winning

China is quietly winning the AI ​​race thanks to something very simple: cheap energy

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“China is going to win the artificial intelligence race,” warned Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Many thought he was exaggerating, interested in fueling demand for his chips. But, as analyst June Yoon explained in her column for the Financial TimesHuang’s argument contains an uncomfortable truth: the availability of electricity—not chips—is becoming the critical factor for the development of AI. A model like GPT-4 can consume more than 460,000 megawatt-hours per year, the equivalent of the energy consumption of 35,000 American homes, according to a study. The world’s data centers—already colossal—could double their electricity consumption before 2030. And that changes the rules of the game. When there are plenty of chips, but there are no plugs. The race for AI It started with a GPU fever. Big tech companies rushed to buy every Nvidia chip available, but they soon discovered something more worrying: there weren’t enough sockets to connect them. Satya Nadella himself, CEO of Microsoft, he said it bluntly: “The biggest problem we have now is not excess chips, but energy.” Electricity demand has skyrocketed so much that Google, Microsoft and Amazon are already contemplating build nuclear reactors to keep your servers on. The paradox sums up the moment well: the digital leadership of the West encounters a physical limit, that of cheap energy. Energy as a new geopolitics. Analyst June Yoon throw a question that reorders the technological map: what if the AI ​​race had nothing to do with chips, but with electricity? If the last century was defined by oil, this one will be defined by the current China no longer lives off oil: generates it. It has gone from being a petrostate dependent on crude oil to becoming the first electrostate on the planet. More than one quarter of your electricity It comes from renewable sources and its network is growing at a speed that no other country can match. Now that energy sovereignty fuels a new front: artificial intelligence. How did you find the formula? Since September, the Chinese Government Subsidizes up to 50% of energy costs of data centers that use national chips. The inland provinces—Guizhou, Gansu, Inner Mongolia—have become “electric hearts” of Chinese AI: there energy is abundant and cheapand local governments offer historically low rates of just 0.4 yuan per kilowatt-hour. The measure has a dual purpose: Compensate for the lower efficiency of domestic chips compared to Nvidia’s. Promote technological independence in the midst of a trade war. As Bloomberg has detailedthese regions are connected by ultra-high voltage (UHV) lines that transport renewable energy from the interior to the coastal areas where big technology companies, such as Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance, are concentrated. The goal is clear: ensure abundant, low-cost energy for AI training clusters. According to Rystad Energythe electricity consumption of data centers could more than double before 2030, reaching 1,800 terawatt-hours in 2040. Beijing is preparing to absorb it. The result is a planned, centralized energy ecosystem designed to scale AI. An example is the Talatan Solar Parkwhich extends like a sea of ​​metal mirrors: more than 600 square kilometers of panels that are combined with wind and hydroelectric parks. From there, the power travels along high-voltage lines to data centers on the coast. It is a postcard of the new Chinese power: sun, wind and silicon. China’s electrical advantage. The strategy is also working in the markets. According to Bloombergshares of Chinese power companies have risen up to 40% in a week, driven by demand for AI data centers. UBS forecasts that electricity demand in China will grow 8% annually until 2028. Meanwhile, in Washington, the Trump administration has launched an AI Action Plan to accelerate the construction of data centers and remove obstacles to energy projects. But, as FT analysts point outchip improvements are stuck in single digits, while Chinese renewable energy grows by double digits every year. The power is in the socket. In the race for artificial intelligence, chips are the brain. But the heart beats with electricity. The United States retains leadership and has the best semiconductors (for now); China, the network that keeps them on. As June Yoon wroteall the technological superpowers in history—from coal England to oil America—were built on a source of cheap energy. Today, artificial intelligence needs electricity as it once needed steam. And on that new board, China seems to have found the key: plug in the future before anyone else. Image | Pixabay and Hanwha Xataka | SoftBank abandons the king of chips in its prime. And he bets everything on OpenAI

The two most important weather models in the world are discussing whether Santander is going to freeze next week. And the cold is winning

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Where has all the cold gone? So far this fall (with the sole exception of Siberia), temperatures have been relatively mild on all continents. And it seems that the situation is going to continue like this: it is true that the forecasts speak of a progressive decrease in temperatures in the southeast of Canada, the eastern United States and northern Europe; but no model paints a scenario that is particularly cold (except some very long term prediction). However, all eyes are on the polar vortex. If the models are right, it is very possible that the vortex will experience an unprecedented disturbance in November, leading to an interesting weather period starting in December. “There is no way this is fulfilled.” While November continues with its strange meteorology, the models draw increasingly strange scenarios. At this point in the week, we cannot rule out that on the 18th and 19th we have a more than considerable winter storm with the ‘beast from the east‘looming over Western Europe. In the next few hours we will have a war between models: The American marks a cold entry on Santander, the European said no. Little by little, the two seem to be converging towards a cold scene. It’s too early to say, but in a very few hours the daisy will be shedding its leaves. Anyway, the central issue is that all of this is minute sin. The breaking of the vortex. Except for that event in the middle of next week, autumn will continue to be very warm and mild on almost all continents. However, this could change if sudden stratospheric warming appears. That is, the vortex breaks. Sudden stratospheric warming? To understand it simply, we have to remember that the atmosphere is a kind of “lasagna of air layers” and each of them follows its own logic. That is, they work quite differently and independently. As far as it affects us: the circulation of air in the troposphere (the one closest to the surface) and the circulation in the stratosphere (the layer directly above) are related, yes; But, in general terms, they each do their own thing. During the “sudden stratospheric warming“, a part of the troposphere warms rapidly and, as a consequence, invades the stratosphere, causing a profound alteration of the circulation at high altitude. That is, for a few days, everything turns upside down. And what happens? The most common consequence of this is that the polar vortex weakens and may break down. The polar (arctic) vortex is a current of air that runs from west to east around the north pole and contains cold air at high latitudes. When this current is strong and stable, preventing it from flowing towards places like Spain. If the vortex It destabilizes and its winds lose strength (due to, for example, “sudden warming”), it is relatively common for cold air masses to escape on their way south. What if it doesn’t break? In reality, the vortex does not even need to break. It only needs to move from the Arctic region to lower latitudes. By moving a huge mass of cold air with it, the result is always very similar: an icy cold that can turn any country upside down (even the best prepared ones). And that seems to be what we are going to see. It’s hard to know if it will affect us or not, but there’s no doubt that the late fall weather is getting “interesting.” Image | Meteociel In Xataka | The last hope of winter in Spain is desperate, but increasingly possible: the breaking of the polar vortex

which companies are winning in the great rearmament of Spanish industry

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Europe has entered a new era of rearmament. The Russian invasion of Ukraine reopened a arms race that seemed surpassed, and the governments of the continent have returned to look at their defense industry with urgency. In that map of reactivated factories, million-dollar contracts and multinational programsSpain occupies an important place. From Navantia to Indra, from ITP Aero to Escribano, the country has a network of companies that design frigates, radars, engines or intelligence systems for the most ambitious projects in Europe. This is the portrait of who is who in the Spanish defense, how much they really weigh and what role they play in the rearmament of the continent. Opportunities and challenges in European rearmament A study prepared by PwC For the employers’ association, TEDAE offers a precise overview of the industrial weight that defense has today in Spain. According to this report, published in 2024, the Defense, Security, Aeronautics and Space industries generated 21,919 million euros of GDP (1.4% of national GDP) and 260,049 direct, indirect and induced jobs. The document does not establish a ranking, but it does make it clear that the Spanish defense ecosystem is one of the most diversified in Europe. Reading it helps to dimension the magnitude of an industrial fabric that supports a good part of European rearmament. The momentum of the sector does not advance without friction. In an interview with El Paísthe president of Indra, Scribe Angelrecognized that Spain still lacks a giant comparable to Rheinmetall, Thales either Leonard. “We need a greater dimension,” he noted, adding that the objective is not to create a “national champion,” but to consolidate a fabric where companies cooperate and share capabilities. A vision that reflects both the ambitions and the internal tensions of the integration process in Spanish defense. Industrial reactivation is not enough on its own to guarantee sustainable defense. The Elcano Royal Institute warns that the rearmament effort It cannot be measured only in investment figures or signed contracts. In one of his recent analyses, he points out that “the revitalization of Spanish defense will only be sustainable if it is based on strategic and national security criteria.” To do this, it proposes reinforcing the so-called “strategic culture”, a long-term vision that transcends industrial logic and that makes it possible to clearly define what role Spain wants to play in the European security framework. “The revitalization of Spanish defense will only be sustainable if it is based on strategic and national security criteria” With this warning on the table, European rearmament is also understood as an exercise of concrete capabilities. Behind every contract, every European program, there are factories, engineering and shipyards that support the modernization effort. Spain is not starting from scratch: it has a network of companies that have grown in the heat of the great projects of NATO and the European Union. Some of them are public, others private, but they are all part of the same ecosystem that is once again gaining prominence today. The names that are defining the new defense industry in Spain Navantia It is the main reference of the Spanish naval industry and an essential piece in European rearmament. From its shipyards in Ferrol, Cartagena and Cádiz Ships have left for the Spanish Navy and for navies around the world, like the F-100 frigates or the Avante corvettes. Currently, it concentrates efforts on two strategic programs: the F-110 frigates, with a contract of 4,325 million euros, and the S-80 submarines. The F-111 “Bonifaz”, the first unit of the F-110 series, was launched on September 11, 2025 and the delivery of the first ship is scheduled for 2028. In submarines, the S-82, the second unit of the S-80 classes, He was sponsored on October 3, 2025. One of the frigates that bears the Navantia seal But there is more. With revenues of 1,528 million euros in 2024 and more than 5,600 employeesthe public company is committed to the model “shipyard 4.0” to modernize and thus respond to the growing demand for maritime capabilities of its clients. Indra acts as the technological backbone of Spanish defense: integrates C4ISR systems, radars, electronic warfare and simulation, and is the national coordinator in the FCAS program for the sensor and combat cloud pillars. His legacy in Eurofighter —with avionics, defensive aids and modernizations— is complemented by sustained defense contracting. Indra closed 2024 with 4,843 million in income and a portfolio of 7,245 million. To this he adds “combat cloud” demonstrators with the Air and Space Army. The PW800 engine is behind the first transatlantic flight powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel ITP Aero is the literal and figurative engine of Spanish defense. Specialized in design, manufacture and maintenance of turbines, is part of Europe’s most advanced programs, from the Eurofighter to the future FCAS system, where it leads in Spain the development of the new generation engine. In 2024 he allocated 102 million euros to R&D—55% more than the previous year—and closed the year with 1,612 million in revenue. Its industrial expansion includes the Ajalvir plantwith a million-dollar investment for maintenance of GTF engines, and the reinforcement of its Zamudio center. These investments consolidate its role as a strategic propulsion supplier in NATO and the EU. SAPA is the great Spanish specialist in armored vehicle mobility and one of the few European companies with their own capacity to develop new generation transmissions. Its technology equips to the vehicle 8×8 Dragon of the Army. Besides, has been selected by General Dynamics Land Systems to supply transmissions to US Army programs linked to the replacement of the Bradley (XM30), a long-term industrial agreement valued by the press at up to 5,000 million euros. Based in Guipúzcoa, the company works on hybrid and electric systems for military platforms, in line with trends. Escribano Mechanical & Engineering represents the most dynamic face of the new Spanish industrial fabric. Specialized in remotely controlled weapon stations (RWS), optronics and smart ammunition, the company has managed to position itself as a key supplier of … Read more

NVIDIA is the most powerful company on the planet because it made a bet and it is winning: Crossover 1×28

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At NVIDIA they can’t stop rubbing their hands. They sell by piece and they don’t stop signing circular financing agreements that do nothing more than enlarge your position current. The company has made gold with the rise of artificial intelligence, and to talk about it we have dedicated this new Crossover 1×28 to recount the history and evolution of a company that is in a state of grace. We started by talking about how NVIDIA gained a privileged position in the world of gaming and how in the 2010s it (briefly) took advantage of the rise of cryptocurrency mining. All of this has managed to make NVIDIA enjoy the leading role in the duopoly that exists in the graphics card market for gamers: only AMD overshadows it, although Intel in recent times has tried to carve out some space for itself. However, what catapulted the company was a singular bet: to ensure that its GPUs could be used for the field of artificial intelligence. That market was still in its infancy. when CUDA emergedbut little by little the researchers working in that field were verifying that this platform was a great ally for their advances. And then, of course, ChatGPT arrived and with it the AI ​​gold rush. NVIDIA has become more essential than ever, and everyone, large and small, wants their AI accelerators for new data centers. It’s non-stop amazing and somewhat disturbingbecause the exaggerated growth of NVIDIA only validates the hypothesis that we are facing a gigantic AI bubble. On YouTube | Crossover

One thing is to knock down drones, and another very different and dangerous Russian airplanes. The second option is winning too many followers

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The repeated incursions Russian aerials in NATO territory They have triggered a diplomatic and military escalation that places the Atlantic Alliance against one of its greatest dilemmas since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. First They were dronesand then several MIG-31 fighters next to an IL-20M recognition plane in the Baltic without flight plan. The perception, increasingly widespread in Europe, is very dangerous: the Kremlin seeks to test The allied disposition to respond firmly. The internal debate. They remembered In politician that incidents have caused urgent consultations Under article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, a rarely invoked mechanism that reflects the seriousness of the situation. Estonios, Poles and Czechs have claimed Hard responsesincluding the possibility of demolishing Russian aircraft in future violations. The Czech President Peta Pavel, former NATO Military High Command, affirmed that Moscow must face “military consequences.” In Tallin, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna insisted in which to defend the sky of Estonia is equivalent to defending that of the entire alliance. Instead, figures such as German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni They alert the risk To fall into the “climbing trap” lying by Putin, aware that a demolition could be interpreted as Casus Belli. Parallel messages. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, adopted An unusually overwhelming tone When declaring That “every centimeter of the territory” must be protected and that, after clear warnings, the option of folding an intruder plane “is on the table.” His words resonated With Trump’sthat in the UN General Assembly he affirmed that the “yes” allies should shoot against Russian airplanes if they enter their airspace. The support of the US President was held in Warsaw, where Minister Radosław Sikorski He replied with a laconic “Roger That”. The coincidence of speeches between Brussels and Washington (although von der Leyen has no direct military authority) transmits to Moscow that there is an emerging consensus in favor of harden the rules of the game. A 12 -minute pulse. The most symbolic case was the starring By three mig-31 Russians intercepted by two Italian F-35 in Estonia. During more than ten minutesRussian fighters remained within NATO airspace, an unprecedented duration. The Italians performed the standard interception maneuvers and, surprisingly, the Russian pilots responded With a friendly gesturegreeting from the cabin. Although the meeting concluded without shots, in Tallin and in Brussels a immediate debate: Why didn’t it acted with the same forcefulness as Türkiye in 2015When did a Russian plane tear down in just 17 seconds after a border rape? The difference illustrates the current caution of NATO, trapped between the need to show determination and the fear of an incident that disappoints an uncontrollable escalation. Hybrid ambiguity. The Russian authorities They have denied Deliberate violations and attribute incidents to errors, but at the same time suggest that they respond to Ukrainian attacks in Crimea, which is equivalent to accusing NATO of direct complicity. European diplomats who met with Kremlin say that the Russian delegation He took exhaustive noteswhich reinforces the impression that Moscow uses these incursions as calculated pressure tools. Experts like the Lithuanian president Gypsyėda They point that Russia “is testing our preparation and our solidarity.” In this sense, aerial incursions are part of a hybrid repertoire that includes espionage, cyber attacks, disinformation campaigns and symbolic maneuvers in the Baltic borders, such as balloons and buoys displaced in border rivers. The strategic dilemma. NATO has reinforced surveillance with the operation Eastern Sentry and maintains Eurofighter, F-16 and F-35 fighters deployed in the region, but still lacks clear and homogeneous confrontation rules. The ultimate decision to shoot falls to governments nationals that provide airplanes, which generates a mosaic of interpretations and possible “caveats” that could leave countries as Estonia in vulnerable situation. Meanwhile, Tallin has decided to increase its military expenditure to an average 5.4% of GDP Annual until 2029, a record figure in the alliance, although without acquiring its own fighters, which maintains the dependence of the ally air coverage. On the edge of the red line. In short, the Crossing speeches reflects a paradox: while Voices increase In favor of demolition as immediate response to airspace violations, other leaders remember that Putin could be looking for that incident to legitimize a victimization and victimization narrative Sow divisions internal in NATO. If you want, the situation recalls that the defense of the European sky is no longer a mere exercise of routine interceptions, but A critical front of the ongoing hybrid war. At stake, in addition, there is not only the security of Estonia or Poland, but the credibility of the alliance as guarantor that every centimeter of its territory, in the words of Von der Leyen itself, will continue being inviolable. Image | Fedor Leukhin, Andrey Korchag In Xataka | The war in Ukraine has fired the delays and canceled flights. And Europe has the solution: a drone wall In Xataka | Italy, Germany, Sweden and Finland have done something that seemed unthinkable: throw their fighters in search of Russian airplanes

While everyone criticized GPT-5, Openai was winning the war that really matters: that of companies

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He GPT-5 launch It has been, in broad strokes, disappointing. Openai needed this model with this model bigger in the history of AIbut we have encountered a model that improves, but not spectacularly. And yet, it is achieving something that is more important than it seems: to convince companies. Companies

If the question is which of the great technology is winning the AI career, the answer is: None

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Who is winning the AI race? At this point we should have it more or less clear. We had it when Microsoft and Intel were profiled as the dominators of the PC world or when Apple and Google triumphed with their smartphones. But with AI something curious happens: Things are very even. Of, done, too much. Of course, in the field of Openai popularity, it is the most prominent with chatgpt. Recently the company presumed to be touching The 700 million active weekly users, a really remarkable figure that leaves its competitors behind. However, that metric is not definitive, especially when we have a great unknown to elucidate: what is the best AI model? It is impossible to know today what is the best model of AI No one can give a clear answer to that question. Neither the companies, which continuously breastfeed with their new versions, nor the benchmarks, which They have become a useful but imperfect tool when evaluating the quality of these models. In Polymarket people believed that the best AI model at the end of August was going to be OpenAi. After leaving GPT-5, the perception changed. That the answer to that question is difficult Polymarket demonstrates itthis unique prediction platform in which users bet on a result and also pay it by voting for one or another conclusion. To the question of “What company does the best model of AI have at the end of August? Everything seemed to smile at Openai, but after the launch of GPT-5, the Batacazo: now the clear favorite is Gemini, the Google model, with OpenAI collapsed to 16% of the votes and even more behind Grok (XAI) with 6.3% of votes and Claude (Anthropic) with a very low (in my opinion) 1.5%. It is not that Polymarket is an especially reliable indicator of this (or anything), but it makes it clear that The public perception of these models can be very different of their real behavior in things like their number of users-here OpenAi tombs their competitors-or their performance performance such as Arc-Agi 2 (where Grok 4 wins everyone, including GPT-5). In the Benchmark of abstract thought ARC-AGI 2, Grok 4 is well above its competitors. Included GPT-5, which exceeds Claude Opus 4. Source: ARC-AGI. And that makes us even clearer what are the two great reasons why it is a real problem to know which model of AI is winning this career. The first, that these tests are often very specific and concrete, and focus on evaluating aspects such as the ability to program or solve mathematical problems of these models. And the second, that The models do not stop improving and to overcome what his rivals had achieved a few days, weeks or months before. We do not stop seeing how new versions of the models are (logically) something better programming, generating text or images or solving certain types of problems, but there is no consensual or definitive form of saying “this model is better.” As we have seen, each user also has their own personal perception (Hello, Polymarket) when using them. Some prefer Claude to program, other chatgpt for generic questions, other Gemini to talk about diverse topics and to learn, for example. And none seems to be the final model “for everything.” In a recent scientific study, researcher Steve Hsu concluded that the path followed by the current generative models will not lead to AGI. Neither now, nor ever. That leads us to a reflection: that this general artificial intelligence (AGI) is far from arriving. These systems, which are supposed to be overcome in all areas, are not even remotely close to doing so, and They continue to make mistakes even when for example GPT-5 seems to have significantly mitigate the problem of hallucinations. Analysts like Gary Marcus They reminded us These days that have been saying the same thing about 30 years: that with this type of climbing techniques We are not going to get to an AGI And that the road has to be another. And that leaves us some interesting ideas. David Sacks – Paypal Cocfounder, founder of Yammer, investor— analyzed The situation of this segment and raised striking conclusions. The five main companies that develop foundational models —Openai, Google, Meta, Anthropic or XAI – still do not master the market, but that is (or it can be) good news. And it is because there is neither a monopoly nor a duopoly of AI. What there is is a fierce competition not only among these five North American companies, but between them and all their Chinese competitors, to which a lot of startups are added that have no resources to work on foundational models – careful – and instead they try to solve another great question: what is the Killer app of the AI. That’s where there are great opportunities for these startups, which can solve success cases in which AI can really be a disruption for an industry. It is for example what emerging companies have done such as cursor or Windsurf, which have opted for the vibe coding boom and are capturing a lot of interest among the developer segment. In fact, every time we see how even the greats of AI presume that their new models program especially well or perhaps are more oriented than ever to solve mathematical problems. GPT-5 precisely use those two arguments to declare themselves better than the competition, and although some benchmarks prove them right, the perception of the users will determine whether they meet expectations or not. But there is also that great debate between the proprietary models (such as GPT-5) and the Open Source models. As Sacks says, the fact that Open Source models They can offer 80-90% of the capacity with a cost of 10-20% of foundational models is sensational for certain users. Specifically, for those who prioritize customization, control and cost savings on the use of foundational models. China goes for all with that philosophy, although curiously it was … Read more

He is winning the game to Barajas

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Traveling from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid in just over an hour is possible. By plane, of course. The problem is that this travel time is not realistic and that is why the train does not stop gaining adherents in the Galicia-Madrid corridor. Better offer, more comfort and a clear winner: Renfe. More travelers. Specifically 181,588 travelers. Those are the ones who collect The Galician mailhave been mounted on one of Renfe’s trains during the first month in which the company has fully had its high -speed trains, with the entire full hourly offer. The figure is spectacular when compared to the plane. In that same month, airlines have set up 155,715 people aboard their vehicles. It is a historical milestone for a means of transport where the train has always been behind the plane. Looking back. In the Gallego newspaper they explain that evolution has been spectacular. The first works that would end up leading to the current high -speed line began in 2011. Then, only 20,000 travelers opted for the train to move along this line. Today the figure is above 180,000 passengers. Although over the years the train has been stealing passengers, as I reduced travel times, the plane was still the preferred means of transport. In 2019, Renfe moved between 40,000 and 60,000 passengers but air traffic continued to exceed 200,000 passengers. Those times have been left behind. Making the plane back. The opening of high speed has caused A clear traveler transfer to the train. Since last year, Galicia and Madrid are united by high speed. And although arrived late and there was controversy With its trains (including an incomprehensible break with the entrance of the new year), Renfe has added more and more passengers. To the point that the train has the most complete offer of schedules. The airlines have been canceling routes and operating with smaller airplanes because they cannot compete in price or times. Yes, it takes more train but it leaves from the center of the Galician cities and you reach Chamartín, a well connected station in the financial nucleus of Madrid. As if that were not enough, The train is cheaper. Less offer in the air. Collect in The Galician mail which is easy to track to what extent the train is going back to the plane. Galician airports are suffering Partial output of Ryanairwhich has abandoned some routes as a pressure measure before what They consider abusive rates by Aena and against the fine imposed by the Government Retailing hand luggage. But it’s just another example. Although Air Europa does maintain its current offer with 56 weekly flights adding Vigo and A Coruña, Air Nostrum is operating with smaller airplanes to dimension the offer to the new reality. A reef. The result is great for Renfe that has found a trench in front of the competition. In recent weeks the rumor had run that Ouigo was trying to get trains To operate that line. Or, even, it was said that Renfe could rent rolling material. The latter has been totally discarded by its president who has assured that “whoever wants to come (to the Galician corridor), to invest.” The key is that the line needs to operate with specific trains that can change from Iberian wide to international width. However, Talgo has all its compromised production And he has no space to serve Renfe rivals, at least, before this decade ends. Good numbers. Although the information surrounding Renfe turns in recent times around the problems in their trains, the truth is that the company is receiving good news in recent days. According to your own data, the first semester of 2025 He has broken his own record in the travel of travelers. This record is not understood without the great growth in the trips of the Galician corridor. Its high -speed trains to Galicia destination and those dedicated to the Extremaduran corridor High speed trips have fired. In both cases, Renfe does not have to compete with ouigo or Iro that yes They have forced him to lower prices and have stolen customers in the Catalan, Valencian and Andalusian corridor. Photo | Eric Salard and by Bene riobó In Xataka | Between delays and breakdowns, we could not imagine that Renfe would beat a new record in 2025: to have more customers than ever

It is more likely to reach a ray to touch your lottery. Until an economist broke the game winning 14 times

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The lottery is more an act of faith than anything else. I don’t say it, Mathematics say. In fact, there is more likely to be a ray to become a millionaire at night. It is possible that all that of the same, and that even knowing that we will not touch us, let’s continue playing to feel part of something. The problem is that there are legends that They talk about tricks and Formulas To win. And then there is the story of Stefan Mandel. A mathematical mind. In the mid-1990s, while millions of people worldwide continue Murify the rules Not written from the lottery applying, not magic or superstition, but an elementary probability system and a colossal logistics. The “trick.” His formula was as basic as radical: identify those draws in which the accumulated prize It exceeded by far the total cost of acquiring all possible tickets. By converting a problem of chance into a mathematical operation with a positive statistical return, Mandel transformed the game into a profitability equation. After successfully trying his system in his native Romania and then in Australia, Mandel perfected his strategy With a small team, developing algorithms that generated and printed millions of valid combinations for specific lotteries. The jump to Washington. The high point of his odyssey came when he looked at the United States, where he detected that Virginia’s newly established lottery used only 44 numbersgenerating “barely” 7,059,052 possible combinations. With the boat reaching 15.5 million dollars, and after having prepared in advance A network of investorsprinters and points of sale, Mandel activated his machinery. For two frantic days, his team managed to buy 6.4 million tickets. They did not reach the desired total, but among the paper mountain was the winning ticket. Although the feat unleashed an investigation by the FBI and the CIA, no legal violation was detected: its maneuver, although clearly outside the spirit of the game, it did not transgress any norm written in the regulations in force. The boundaries of chance. The key to the mandel method was not in sophisticated numerical tricks, but to detect when the conditions of the game offered A structural advantage. In this way, its formula only worked when the prize I tripled the cost To acquire all combinations and when lottery systems allowed printing tickets directly with chosen combinations, a possibility that was later prohibited in many countries precisely by cases such as yours. Winning horse. In essence, its strategy converted the lottery into A safe betprovided that resources, time and discipline were available to execute a plan of such magnitude. However, the profit margin was not immediate: Mandel had to distribute the profits between dozens of investors and assume considerable operational and legal costs. Even so, the system allowed him Win 14 lotteries over several years and knead a considerable fortune without resorting to traps or privileged contacts, only to applied mathematics with implacable determination. Legacy and sunset. After his last significant victory, Mandel He retired to a paradise in the Vanuatu Islands, where he lives away from media foci. Its history, however, not only challenges the myth of fate in games of chance, but has become A mathematical legend which highlights the design gaps of many lottery systems before digitalization. Today, with stricter regulations, limits in the purchase of tickets and automated systems, replicate its model It would be unfeasible. Thus, its feat remains one of the most forceful demonstrations of how human ingenuity, when it faces in intelligence and rigor, can alter the balance of the improbable. Image | Barcex In Xataka | We all know that the lottery will not touch us. It doesn’t matter: we play for feeling part of something In Xataka | The trick to prevent the Treasury from staying with 20% of the Lottery Award has a trick. And is called the income statement

In the twentieth century the pipelines were the key to the world. In the 21st century are the electrical networks and a country is winning them: China

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While a nation installs almost one hundred solar panels per second, another revitalizes factories to produce gasoline engines. While A build the largest solar plant in the worldthe other promises “Dominant Energy” Based on oil and gas. At first glance, two different strategies seem. Actually, it’s a career. And the prize is not just energy: it is the geopolitical power of the 21st century. Two opposing models. An Ember graph published by Our World in Data He has illustrated The point with amazing clarity. At the beginning of the 2000s you can see China’s gradual rebound. However, the crossing occurs in 2010 where the Asian giant exceeds the 4,000 Teravatios-Hora barrier (TWH), to a vertiginous ascent exceeding 10,000 SWH in 2024. In simple terms, China produces more than double electricity than the United States, which remained in the same line. But the most relevant is not how much it produces, but how it does. Data Source: Ember (2025); Energy Institute – Statistical Review of World Energy (2024) The silent revolution. In just one month, China installed 93 gigawatts of solar capacity, which is equivalent – more or less – one hundred panels every second. To that are added another 26 GW in wind, some 5,300 new turbines underway. According to Lauri Myllyvirta, principal researcher at the Institute of Policy of Asian Society, cited by The Guardian: “Only the facilities of that month would generate as much electricity as whole countries such as Poland, Sweden or the United Arab Emirates.” In total, between January and May 2025, China has added 198 GW of solar capacity and 46 GW of wind, sufficient to match the electricity production of Türkiye or Indonesia. This way, Keep overcoming The more than 1,000 GW, which represents half of the world total. They have known how to get ahead. More and more linked climatic ambitions with the growth of renewable technologies. In a recent speech, cited by The GuardianXi Jinping linked the development of the clean energy sector with China’s economic revitalization: “We have built the world’s largest and most complete energy chain in the world.” The term “new energies” includes renewables, batteries and storage technologies. The Asian giant is currently the largest global supplier of clean technologies: the market of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, electric vehicles and nuclear reactors under construction dominates. In addition, it has almost 700,000 patents in clean energy, more than half of the world total, According to The New York Times. The other face. For a good part of the twentieth century, the United States was the reference in energy innovation: from the first commercial solar cells until The first wind farms. However, since Trump’s arrival, the focus It has been placed again strongly towards fossil fuels. According to The New York TimesWashington has pressed allies such as Japan and South Korea to invest billion dollars in American natural gas infrastructure. At the same time, companies such as General Motors have given clear signs of where the wind blows: the company canceled an electric motion plant near Buffalo (New York) to allocate 888 million dollars To manufacture gasoline V-8 engines. Where asymmetry resides. It is not just two different paths, but in world influence. According to Climate Energy Finance datathe companies of the Asian giant have announced more than 168 billion dollars in foreign investments in clean energy projects: from turbines in Brazil to electric cars in Indonesia, through gigantic solar plants in Saudi Arabia and hydroelectric projects in the Congo. Green energy, for Beijing, is not just a business. It is a soft power tool. A way to gain global land through infrastructure, long -term contracts and own financing. An influence that does not need military bases, but solar panels. In contrast, the United States has cut many of its international energy cooperation programs. Its foreign strategy is more transactional: specific gas, oil or even weapons agreements. But without a structural project that allows you to compete on this new energy board. And this change of roles? Half a century ago, the United States led energy innovation. In 1979, Jimmy Carter He installed solar panels In the White House. Decades later, Barack Obama financed projects like Tesla. But cases Like Solyndra’s failurea solar company that broke after receiving a federal loan, unleashed a conservative narrative against public investment in renewables. China, on the other hand, assumed risks. In the early 2000s, then Prime Minister Wen Jiabao – rare earth geneologist – understood that the country’s economic and geopolitical future went through controlling energy production. Your government invested hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies, factories, technical training and innovation. Protected his market, automated manufacturing and dominated access to essential raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and silicon as has developed New York Times. The forecasts. The world is moving towards solar and wind energies, so confirms it The International Energy Agency. The energy demand will continue to grow, but its origin will be different. And that will change the global balance, because whoever leads this new energy matrix will also have a geopolitical, commercial and diplomatic advantage. China is prepared to lead that world. The big question is whether the United States – or any other global actor – is willing to compete with the same strategic vision, patience and scale. Because energy not only moves factories or illuminates cities. Today the global board moves. Image | Unspash Xataka | An explosive ramifications have just opened in the world energy industry: the “Peak Oil” of China

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