Valley

This Norwegian valley has rocks on either side of the river that act like a giant pile. Maybe that explains your ghost lights

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The Hessdalen lights are a mysterious phenomenon which has been reported in the valley of the same name, in Norway, since 1811. However, it was in the 1980s when they began to be taken more into account, especially in 1984, when the Hessdalen project was established, aimed at monitoring them and trying to explain them. Unfortunately, despite all the efforts that have been put into this, it is currently not known exactly what this is due to. Although it is true that there are some hypotheses. A very disparate phenomenon. Both witnesses who have seen them and scientists who have recorded or photographed them describe the Hessdalen lights as a very disparate phenomenon. Sometimes they are formed at ground level, other times on roofs or at the height of mountain peaks. Sometimes they move more or less homogeneously, other times they move erratically, changing direction for no apparent reason. They are normally white and yellow, although they have been observed in other colors. Some last only a few seconds, while some can remain in the air for more than an hour. Even the shapes vary from an American football to an upside-down Christmas tree. The only thing that most witnesses seem to agree on is that they are about the size of a car. Hessdalen Project. A multidisciplinary team of scientists from several Norwegian institutions launched a project aimed at monitoring the lights of Hessdalen. Since then, they have been monitored thanks to the installation of radioelectric spectrum analyzers, magnetometers, seismographs, photo cameras, Geiger counters and infrared cameras. That is, earth tremors, magnetism, radioactivity and, ultimately, the emission of energy at different lengths of the electromagnetic spectrum are analyzed. This tracking system began operating in 1984 and is still active today. A peculiar hypothesis. One of the most peculiar hypotheses that have been made about the Hessdalen lights is that they could be the visible result of the formation of a wormhole micrometer that connects two points in space time. In reality, this hypothesis was raised in a magazine with little scientific reputation, very given to conspiracy theory and the supernatural, so it is not the most accepted at all. Hypotheses in the air. Thanks to the monitoring of these lights, there are much more plausible hypotheses. To begin with, it is thought that the Hessdalen lights could be due to the decay of radon, a very abundant gas in the Norwegian atmosphere. This disintegration would produce alpha particles capable of ionizing the molecules present in the air and dust, giving rise to structures capable of emitting light, called Coulomb crystals. Hypotheses on the ground. There are also hypotheses that point to the geology of the valley. For example, it is believed that it could be due to the combustion in the presence of air of dust clouds rich in scandium, an element that is abundant in the soil of this Norwegian region. It could also be a piezoelectric effect. This is the effect by which some materials are capable of emitting electricity when pressed or deformed. Quartz, for example, has great piezoelectricity and turns out to be very abundant under the valley floor. Copper is also abundant, which is a great conductor of electricity. And speaking of electricity, a battery effect could also be occurring. On one side of the river in the valley there are rocks very rich in zinc and iron. On the other side, rocks very rich in copper. The former could act as the anode of a battery and the latter as the cathode. In turn, local mines rich in sulfur could be releasing this element into the river, which would act as the bridge of a battery, allowing electricity to flow. If there is electricity, there is light. All these electricity emissions could be causing the ionization of molecules present in the air, giving rise to a process in which light is emitted. It is something similar to what happens with the northern lights, although the origin of the ionizing particles is totally different. The color of light depends on the molecules in the air. That is why it is not always exactly the same, although white and yellow tend to be abundant. In short, it is still not known where these mysterious lights come from, which can be seen both day and night. But that is precisely why they are so fascinating. Image | Bjørn Gitle HaugeØstfold University College, Fredrikstad, Norway In Xataka | Norway works little but produces a lot and that stresses them out. Generation Z has found the solution: the four-day week

As Silicon Valley perpetuates its workday, the four-day work week has found an unexpected ally: OpenAI

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While in the mecca of the technology industry celebrates the “996” model (from nine in the morning to nine at night, six days a week) as a mantra to not to be left behind In the AI ​​race, the creator of ChatGPT stands out by proposing just the opposite: reducing working hours with a four day work week. OpenAI just published your report ‘Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age: Ideas to Keep People First‘. In it, the company suggests that AI can be the perfect excuse for us to work fewer hours a week without losing a cent of our salary. The idea is not just an academic conjecture, but proposes a package of labor policies designed for the age of AI. Four-day days without touching the salary. One of the most surprising sections of the report refers to “efficiency dividends.” With them, OpenAI proposes that governments, companies and unions promote pilot tests of 32-hour days or four days of work per week without salary reduction, as has been established tested successfully in different countries around the world. The stated objective is to maintain the same levels of production and service, taking advantage of the automation options provided by AI and then making the leap to a model of permanent reduced working hours or cumulative vacation days for employees. The striking thing about the proposal is not its content itself, something that has already been implemented with success in some companiesthe key is who proposes the change. Instead of a union or a workplace welfare study, the idea comes from the company itself that is accelerating the transformation of the labor market around the world. Not just reduction in working hours: better pensions and care. OpenAI presents this measure as a way to redistribute part of the productivity benefits extra generated by AI, so that profits are not concentrated only in the shareholders or in the big technology companies, but that the entire population participates in this advance. The four-day week is just one of the most striking measures, but the report goes much further. OpenAI suggests that companies that profit from AI also increase their contributions to their employees’ pension plans (not just those of their managers as a bonus), and that they cover more of their employees’ healthcare expenses. He also proposes what he calls “benefit bonuses“, direct bonuses linked to improved productivity and subsidies for the care of minors and the elderly. If robots work, let them quote. The document recognizes that AI automation can lead to the massive displacement of jobs and further concentrate wealth in a very small number of large companies. That is why it calls for more robust social protection networks. Curiously, OpenAI’s postulate coincides with the statements made a few weeks ago did Bill Gatesarguing that if AI was to reduce dependence on human labor, taxation should shift from wages and contributions to capital gains and corporate profits. The document introduces the idea of ​​”taxes on automated work”, linked to jobs previously done by people who would be replaced by robots. In Xataka | The war in Iran has achieved something that no government has achieved: giving reasons to bring back teleworking Image | Unsplash (Nathan Kuczmarski)

The most opaque business in Silicon Valley has just published its best results. This is exactly what Palantir sells

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Palantir has published some quarterly results that have surprised even its most optimistic analysts: revenues of $1.63 billion in the first quarter, 85% more than a year before. The company has also raised its annual forecast to almost 7,660 million. These are numbers that place Palantir in another league. And yet, many people don’t know exactly what they do. That is not an accident when it comes to this company, with such a specific type of activity. The context. Palantir has been building data analysis software for more than twenty years for governments and institutions that prefer not to make the headlines: the CIA, the FBI, the Pentagon, the United States immigration services… The company was founded in 2003 by Peter Thiel, the investor who also put money into Facebook and which today orbits in the power constellation. Trumpian, and by Alex Karp, its CEO, a notably eccentric figure with a PhD in Social Theory from Frankfurt. The combination of American intelligence money (In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital fund, was one of its first investors) and German university campus philosophy perfectly defines the moral ambiguity in which the company lives. In detailand. Palantir’s business has two legs. The first, and the one that is growing the most, is the American government: 687 million dollars in this quarter alone, 84% more than the previous year. The second leg is the commercial business with private companies, which has grown even faster (133%) to 595 million. But to understand how Palantir makes money you have to understand what it sells: Palantir Gotham It is its star product for governments and defense. It integrates dispersed data sources (satellite images, interceptions, movement logs, social networks, intelligence databases, etc.) and turns them into a coherent map that an analyst can interrogate. That is, it transforms oceans of noise into manageable information environments on which to make decisions. The screenshot that heads this article is an example. Palantir Foundry It is the business version. It does the same thing but for large companies: it unites data from different departments, cleans the information and allows automated workflows to be built on it. Maven AI It is their most recent and most controversial product. It is a command and control system that analyzes battlefield data and identifies targets in real time. The Pentagon is in the process of making it an official program of the American army, which would guarantee succulent long-term contracts. Between the lines. CEO Alex Karp This week he addressed his shareholders to explain to them that “the United States remains the constant core of the business. And that business is exploding.” Palantir’s rise is directly linked to increased defense spending, escalating geopolitical conflicts, and the growing use of AI in military contexts. In other words: when the world becomes more dangerous, Palantir makes more. Its business model is, to some extent, a barometer of global tension. Yes, but. Palantir Stock fell 1.5% in the aftermarket despite the good results, and they have accumulated a drop of around 18% so far this year. Investors have two questions without clear answers. The first: is 85% growth sustainable? The second, the most uncomfortable: what happens if the administration changes, if defense priorities change or if Congress tightens spending? A company whose main engine is a single client (the US government) has a concentration of risk that does not appear in the metrics they boast about. The money trail. The perennial debate about Palantir is not the financial one but the ethical one. The company has been at the center of some controversies for its work with ICE (the American immigration service) in identifying undocumented people, and for the role that its tools have played in military operations in different parts of the world. Karp does not shy away from these questions: he openly argues that the West needs companies willing to do this work, and that those who refuse simply leave the field open to others. It is an argument that its investors accept without many questions. And the results, for now, prove them right. In Xataka | AI is crucial for the US military. So he’s naming OpenAI and Palantir leaders as lieutenant generals Featured image | Palantir, Xataka with Mockuuups Studio

The Musk-Altman trial, the soap opera of the year in Silicon Valley

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That Elon Musk and Sam Altman hate each other It’s nothing new. The news is that their rivalry is about to reach the courts. Yesterday jury selection took place which will decide whether, as Musk says, OpenAI violated its founding agreement to be a nonprofit organization. Much more is judged than that; The case aims to be a soap opera in which years of personal conflict will be aired. The accusation. In 2024, Elon Musk sued Sam Altman and OpenAI for having broken the company’s founding agreement, which said that “OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company.” The CEO of SpaceX, who was one of the founders of OpenAI, claims that he was scammed and as soon as they got his money ($38 million) “he radically changed the narrative and dedicated himself to profiting (…) taking advantage of his humanitarian concern.” Musk calls for the dismissal of Sam Altman and his president, Greg Brockman, as well as $134 billion that would go to the nonprofit arm of OpenAI. OpenAI’s response. According to the company, Elon Musk was aware of the plan become a for-profit entitywhich was a necessary step for the company. OpenAI says that Musk is jealous and “regrets having retired” in 2018. In addition, they say that the money Musk contributed was not an investment, but a donation, and does not give him any ownership rights over OpenAI, as they say in Guardian. The breakup. OpenAI was founded in 2015 and shortly after, in 2017, it became clear that developing the dreamed-of AGI was going to require a lot of money, something difficult to achieve as a non-profit company. Here the option of a collaboration between OpenAI and Tesla was raised to solve the financing problem. According to OpenAI, Musk wanted full control of the company and this is where everything went wrong. The timing. Although he left the company in 2018, Musk does not sue OpenAI until 2024. During this time, OpenAI launched ChatGPT and ended up signing its great agreement with Microsoft. Apparently, this was what finally pissed off Musk, who accused OpenAI of having become a branch of Microsoft. Their objective was to annul the agreement, although much has happened since then. Today, OpenAI is the most valuable private company in the worldwith investments from giants such as NVIDIA, Amazon or Softbank. If Musk wins, his problem is no longer canceling the agreement with Microsoft, but something much more important: it puts at stake its planned IPO. A personal rivalry. Beyond the official accusations, Musk and Altman have a personal rivalry that has been brewing for years with countless public taunts and accusations. Musk has said that Altman is a liar and a scammer (He usually calls it ‘Scam Altman’) or that ChatGPT is a ‘woke’ AI. Altman has not been left behind; He has said that Musk is an idiot and even ridiculed him for the Tesla he bought and that was never deliveredgoing so far as to publish emails asking for a refund. In the trial, private details such as Elon Musk’s use of ketamine are expected to be aired, something that according to OpenAI is relevant since it portrays his mental state quite well. Let the show begin. Cover image | Village Global and Gage Skidmorevia Flickr In Xataka | MACROHARD is Elon Musk’s mockery of Microsoft: an AI agent that no other company can get. Still

Within Meta there is a race to see which employee consumes the most AI tokens. It’s the ‘Tokenmaxxing’ of Silicon Valley

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There is a battle within Meta: see who spends the most AI tokens. This is the basic unit that AI uses to understand the language with which we order actions. It is like the “bridge” between our words and the numbers that the machine can process and, therefore, when ChatGPT either Google They present a model, they brag about the millions of tokens they can process. But tokens are also becoming a ‘spending’ unit in AI companies. Silicon Valleyso much so that they may be generating a toxic work culture. And Meta is an example of a company where employees compete to see how many tokens they can consume to become a Token Legend. Tokenmaxxing. It is not the first time that we talked about this. A few days ago, Jensen Huang -CEO of NVIDIA and one of the main instigators of this phenomenon- commented that he would be worried if an engineer who earns $500,000 did not spend at least $250,000 a year on tokens. Because tokens cost money and NVIDIA is already considering offering tokens as part of the signing bonuses for its artificial intelligence engineers. Goals. As it could not be otherwise, Meta does not want to miss this party. The company, which changed its name when the metaverse was going to be the big thing and, after the swerveis defined as a “native AI company”, is one of those that promotes its artificial intelligence engineers to keep a count of the tokens spent during their day. There is no official data, but there are reports revealed to media such as Business Insider and The Information which point out that some of these teams have very specific objectives related to the use of tokens. For example, the company expects 65% of its engineers to write more than 75% of code using AI tools by the middle of this year. The Scalable Machine Learning division has another objective, and so on in each of the code-related departments within Meta. Legend Token. In The Information, they directly point out that there is an internal classification table created by the employees themselves to gamify the work. It shows the 250 most intensive AI users in their tasks with an easy premise: the more tokens you spend, the more you climb in the ranking. The winner of this particular competition takes the title of ‘Token Legend’, or ‘Legend of Tokens’. It is turning an expectation into a kind of internal sport. The first paragraph of this article converted to tokens crazy spending. If we put the first paragraph of 542 words in the tool ‘tokenizer‘ from OpenAI, we see that that simple phrase has already consumed 121 tokens. Well: according to The Information, in the last 30 days the total token panel usage of that internal table was more than 60 billion (of ours) tokens And even if they want to dress it for sports and competition, it is still obligatory. In late 2025, Meta launched the ‘Level Up’ program where employees who complete the most tasks using AI earn badges. And more important than this: it made the use of AI a central criterion in its employee performance evaluations. This, obviously, sets salary and promotion objectives. Doubts. But of course, beyond paying to work, there are other underlying issues. One of the criticisms of this tokenmaxxing system is that AI companies like Meta or NVIDIA encourage spending more on tokens because, in this way, their own employees become consumers of the product they are creating. An easy example that software engineering analyst Gergely Orosz exposed which is as if Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said that if one of his employees who earns $500,000 a year did not spend $50,000 on purchases in the App Store, he would be worried. Orosz continuous stating that productivity should not be measured in tokens spent, but in the results obtained. Industry issue. In any case, Meta and NVIDIA are not the only ones that measure their employees by their consumption of AI at work. It is something that is soaking in other AI majors, turning the tokens into an extra work benefit incorporated into the engineers’ remuneration wheel along with the base salary, performance bonuses and shares. HE esteem that an OpenAI engineer can process 210 billion tokens in a week and there are Claude Code engineers who accumulate more than $150,000 in tokens in one month. Basically it is merging part of your salary into the company that pays you. And… have they said anything from Meta? Yes, it’s not about volume, but about quality, pointing that performance rewards are based on the impact of the work and not the raw use of AI. Image | ‘Wolf of Wall Street’, Meta Logo. Edited In Xataka | Google Earth shows the world. The Spanish Xoople wants AI to understand it

Everyone in Silicon Valley has sided with the Trump administration. Everyone except Google DeepMind’s chief scientist

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The big technology companies have changed their political color and the leaders who once boasted diversity and inclusiontoday they position themselves alongside Trump and they even have dinner with him. In Silicon Valley, almost no one talks about politics, much less to criticize the president, no one except one man. Jeff Dean. He is the chief scientist of Google DeepMind and one of the few voices in Silicon Valley that has a critical stance towards the Trump government and most importantly: he says it in public. As they say in the Wall Street JournalDean often shares messages critical of the current administration in your X accountwhere he has almost 430,000 followers, and has strongly condemned acts like the murder of Alex Pretti at the hands of ICe agents in the Minnesota protests. Support Anthropic. Jeff Dean was one of 30 Google and OpenAI employees who signed the letter of support towards Anthropicafter it sued the Pentagon for declaring them “a risk to national security”. The judge who agreed with Anthropic and blocked the decisioncited this letter of support as part of the context of the case. Other companies like Microsoft They also took a stand in favor of Anthropic, but they did so through a spokesperson. The rarity. Positions like that of Jeff Dean, who openly criticizes the government and also does so in a personal capacity, would not have stood out a few years ago. In 2018 technology companies turned to the #MeToo movement and also supported the mobilizations of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. This happened during Trump’s first term, but during his second, figures like Jeff Dean have become a rarity in Silicon Valley. The second mandate. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Tim Cook… the support of the technological leaders was noted from the investiture ceremony itself, which was not only attended but They donated a million dollars each and, as a reward, saved billions in taxes. Companies began to take measures immediately, such as remove from Meta’s anti-fake-news system either dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion departments. The delicate line. That Donald Trump is a fairly volatile leader is nothing new. Making him angry is as easy as contradicting him and his reaction can be excessive, And if not, tell Anthropic. In this sense, the fear of the possible consequences of a disagreement plays a role in this submission, because let us not forget that the government is the one who dictates export-import regulations and can make their business much easier. In the end, what is happening in Silicon Valley It is not so different from the situation in China that is so criticized from the American side. In Xataka | The war between Anthropic and the Pentagon points to something terrifying: a new “Oppenheimer Moment” Image | Wikipedia

Supplements, medications and Silicon Valley vampires: the promise of living (well) over 100 years: Crossover 1×40

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A few weeks ago we brought Dr. José Hernández, an expert in longevity and rejuvenation, who told us about what it really means to get older And what technologies allow us to stop this curse? biological. Well, the thing did not stop there, because in the pipeline we had this second installment of an interview that now goes even further. Thus, on this occasion we focus especially on the drugs and medications that try to extend our longevity and let’s also do it with quality of life. There are some here usual suspectsand there has long been talk about how certain supplements can contribute to human longevity. We took the opportunity to talk about Mounjaro and Ozempic and how these medications “reprogram” the brain and what impact that strategy can have. But in addition, Jaume de la Hoz —who is “deep inside” this segment, as he says— reviews many other drugs and supplements in addition to taking the conversation to another fascinating terrain: that of the vampires of Silicon Valley and that of millionaires like Brian Johnsonwhich has become famous for its unique methods of rejuvenation. Without a doubt, an exciting topic in which, of course, AI can also play a fundamental role. Platforms like AlphaFold and their implications when it comes to proposing a potential revolution in biology are certainly promising, but here we have to be cautious: There are many expectations and, at the moment, few certainties. On YouTube | Crossover

build a “military Silicon Valley” in the heart of Madrid

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In recent years, security has become the new silent motor of European industrial policy. Wars and pressures between allies have modified plans. It is no longer just about manufacturing more, but about deciding where, how and under what control strategic capabilities of the future are built. Spain, in fact, is in search and capture of a node that amplifies its defense. The obstacle of the ground and an ambition. Spain wants to accelerate its military modernization and the centerpiece is to concentrate talent, engineering and technological development in a single large complex. Here appears Indra who, apparently, is looking for 77 hectares in the area of ​​Madrid to build a macrohub of up to 300,000 square meters dedicated to radars, electronic defense, communications and industrial digitalization, with a investment of 385 million backed by the European Investment Bank and the promise of thousands of skilled jobs (speaking of more than 3,000 new positions). The project, initially linked to Torrejón de Ardoz, has been slowed down by administrative slowness and is now considering other locations in the Henares Corridor, an area that the company considers strategic to reinforce a technological hub capable of responding to the new modernization programs of the Armed Forces. A military Silicon Valley. The ambition, on paper, goes beyond a simple corporate center. The idea is to create a complete ecosystem where laboratories, simulators, advanced manufacturing and auxiliary companies come together, turning the Madrid axis into a kind of Military Silicon Valley Spanish. The strategic plan Leading the Future aims to consolidate Indra as a driver of the defense and aerospace sector, attracting suppliers, research centers and technological startups that revolve around a strong industrial core. It is not, therefore, just about constructing buildings, but about articulate an innovation network that places Spain in a more autonomous and competitive position on the European board. Corporate engineering to avoid losing control. In parallel, the Government is moving to ensure that this national defense champion does not escape public control. As? Apparently, Moncloa is studying transferring Indra’s defense assets to a new subsidiary that allows the integration of Escribano Mechanical & Engineering and eventually other companies in the sector, all without diluting state participation through SEPI. counted the newspaper El Mundo There is a compelling reason behind this movement. The formula aims to avoid the conflict of interest derived from Ángel Escribano’s dual status as president of Indra and co-owner of EM&M, and to avoid a loss of control over an industry considered strategic. Industrial consolidation under pressure. The merger by absorption initially approved generated tensions due to shareholder balance and the risk of litigation, but undoing the path is not easy either. I remembered the media that Indra and EM&M have signed contracts under the heat of public credits linked to military programs and, in practice, they have operated as if integration were already underway. Added to this is the pressure of new international investors who see consolidation as a clear opportunity to create value. The result is a pulse between industrial ambition, state control and political times, one that will define whether Spain manages to articulate that “sovereignty mode” with a technological-military pole, or if societal complexity slows down the project that aspires to transform the heart of the country at the epicenter of its new defense industry. Image | RawPixel, Felipe Gabaldon In Xataka | Spain has been a weapons exporting power for decades. Now he has made a decision: keep them In Xataka | In the midst of rearmament, Spain has just surprised Europe: 5,000 million for 34 warships and four submarines

The US chip industry is being forged in Silicon Valley. Curiously, the hammer is held by South Korea

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The United States has embarked on a journey of technological sovereignty. It has some of the largest and most cutting-edge technology companiesbut they depend on foreign companies. That’s why, Appield Materials has put 5 billion dollars on the table seeking US technological hegemony. And, in this ambitious project, it is not an American who has slipped in as founding partner of the EPIC Center. It’s Samsung. EPIC. It’s a “modest” name for a $5 billion facility that will be in the heart of Silicon Valley. The name comes from Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization and is the spearhead of American investment in research and development of advanced semiconductor equipment. Its objective is to accelerate the development of equipment and processes to create advanced memory chips, shortening traditional cycles when developing cutting-edge chips. The installation is imposingwith more than 16,700 m² of clean room and is expected to come into operation this spring. Samsung. And, in that ambitious objective, is the South Korean company. The alliance is to address one of the semiconductor industry’s most important challenges: the long time required to bring new chip technologies to market. from research to production. The EPIC Center is not a competition for the European ASMLbut something complementary to shorten those processes that can take between 10 and 15 years. And Samsung will be there as one of the founding partners. Samsung Electronics CEO Young Hyun Jun commented that the collaboration will allow “advance in cutting-edge semiconductor equipment technologies.” The EPIC Center Expansion. Samsung is one of the most important foundries in the world and, in the era of artificial intelligence, it is consolidating itself as a pillar by being the first that will supply NVIDIA of the new HBM4 memories. Its presence at the EPIC Center seems like a key strategic move, but it is not the only advance that the company has recently made on American soil. In that pursuit of creating high-bandwidth memory and advanced systems, Samsung has a facility in TaylorTexas, to advance the production of 2 nanometer chips. Foreign industrial fabric. One of Donald Trump’s goals was to recover the American industrial fabric with American companies and American labor. That’s why he ‘rescued’ Intel a few months ago with the aim that the company was his great foundry. And it is having its fruits: Intel has risen from the ashes with new advanced processors and is positioning itself to supply both NVIDIA and Apple. However, what is also arriving is foreign muscle like Samsung and something more serious: TSMC. The Taiwanese giant is the company on which the entire semiconductor and device industry pivots, and it is increasingly becoming making more land in the United States to manufacture in the country and continue with a diversification project which includes Europe. That is to say, the United States is reindustrializing and is taking steps to have an authoritative voice in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, but much of that muscle belongs to the same old foreign companies… that will simply now also produce in the United States. HBM4. Meanwhile, Samsung continues to do its thing. Not only are they at full production HBM4 memoriesbut also investigating the possible replacement for that technology: DRAM memories in which Intel and SoftBank are also taking steps. And in addition to their own Exynos for their mobiles, there are sources who claim that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is developing its own chip for artificial intelligence and is in talks with Samsung for it to be manufactured. Images | Applied Materials (edited) In Xataka | China’s future in the chip industry is in the hands of a single, almost unknown company: SiCarrier

Mexico knows that the future lies in technological sovereignty and has already chosen its “Silicon Valley: Jalisco and Sonora

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Mexico has undertaken the adventure of technological sovereignty. With her arrival to the presidency, Claudia Sheinbaum set the modest goal of “continuing to make Mexico the best country in the world.” To this end, he presented the ‘Mexico Plan‘, a roadmap to attract investment and develop industries such as biotechnology, electric cars or that of semiconductors. And the foundations for that ambitious chip manufacturing plan are already being built with a single idea in mind. Technological sovereignty. Kutsari. Silicon is extracted from sand and this is precisely what ‘kutsari’ means in Purépecha. It is also the name of Kutsari Project that seeks to stop importing a large part of the semiconductors that Mexico needs for the products it already manufactures. Puebla, Jalisco and Sonora are the three locations chosen to develop a plan that only pursues one objective: to stop being a country that assembles chips to become one that designs, manufactures and sells them. Jalisco moves. Since the project was announced, steps have been taken to get it started, and as we read in MillenniumJalisco has not wasted time. One of the poles of Kutsari will be the Cinvestav -Center for Research and Advanced Studies-. The reason is that it is the only institution in the country that has an agreement with Intel to generate integrated circuits in 16 nanometer lithography. Jalisco was already a semiconductor manufacturing point at the end of the last century and the Intel Design Center is located in the same area. That is why Jalisco has already been nicknamed the ‘Silicon Valley of Latin America’, a ‘hub’ in which different technology companies are settling, especially those dedicated to semiconductors, and which is bringing foreign investment. According to Pablo Lemusgovernor of Jalisco, if Mexico’s economy grew by 0.5%, due to that investment Jalisco’s grew by 4%. Sonora winks at the US. Another of the axes in this objective of technological sovereignty is Sonora. Recently, it signed an agreement to locate the Semiconductor Research and Development Center at the University of Sonora. Apart from being another thinking mind in the semiconductor strategy, Sonora has an advantage: the Mexico-US Trade Corridor, which seeks greater investment and regional connectivity. In the end, Sonora and Jalisco are taking steps in the same direction: investment, consolidation of already established infrastructures, construction of new buildings and strengthening agreements to attract talent. Goal: 2028. As they say, things in the palace move slowly, and currently both states are in a phase that we could classify as pre-production. They are preparing the ground in parallel, making advances in design, but also in talent and the ecosystem to create the chip production chain. Let’s remember the importance of having all this tied up (and the closer, the better), since it is one of the secrets behind the leadership of the Taiwanese TSMC. Once everything is ready, the manufacturing phase will begin, and in this sense, we also have to talk about the state of Puebla. In the municipality of Cholula will locate one of Mexico’s semiconductor production plants, one that will take advantage of all that knowledge developed by Jalisco and Sonora and that, it is expected, will begin producing chips by 2028 with an eye toward commercialization by 2029. Competence. It seems like a long time, but it is really a very short period to shape an industry as complex as semiconductors. But, obviously, you have to start somewhere and the latest advances in the Kutsari project show that Mexico remains determined to achieve a certain sovereignty in the chip segment. Now, we will see how far Mexico’s aspirations go and if its production is sufficient to satisfy the global market or it has to “settle” for the domestic market. The reason is that the component crisis of 2020 and the current RAM crisis It is teaching us something: you cannot depend on one country or a handful of companies. And there, Vietnam, India and China are strengthening for break technological hegemony which is currently in the hands of a few. This implies greater competition, but if Mexico’s plans go well, it also represents an opportunity that should not be missed. Image | ASML (edited) In Xataka | There is a global race to gain hegemony of critical minerals. And Mexico has just taken a key step

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