With this scale difference, it's no surprise that US AI companies have no interest in the African market. However, this business decision is concerning in the US and the EU because Chinese chatbots, especially DeepSeek, have taken over in Africa, filling the gap left by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot. Chinese AI enters Africa supported by significant subsidies, hand in hand with companies like Huawei - controlled by the Chinese Armed Forces - and leveraging knowledge of how the continent's telecommunications, often built and managed by Chinese companies, operate. Their products, although inferior to American ones, are cheaper, consume less energy, and are open source, allowing customers to develop their own models.
The 'K economy' of the US: some sleep in mansions, others in cars
Previously, the term K economy referred to the Knowledge Economy. Now, it refers to a phenomenon of historical proportions: the division of the US, the world's largest economy, into two. The upward stroke of the K represents the economy formed by the top 20% of the wealthiest population, deriving income from capital gains that have been rising since 2009. The downward stroke consists of workers, often in harsh conditions, as reflected by the fact that between 40% and 60% of the homeless in the US have some form of employment but cannot afford a home, so they sleep in cars or shelters. In fact, if that 80% were a country, it would be in a recession. However, the top 20% is thriving and holds significant economic weight, single-handedly driving the world's largest GDP upwards. Hedge fund 'guru' and Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio has stated that the US is becoming an economy dependent on 1% of the population, leaving the remaining 60% marginalized.
Europe responds to Musk and Trump by uniting governments and semi-public companies
Faced with the unpredictability (to put it kindly) of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, Europe has had no choice but to create its own space giant. To achieve this, it has resorted to its preferred formula: merging the space divisions of several national champions to create a European champion where governments will have a significant say. The resulting company, which is yet to be named and will not exist until 2027, generates only 40% of the revenue of Elon Musk's SpaceX, the undisputed global leader in the emerging space industry. Additionally, the company is viewed with suspicion by the European Commission, fearing the birth of a monster that, with government support, could crush potential newly established private competitors.
Vulture funds to build the barracks of the future and lease them to the US military
Modernization, pragmatism... or the birth of a new oligarchy? The answer is left to the reader. The facts are as follows: US Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, the true authority in the Department, has never held a public position. His entire professional career has been in private equity, where he co-founded the giant Cerberus, which owns over 4,000 rental properties in Spain (in Spain and Latin America, these financial institutions are known as vulture funds). Currently, the Pentagon is negotiating with various funds in the sector - such as Carlyle, KKR, Blackstone, and of course, Cerberus - for infrastructure projects totaling ¤130 billion. The plan involves funds financing the construction of military bases, AI computing centers, or rare earth mines, which the Armed Forces would then lease or, in the case of mines, purchase the production.
The 'CRINK' economy: bypassing the dollar and exchanging copper for cashews
Iran provides oil, copper, and zinc to China in exchange for cars, cashews, and investments in ports and oil infrastructure. From Pakistan, Iran receives medical equipment and food in exchange for oil. Sri Lanka settled a debt with Iran by paying in tea. An official barter agreement is in place with Armenia. With Russia, they exchange weapons, industrial machinery, food, oil, and derivatives. Both countries even collaborate on cryptocurrency operations. All these systems violate the network of sanctions imposed by the US on Iran but are challenging to intervene, providing a blueprint to Vladimir Putin on how to evade measures that the US could impose on its oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft starting November 21. This barter system operates in the CRINK economy (the initials of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea), as named by the Washington Atlantic Council think tank, representing the coalition opposing the US and the West.
China begins 'baking' its own wafers to develop its industry
On Tuesday, a day after Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi strengthened their alliance in Tokyo to contain China, the Chinese company Eswin, which manufactures silicon wafers or substrates, the foundation for producing microchips, including those used in Artificial Intelligence (AI), went public on the Star market (the Chinese equivalent of Nasdaq, the major US technology exchange). China is moving towards self-sufficiency in a market dominated by Taiwan, Japan, and Germany, crucial in Beijing's plan to have its own AI completely independent from the rest of the world, especially the US and its allies. China already produces 50% of the wafers it needs, and Eswin accounts for a significant 7% of global production. A sign that AI is not only thriving in the US is that, despite the company being in the red, its shares surged by 198.7% on its first day of trading.