Come on, come on“. As if that were not surprising, there is one more fact: they say he spoke with a Maine accent. The best thing is that you don’t have to imagine it. Although they are not particularly sharp, we preserve some recordings with Hoover’s chatter. Was he really talking? Often the best way to hear something is to (simply) want to hear it. This has led us, for example, to identify words like “mom” in dog growls either cat meows. In the case of Hoover, Diandra Duengen and the rest of the researchers who sign the article of Current Biology They believe that we are facing something different. It’s not that the seal made a confused sound reminiscent of expressions like “Hello there”, “hurry”, “hey, hey” either “come over here”. No. Everything indicates that it is a deliberate imitation. “Human perception is so fine-tuned to finding speech patterns that some animals can trick our brains into making us hear speech sounds where no such similarity exists,” they explain. “In Hoover’s case there is strong evidence of speech imitation. Spectrograms of his sounds show that his vocalizations were, in fact, very ‘human’, containing the typical formant modulations we use to produce vowels and consonants.” Was it expressed then? No. And yes. Duengen and his companions remember that there is analysis to suggest that Hoover produced sounds similar to English vowels, making it a fascinating case of “learning human speech vocal production in a mammal.” They also believe that the seal could have used this ability as “mating songs”, something that other male seals do. What we cannot say is that Hoover ‘understood’ what he was saying, something that is not necessary for speech imitation in any case. “Comprehension or intention of meaning is not relevant to the learning of vocal production. Neither Hoover nor most other animals that exhibit this learning seem to ‘understand’ spoken language or the meaning of words. However, vocal imitation is impressive in itself and represents a fundamental component of speech,” they point out the experts. That Hoover did not begin to produce sounds until his sexual maturity, even when it came to words that he theoretically learned when he was a child, is also not exceptional. Something similar happens with some birds with the same capacity. Is it just a curiosity? No. In his day Hoover appeared on ‘Good Morning America’ and monopolized reports in Reader’s Digest either The New Yorkeramong many other media. Beyond the picturesque nature of his case, … Read more

In 1962 the United States exploded an atomic bomb in orbit to create an anti-missile “wall.” The result was electrical chaos 1,000 km away

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July 9, 1962, an aurora appears in the skies of Hawaii, Tonga and Samoa. It would be strange for these phenomena to form so far from the poles, although experience has shown us that it’s not impossible. Even so, in this case the auroras were not formed by a solar storm, but by Starfish Prime, a US experiment that went wrong. Very badly. Basically, they decided to launch an atomic bomb into space to widen the ring of natural radiation that surrounds the Earth and, thereby, create a wall against Soviet missiles. They managed to distort it, yes, but not in the way they expected. Furthermore, by the way damaged electrical systems, satellites and telephones, caused blackouts more than 1,000 kilometers away and there were even fears for the health of the astronauts who would travel to the Moon 7 years later. As a result of that incident, an international agreement was signed to prohibit atomic testing in the atmosphere, outer space or the bottom of the sea. Since then, all countries have complied with it, although there are scientists who do not trust that it will continue to be done, so they have devised a plan curiously related to Starsfish Prime. Starfish prime. The Starfish Prime project consisted of the detonation in low earth orbit of a 1.44 megaton nuclear warhead. That is, they used a bomb 100 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima. The goal was to stretch the Van Allen belta ring composed of swarms of highly energetically charged particles that are trapped in the network of the Earth’s magnetic field. If the ring could be stretched, they thought it could incapacitate the Soviet missiles that posed a threat to the nation. They achieved the goal. But the rest of the consequences were too serious to want to repeat. More radiation. The amount of radiation in the Van Allen ring increased. By 1969, when the Apollo 11 astronauts they traveled to the moonthere was still a slight increase in radiation that they could absorb on their way to our satellite. Several studies were carried out to check if their health would be seriously at risk, but it was seen that the danger was manageable, so it was decided to continue with the mission. An international agreement. In 1963, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, in which they committed to freeing the atmosphere, outer space and the seabed from nuclear tests. Later, in 1967, was signed he International Outer Space Treatywith which the great world powers established a mode of action for the exploration and use of outer space. Since then there is no evidence that nuclear weapons have been sent into space. However, there are scientists who do not trust that other countries may be acting as agreed. One of them is Areg Danagoulian, from MIT, and the idea you had to solve it is, to say the least, curious. Neutron spallation. Danagoulian’s proposal consists of taking advantage of a phenomenon called neutron spallation, by which very high-energy particles are capable of causing atomic nuclei to expel their neutrons. And where have we seen that there are charged particles with a lot of energy? Indeed, in the Van Allen belt. This MIT scientist believes that if a satellite loaded with a nuclear device were to pass through this ring, something it necessarily has to do, its particles would cause the nuclei of the uranium atoms to lose neutrons. For this reason, it proposes to build a specific detector for this type of neutrons, which would be responsible for sounding the alarm if it detects said expulsion. Aurora seen from Hawaii A feasibility study. At the moment, Danagoulian has not built anything. Has carried out a feasibility study in which he demonstrates that his project is plausible. It is based on sound physics and the techniques needed already exist. If Russia had a nuclear satellite, as this and other scientists fear, it could be a useful device. Now, just because it is possible does not mean that it is easy. Neutrons coming from uranium would have to be differentiated from those from other elements and, furthermore, distinguished from those that could come directly from the Earth. There is a lot of work ahead. With Starfish Prime it was discovered that the consequences of an abrupt release of radiation in the Earth’s magnetic field can be very serious, whether it occurs artificially, with an atomic bomb, or naturally due to solar activity. It is important that we are prepared. Ideally, everyone will comply with the agreements; But, just in case, it doesn’t hurt to resort to detection techniques. Without a doubt, it is a much healthier way to take advantage of what the Van Allen belt gives us. Image | US Air Force 1352nd Photographic Group, Lookout Mountain Station/NASA In Xataka | SpaceX has launched 8,000 Starlink satellites in five years, but they are not enough. And we’re starting to understand why

The United States presses the fear button with Claude Mythos and Fable 5. It is a blackout with a clear beneficiary: China

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The United States has turned off the tap most powerful, expensive and advanced AI model ever released by Anthropic, but it has done so in a disconcerting move and with small print. Yesterday, June 12, the White House ordered Anthropic to immediately shut down Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for anyone who is not a US citizen. The order arrived without giving too many explanations about its duration or technical justification, according to Anthropic’s public statement. This government intervention marks a before and after in the modern technology sector: they are not restricting the sale of chips (a common practice), but vetoing access to general access software as a matter of national cybersecurity. What’s happening with Fable 5 and Mythos 5. The US government has issued an export control directive suspending all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for anyone who does not have US citizenship, whether inside or outside the United States. This includes non-U.S. Anthropic personnel. In order to adhere to the directive that came into effect immediately, the company led by Dario Amodei has had to deactivate both models for everyone. At the time of publishing this article, the notice appears when trying to access it. According to Anthropic, the government believes it has discovered a way to jailbreak the model. The company does not agree: after reviewing the demo of this technique to deceive the model, it concludes that the vulnerabilities found are minor, were already located and applicable to other models on the market and can be identified without the need for any circumvention technique. What you see right now if you enter Claude Why is it important. Because Mythos It is a specifically designed model for cybersecurity and its blackout affects both commercial users and those entities in charge of active defense management that are using it. With this measure, Washington turns its cutting-edge AI software into a national security asset. It is worth remembering that Anthropic is already on the blacklist of the Pentagon, so he considers it too dangerous for his Government to use. It is also now too dangerous for foreigners to use. Besides, as Anthropic points outsets a dangerous precedent: if the criterion for withdrawing a model is that someone finds a vulnerability, in practice none will be able to be launched because the company that releases software without a single failure raises its hand. That is to say, if the White House makes this exceptional movement the norm, it will be a shot in the foot to develop cutting-edge models: slower launches due to this “impossible” debugging process, personnel decimated by not being able to count on foreign specialists and if they cannot be marketed abroad there will be less income. Context. This order is the latest chapter in a soap opera of disagreements between Washington and Anthropic that dates back to the beginning of the year. In March, the Pentagon considered that the company was a “supply chain risk.” In its statement, Anthropic has verified that that level of capacity that the government identified as dangerous in Fable 5 is already available in other models on the market, including the GPT-5.5 by OpenAIearlier and more widespread than Mythos. However, that version of ChatGPT has not suffered any suspension. The asymmetry of treatment between OpenAI and Anthropic is evident. The geopolitical context is also important: the United States and China are immersed in a technological race unprecedented in recent decades and each power is playing its weapons, from tariffs to critical materials like rare earths to vetoes on chip sales, EDA software or the Export Control Reform Act 2018, where new technological categories fit, such as the most advanced AI models. Of course, for the Asian giant, every obstacle has worked as a kind of catalyst to advance faster and be increasingly independent of outside technologies. In detail. The order’s enforcement mechanism is supported by the “export control directive” managed by the Department of Commerce. In practice, it means that accessing Fable 5 or Mythos 5 as a foreign citizen (even if you are in the United States) is grounds for infringement. Anthropic tried to anticipate the problem with thousands of hours of testing with the US government, shared it with 40 organizations that manage critical infrastructure and then, with another 150 entities more precisely so that they could find and thus be able to correct vulnerabilities before a third party with malicious interests did so later. It hasn’t been enough. Because Mythos It is a specifically designed model for cybersecurity. Before its public deployment, Anthropic shared it with organizations that manage critical infrastructure precisely so that they could find and thus be able to correct vulnerabilities before a third party with malicious interests did so. Its blackout affects both commercial users and those entities in charge of active defense management. Yes, but. For now, Anthropic complies with the order, but makes it clear that it does not agree and that it is working to resolve it: “We believe this is a misunderstanding and we are working to restore access as soon as possible.” The company behind Claude says it supports the government in blocking really dangerous technologies, but that this process has to be transparent, fair and based on real technical facts. In short, he has not said the last word. On the other hand, the million-dollar question is whether the US government can apply the export control law, initially designed for chips, satellites or critical and specific software, on an AI model available on the internet and in general use. In fact, this regulatory movement puts on the table the importance of having a clear law that defines when, how and with what guarantees a government (in this case, the United States) can intervene. In Xataka | Spain does not want to wait for Mythos to wreak havoc on its companies: that is why it is going to ask for “early access” to Anthropic In Xataka | Claude Fable 5 is the most powerful public … Read more

The United Kingdom is experiencing a new invasion. The problem is that they are octopuses and they are devouring everything they can find.

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When explorer John Cabot returned from Newfoundland in 1497, assured who had found seas so full of fish that they could captured with simple baskets weighted with stones. That abundance seemed inexhaustible, but more than five centuries later, British waters are once again starring in a story of marine overpopulation, although with very different protagonists. An unexpected invasion. For decades, encountering a common octopus off the coast of south-west England was a rare event for even the most experienced divers. However, in just a few years the situation has changed. radically. What started as a striking increase of sightings has become the largest population explosion of octopuses recorded in at least 75 years. The animals have colonized extensive areas of the British coast, expanding from Devon and Cornwall to Wales, Dorset, Sussex and even Scotland, becoming one of the most surprising marine phenomena that the United Kingdom has experienced in recent times. Perfect weather and conditions. Scientists believe that this expansion is the result of several factors that have coincided at the same time. The juvenile octopuses probably arrived from breeding areas around the English Channel and northern France, but the real difference has been the progressive warming of British waters. Mild winters and warmer breeding seasons have allowed them to survive in much greater numbers and, more importantly, to begin to reproduce successfully in UK waters. The appearance of juvenile specimens confirms that they are no longer simply occasional visitors, but rather a population capable of completing their entire life cycle on these coasts. The big losers. The massive arrival of octopuses is having devastating consequences for part of the traditional fishing. These animals are extraordinarily efficient predators and consume huge quantities of seafood every day. Fishermen began finding empty traps, missing lobsters and ruined catches. In some areas, those who depended on crustacean fishing have seen plummets in between 70% and 100% of their catches. In fact, some businesses have closed and some owners have even sold their boats. The researchers they calculate that octopuses are consuming tons of seafood daily, altering a food chain that had been functioning relatively stable for decades. The same plague that ruins some enriches others. The paradox is that the crisis has also generated an economic opportunity unexpected. Where lobsters and crabs were once caught, octopuses now abound. Many fishermen have quickly adapted their gear and have begun to catch them to supply a growing demand in European markets. The result has been spectacular. Brixham recently sold more than 100 tons of octopus in a single day, generating more than half a million pounds in sales. Some professionals claim that they are obtaining income several times higher than what they achieved with traditional fishing, causing a real fever to catch octopuses along the coast. A reorganized ecosystem. The phenomenon goes far beyond the fishing economy. Octopuses are profoundly altering the relationships between species. While they consume large quantities of crustaceans and mollusks, they have also become food for seals, conger eels and Risso’s dolphins. The researchers describe the situation as a complete reconfiguration of the marine ecosystem, a process in which each change triggers new ones. The feeling among scientists is that British waters are going through a period of ecological transition in which the rules that seemed established for generations are no longer valid. The big difference from previous invasions. Although similar population explosions were already recorded at the beginning of the 20th century, in the 1930s and 1950s, researchers believe that this time the situation can be different. In previous episodes, the octopuses ended up disappearing when conditions changed again. Now, however, winters cold enough to drastically reduce their populations have been going on for more than a decade without production. Evidence of local reproduction and the presence of young specimens suggest that octopuses may have ceased to be occasional visitors and become permanent inhabitants of British coasts. Preparing for a new reality. The magnitude of the phenomenon is already forcing the authorities to react. In Cornwall, for example, they study emergency restrictions to limit the number of boats dedicated to capturing octopuses for fear of excessive exploitation of a population that, paradoxically, seemed inexhaustible just a few months ago. Meanwhile, scientists, fishermen and resource managers are trying to understand what this transformation really means. The big lesson is that ocean warming not only changes temperatures or currents, but can change them completely. who dominates an ecosystem. And on British shores, the new protagonists seem to be animals that until very recently were a rarity and that are now devouring everything in their path. Careful, Galicia. Image | prilfishPixabay In Xataka | We knew that octopuses were very intelligent. But not to the point of having a “brain” in each arm In Xataka | The most intimate secret of octopuses: their ‘loving arm’ not only fertilizes, it also tastes the female

The United States promised to be very happy manufacturing its own chips. Nvidia just spent 150 billion in Taiwan

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Houston, we have a problem. A couple of days ago the CEO of Nvidia stood on the stage at Computex in Taipei and said an inconvenient truth for the United States: “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI ​​revolution. This is where chips and packaging are made. This is where systems are created. This is where AI supercomputers were created.” The setting was Computex 2026, Asia’s biggest tech event, and it wasn’t a compliment to the host, it’s a real depiction of how the industry works. It may sound paradoxical for an American company and at a time when The United States wants to reindustrialize with chipsbut he needs it. It is a structural issue. The harsh reality of profitability. Nvidia plans spend 150,000 million dollars a year in Taiwan, much more than the 100,000 million they spend now and with an abysmal difference compared to the 10,000 and 15,000 million five years ago. If it sounds silly, it’s because it is, but so is its billing: in the first fiscal quarter of 2026 billed 81.6 billion dollars, 85% more than the previous year in that same period. Also its benefit it’s already going off the charts: 58.3 billion, more than triple compared to the same period last year. That this money goes to Taiwan and not to the United States is due to technical and objective issues: Taiwan produces 90% of the most advanced chips in the world, according to a study by the Stimson Center. Of that Taiwanese production, TSMC controls 70% and is going to invest between 52,000 and 56,000 million this year. Bottom line: If Nvidia wants cutting-edge manufacturing capability, it has to be there. Why is it important. The best way to see it is to put Vera Rubin on the table, who In Huang’s words it is “probably the biggest product launch in Taiwan’s history.” Each system contains about two million parts and is assembled with 150 suppliers, almost all Taiwanese. This mechanism is not assembled by decree or in a legislature: it requires years and putting billions of dollars on the table. There is no factory in Arizona that can do something like this at least until 2030. Constellation will be Nvidia’s new headquarters in Taipei and will come to stay permanently: 4,000 engineering professionals will work in that center that according to Huang It will be operational by 2030. It is no longer that it buys in Taiwan, it is that the most valuable semiconductor company in the world is building the heart of its R&D in that core, an island 10,000 kilometers from the United States. A splash of cold water on Trump’s aspirations. Context. In January 2026, Taiwanese companies they committed to invest $250 billion in semiconductors and AI in the United States, as part of a trade agreement with Washington. Because Taiwan and the US are a symbiosis: each needs the other to maintain its position in the race for AI. The investment of a private company like Nvidia is another expression of this pact. In fact, Nvidia is not the only one: AMD is doing exactly the same: associate with Taiwanese manufacturers such as ASE, SPIL and Wiwynn with their Helios AI platform on the horizon (expected for the second half of 2026). That the two largest AI chip designers in the world strengthen ties with Taiwan is confirmation that the island’s industry is strategically necessary for the entire industry, not a particular bet by one firm. The elephant in the room: China. China’s role in this story is twofold: it is a threat and also a client. According to Reutersin 2026 Chinese companies have placed orders for more than two million units of the H200. Trade restrictions have made the operation difficult, but they have not been able to prevent it. One of the last cases point upon the arrival of a shipment of Nvidia AI chips to China via Japan. Nvidia lives in a contradiction from which it cannot escape: Its supply chain is on an island that China considers its own. China, which is its largest potential market, is blocked. Washington prohibits him from selling to Beijing while asking for independence from Taipei. And judging by his statements, Jensen Huang has bet everything on continuing to walk that wire. Yes, but. The Nvidia CEO forgot one problem in his speech: Taiwan makes the overwhelming majority of the world’s most advanced chips, but TSMC’s diversification into Arizona, Japan and Germany will not be ready before 2028 at best. That is to say, there are almost four years ahead in which Nvidia depends totally on Taiwan, a country that matters 97% of your energy. Furthermore, the atmosphere in the Strait of the same name is increasingly heated. Concentrating the production of its most critical component in a geographically hot spot is dangerous to say the least: if something explodes, there is no plan B. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has reminded us of this the hard way. In Xataka | Huawei has found a way to counteract US sanctions: overcoming Moore’s Law In Xataka | US companies have always had a hard time making a lot of money in China. One industry is the exception: chips Cover | freepik and Jimmy Liao

Europe is preparing four measures to become independent from United States technology. The problem is that he doesn’t know how

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The European Union has been ruminating for some time that depending on third parties to manage its data, its chips and its digital infrastructure is a risk that it can no longer afford, so next Wednesday, June 3, it will put on the table a package of measures to achieve its technological sovereignty (or at least, to depend less on countries like the United States or China) whose draft they have already had access to. Financial Times either Political. The sovereignty package is so ambitious that it aims to mark a before and after at the level of the RGPD and it is not something general and intangible: there are four specific measures so that vulnerabilities such as that of Nexperia don’t happen again. But the dependence on the United States is just as worrying, as the slam of the Netherlands on the purchase of Solvinity. Two concrete examples from two different countries for the same problem: European critical infrastructure is in the hands of others. The EU package of measures. Next Wednesday, technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen will present the review of two laws known as the Chips Act and the Cloud and AI Development Actin addition to an open source software strategy and a roadmap for the digitalization of the energy sector. More specifically: The cloud, tested. Audits and stress tests to discover vulnerabilities and thus anticipate a possible US blackout. Chips Act 2. The Commission imposes the power to, in an emergency, cancel semiconductor supply contracts in the event of a shortage, fine companies that hide information about their supply chain and act as a central buyer for the 27 member states, as it did with vaccines during COVID. Open source as an alternative way. The EU wants to promote European free software companies, will encourage collaboration between states and create an instrument to maintain indigenous solutions against US proprietary software. A lot of financing: 200 billion euros are needed to expand data center capacity until 2036 and another 20 billion to execute digitalization and AI plans in the energy sector. Where from? Fundamentally, attracting private investment. Why is it important. Because Europe does not manage its own data or control the core of its critical industry and this has clear and direct consequences. The old continent has already seen the wolf’s ears. A good example is the cloud: three American companies occupy 70% of the European market, according to Sinergy datacompared to a pyrrhic 15% made in Europe. These are hospitals, public administration, defense of all of Europe operating on servers where Washington rules. In terms of chips, it has already experienced it with Nexperia: the Dutch government took control of the company to prevent China from destroying it and Beijing responded by cutting off the supply of chips, which resulted in a shortage of processors and even stops in an industry as essential for the old continent as the automobile. Context. This package of measures comes with clear bases: the recommendations of the Mario Draghi’s competitiveness report of 2024 and the Competitiveness Compass of the EU and in reality it is not more bureaucracy, but a way of simplifying everything to see the objective more clearly. In fact, a year ago the European Parliament defined what he understood as technological sovereignty: “the ability to build capacity, resilience and security by reducing strategic dependencies, avoiding dependence on foreign actors and single suppliers, and safeguarding critical technologies and infrastructure.” Regarding the chip manufacturing industry, a paradigm shift is observed: we have gone from the practical “just in time” to streamline inventories seeking efficiency and low cost to manufacturing “just in case”, something that is already contemplated by both the European chip law and its American counterpart. Europe’s problem is that it arrives late and with a tiny manufacturing muscle. Yes, but. The European record invites us to take this ambitious plan with caution. The different projects to manufacture chips in the old continent have progressed unevenly, the funds from the original law were dispersed among different state projects without a common industrial strategy (for example, Germany negotiated with Intel and France with STMicroelectronics) and the reality today is that chip manufacturing conditions in Europe continue to be worse than in China, South Korea or the United States. That Europe legislates and each state goes to war on its own also applies to the cloud: the government of each state has the power to decide what to do after the relevant audits. The new package of measures starts from the same point and runs the same risks of fragmentation. On the other hand, there is the economic issue: public financing may be dispersed, but private financing for data centers is not yet assured. And finally there is a big underlying problem: Europe has laws, but it lacks a powerful and complete industrial ecosystem to achieve technological sovereignty. In Xataka | Europe has proposed to become technologically independent from the US: And it has started with the most difficult thing: chips In Xataka | Europe is moving from words to action in its “independence” from Microsoft and Google. First step: critical data Cover | Intel and Carl Gruner

60 years ago a student wanted to study the mountains of the United States. Unknowingly felled the oldest known tree

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At a glance ‘Prometheus’ It was a twisted, rugged, whimsically shaped pine tree that stood on a Nevada mountain. Nothing to do with gigantic sequoias of Redwood National Park, also in the USA, where specimens of more than 100 meters high with bases that are around 30 m in diameter. That, of course, at first glance. Although its size was not striking and it barely stood out in the grove in which it sprouted, ‘Prometheus’ was a tree of almost 5,000 yearswhich made it one of the oldest in the world. Why do we talk about him in the past tense? Very simple: because in the 60s a student who was especially diligent with his research felled it with permission from the authorities. With you, the Pinus longaeva. Its name may not be as well known as that of the redwoods, the baobabs or the Douglas firstrees that have been fascinating humanity for centuries due to their colossal dimensions, but the bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) are just as amazing. Not because of its size, but because of its age. Located primarily in the higher altitude mountains of California, this species has managed to survive for several millennia. As? Its growth is very slow and they usually sprout separately from each other, which allows them to adapt to harsh habitats and withstand fires better. The key to its longevity however lies in its “architecture” and adaptations. As remember from the US National Park Service (NPS), the roots of the Pinus longaeva They only nourish the part of the tree that is directly above them. If that root dies, it only affects its section of the tree. Hence, it is not unusual to see specimens with dry bark on one side and that, however, continue to grow healthily. an old acquaintance. In Wheeler PeakNevada, stood years ago a magnificent specimen of Pinus longaeva. Its height was nothing out of this world, but it was so twisted and had such an ancient appearance that mountaineers in the area They baptized him ‘Prometheus’. Seen in perspective, the nickname is still ironic. In the classical mythology Zeus imposed a horrible punishment on the titan of that name for giving humanity the gift of fire and metallurgy. At Wheeler Peak the ‘Prometheus’ that grew rooted to the mountain ended up perishing precisely because of the efforts of a university student to understand the geology of the region. To understand it you have to go back to summer of 1964when Donald R. Currey, a graduate student studying the ice age of eastern Nevada, had an idea: To better understand the formation of glaciers, he decided to extract samples from the oldest trees that grew in the region. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking. The dendrochronologythe discipline that is responsible for studying climate patterns by analyzing tree rings, dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. In fact, the idea of ​​obtaining samples from the logs sounded so reasonable that authorities raised no objections when Currey asked for permission to study them. The great unknown. In theory, what Currey proposed was to use a drill bit to remove small samples of the trunk, a kind of cylinders from the trunk. pencil size that could later be analyzed in the laboratory. It came with the different rings and their characteristics being appreciated. When it was ‘Prometheus’ turn, something went wrong. Or so it is believed, since more than six decades later it’s still not entirely clear what exactly happened at Wheeler Peak. Some accounts claim that Currey’s drill bit broke while the geologist was trying to make his way through the dense pine wood, so he requested help from the Forest Service. To solve it, the workers opted for the most radical solution: they took out the chainsaw and cut down the tree. Other versions claim that Currey did not know how to work with such a complicated specimen or that there was simply no error and from the beginning he needed a complete cross section to study the trunk. Regardless, there are two clear details. First, that was the end of ‘Prometheus’. Second, Currey did not work as foreigners. He had permission from the Forest Service. And the surprise came. It was not necessary to cut ‘Prometheus’ in two to intuit that it was a very ancient tree. If Currey looked at this pine and others in the area it was precisely because he assumed that they were old enough to give him a broad ‘snapshot’ of the climatic events that had occurred in the region. The surprise came when he took the piece of wood to his laboratory. As ancient as I suspected ‘Prometheus’ to be, one thing is clear: Currey fell short. When he started counting growth rings, he added neither more nor less than 4,862. Given the harsh conditions in which the pine grew, which could have influenced the formation of the layers, the experts ended up concluding that its age was most likely closer to 4,900 years. That is to say, the ancient tree already appeared on the Nevada mountain when the pharaohs reigned in ancient Egypt or Hammurabi ruled in Babylon. The oldest in the world? Although environmental awareness in the 1960s was not the same as it is today, the mistake was considerable. Especially since it was the Forest Service itself that made it possible. The age of ‘Prometheus’ is in fact so astonishing that the NPS itself recognize which at the time was considered “the oldest tree ever dated.” It even surpassed the famous tree ‘Methuselah’other Pinus longaeva of California that is around 4,850 years old. Today that title is in question. Especially after a theoretically even older tree was discovered in 2012, another bristlecone from more than 5,000 years. The US authorities recognize in any case that it is “very likely” that there are other, even older, undated specimens of the same species. “The bristlecone pines of the Great Basin are notable for being the oldest non-clonal species on the … Read more

It is already looking for other bases in the United States (and even abroad)

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The pace of SpaceX launches It’s already dizzyingbut Elon Musk’s company assures that this is nothing. In the future, they hope to make many more releases. In fact, its most ambitious goal is to make more than a thousand launches a year with its famous Starship. Today, they only have two launch platforms adapted to this ship. in your Starbase base. That, logically, would be very short for them at that rate. This is why they are already looking for new launch locations. Many in the United States, but possibly some abroad as well. An ad in X. The news has been revealed through SpaceX’s X (formerly Twitter) account. After a publication by a user speculating about the possible purchase of land to expand its launches, the company not only has not denied it, but has gone further. This user was talking about some land in Louisiana, but SpaceX has announced that they are also considering buying outside the United States. What is known so far. Beyond that speculation from a tweeter, what we do know is that SpaceX is modifying three platforms in the area of ​​Cape Canaveral, Florida, to be able to launch Starship from there. This is the place from which a good part of NASA’s ships are launched. However, there was no space available for the Starship launch. With this decision by SpaceX, its search for new spaces is clear. Although it seems that that is just the beginning. Be careful with the bureaucracy. Buying land abroad to launch ships into space is not so simple. As explained in spacethe United States government welcomes space launches under the framework of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Based on this, American companies that want to fly from foreign soil have to overcome a series of bureaucratic procedures, which are expedited if the country in question has already signed something known as Technological Safeguards Agreement. This agreement derived of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which emerged in 1987 to ensure that missile technology did not end up in the wrong hands. Now, it is used to ensure that countries where space launches are carried out comply with a series of guidelines that do not endanger either the missions or the United States. Candidate countries. There are some countries that have already signed the Technological Safeguards Agreement with the United States. Some examples are Brazil, Norway, New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom. Therefore, if SpaceX wants to launch in foreign countries, these would be the easiest options. In fact, the American company Rocket Lab It already launches from New Zealand without any problem. Step by step. Before talking about thousands of launches a year, we will have to see how the Starship evolves. Its 12th flight, in which version 3 will finally be tested, is scheduled for May 19, local Texas time. If this goes well, SpaceX will be closer to the Moon with its Starship and, logically, will also take another step towards the normalization of commercial flights of this ship. Only many years later will that massive shipment to space arrive. They are right to be proactive, but there is still a long way to go before they really need those launch bases abroad. Images | SpaceX In Xataka | In 2018, Elon Musk put his own car into orbit. Eight years later it is still circling the Earth

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