An affair has become a matter of national security. The revelation that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has had an extramarital affair with a possible Chinese spy has shaken Washington. Especially because in recent months Huang had become a prominent figure within the circle of tech tycoons surrounding the US president, Donald Trump. During the May trip to China, only Huang and Elon Musk had the privilege of flying with the Republican on Air Force One. The president announced tonight that the FBI is investigating Huang, but said he is confident he knew nothing: "I believe him," said Trump.

The hangover from the Republican victory in last Tuesday's US legislative elections has caused sharp falls among some of the main technology companies listed on the US stock exchange. One of the main ones affected by the drops is the tycoon Elon Musk, who is estimated to have lost more than 27 billion euros.

Mr. X is a renowned designer who has recently achieved considerable success with t-shirts featuring witty and poignant phrases about current social issues. So much success that on the black market they are valued well above their price and counterfeits have already begun to appear. This worries him, but he has found a solution: in the pigment of the short text on the t-shirts, he has left chips that are invisible to the naked eye, but which, when viewed under a microscope, carry an unmistakable pattern. Imitating and placing these chips is beyond the reach of potential counterfeiters.

China's decision to restrict the export of rare earths, permanent magnets, and other critical minerals to Japan has turned an industrial dependency known for years into a top-tier problem for the Japanese economy. These materials are indispensable for manufacturing semiconductors, electronic components, batteries, electric motors, or defense systems, so any interruption in their supply threatens some of the most competitive sectors of Japanese industry.

The Catalan company Openchip, specializing in the design and marketing of high-performance chips, receives a new injection of public funds to boost its project. This Monday, the Barcelona-based company has received 115 million euros from the Spanish government through the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), also known as the central executive's technological SEPI.

The Generalitat has authorized a new loan of 10 million euros to Openchip & Software Technologies, the Catalan company specialized in the design of high-performance microprocessors. The financing is added to the 25 million that the Generalitat already granted it in March, bringing public support to 35 million. The objective is to guarantee the continuity of the company's research and development programs while an investment round with private and institutional actors is closed.

Nvidia wants to fight all battles. The most valuable company on the planet, until now specializing in the production of graphics memories (GPUs), has kicked down the door this Monday to the market for processors for personal computers. In its intervention at the Computex technology conference, held in Taipei (Taiwan), the CEO of the tech giant, Jensen Huang, revealed the new RTX Spark Superchip, a microprocessor dedicated to consumer laptops. With this technology, designed to process the latest artificial intelligence applications and agents, Nvidia enters fully into the battle with processor manufacturers, such as Apple, Intel, or AMD.

The Catalan company specialized in the development of sustainable microchips, Ideaded, is already executing the investment of 9.5 million euros made by the Spanish government at the end of 2025. The firm has dedicated the public funding to expand its facilities in Viladecans (Baix Llobregat), with an improvement of its clean room. The expansion of the short-run chip manufacturing area is already in the award process, as confirmed in a statement, and will be completed in November. The intervention is part of the company's industrial and technological plan, which also includes acquisitions of machinery and new hires of specialized profiles in the world of semiconductors.

The Spanish Minister of Digital Transformation, Óscar LópezSpanish Minister of Digital Transformation, Óscar LópezIn his speech at the event, López called for "empowering Europe" to earn a place in "the industrial revolution that is changing the shape of the world." Although the leadership of these transitions is far from the 27 – the United States and China are benchmarks – the minister has championed a Spanish innovative fabric that "shines in disruptive technologies." In this regard, he highlighted the role of the Catalan technological institute, both in research and in the technological transfer of these new capabilities. The ICFO, he recalled, has already generated fourteen spin-off companies that are active in the market, and "projects like PIXEurope help to ensure that this trend continues."

The Generalitat is entering a new phase to launch the first chip design and prototyping center in Catalonia. The Government established this Monday theThe new board will be the driving force behind the center, dedicated to "making Catalonia a key player" in the semiconductor and advanced chip sector, essential for achieving European technological autonomy, according to the Generalitat's statement. The Government already awarded the basic engineering project to build the space to the IDP group in January, for approximately 2.6 million euros. The final construction project, as well as the executive commission, is expected to be awarded this summer.

Nothing less than expected. After nearly three days of talks, the United States and China have agreed to cut tariffs. The agreement, still pending approval by the American and Chinese presidents, was announced by Trump himself, who provided the first details: the United States will apply 55% tariffs on Chinese products; Beijing, for its part, will apply 10% on American products.

The time of the covid was also the time in which a new dictionary filled with words like was forged in the popular imagination pandemic, coronavirus, masks and even, chips and semiconductorsThe shortage of microelectronic components, such as these chips, suddenly became a global and local problem. Society then learned that these components were essential to keep the economy moving forward, and alarm bells started ringing. This is where the story of Openchip, commonly known as the Catalan Nvidia (and European), although its managers don't quite like this definition.

Technology company Intel will open a pioneering microchip design laboratory at Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). It will involve an initial investment, shared with the Spanish government, of €400m over a period of ten years, according to La Vanguardia. The new RISC-V processor laboratory will be built thanks to the agreement reached with Intel within the framework of the post-covid funds for microchips, approved yesterday by the executive and which has a total budget of €12,250m.

Yesterday the European Commission took an essential step forward to defend European rule of law within the borders of the Union. For the first time in its history it has blocked an amount from the EU budget for a country for failing to comply with a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and not having paid the fine it received. In this case it is a usual suspect, Poland, a country that had already been threatened many times and which has finally been deducted €14.5m for having refused to close a lignite mine in Turów, near the border with the Czech Republic, as ordered by the European authorities because of the environmental problems it was causing in the neighbouring country. This is a modest, almost symbolic figure, which corresponds to the fine of half a million euros a day imposed by the CJEU until Poland agreed to find an agreed solution with the Czech Republic regarding the mine. But, beyond the amount itself, the decision is a powerful message, a warning of what could happen, because Poland still has to pay a €69m fine, in this case for not wanting to back down over its judicial reform, and, above all, access to European funds is at stake.