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China’s Dark Factories Are Running Themselves 24/7

Factories with no workers. Machines running 24/7 in absolute darkness. Robots handling everything from assembly to quality control. No humans so no lights needed. It sounds like science fiction, but in China, it’s becoming reality.

China is leading the shift toward dark factories—these manufacturing plants that operate with little to no human involvement.

The highly automated facilities use AI, robotics, and 5G to keep production running around the clock, boosting efficiency and cutting costs. The trend is growing fast in China, the global “manufacturing superpower” which accounts for over 30% of global production.

Some of the biggest names in Chinese manufacturing are already running dark factories, including Midea Group – the home appliance giant that produces 30% of the world’s air conditioners with almost no human involvement.

Another example is Changying Precision Technology Company, a factory in Dongguan, China, which replaced 90% of its human workforce with robots, reducing the number of employees from 650 to 60 and in the process. The company experienced a 250% increase in production by using automated production lines with robotic arms, automated machining equipment, autonomous transport trucks, and other automated systems in the warehouse.

While dark factories eliminate traditional factory jobs, a new kind of worker is emerging—one that sits between office jobs and manual labor.

Instead of line workers assembling products by hand, factories now need technicians who keep robots running, workers who manage AI-driven supply chains, and specialists who fix smart machines before they break down.

These aren’t the traditional “blue-collar” factory jobs of the past, but they aren’t strictly “white-collar” either—some call them “gray-collar“ professions.

AI Titans Unite: UAE-Backed Project Attracts Tech Giants

In a significant move, Nvidia and Elon Musk’s xAI have joined a consortium backed by Abu Dhabi’s MGX—a state-supported technology investment firm focused on AI and advanced technologies—alongside Microsoft and BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.

The $100 Billion Vision

The AI Infrastructure Partnership aims to mobilize up to $100 billion, including debt financing, to expand AI infrastructure, primarily in the US and OECD countries. This includes:

• Building state-of-the-art data centers

• Developing energy facilities to power AI applications

• Supporting cutting-edge AI technologies

Energy Considerations

• The partnership recognizes the massive energy demands of AI infrastructure and plans to address them sustainably.

• By 2034, data center energy consumption is projected to hit 1,580 terawatt-hours—matching India’s current annual usage. 😲 

• To tackle this, NextEra Energy and GE Vernova are collaborating on diverse, scalable energy solutions for AI data centers.

Global Competition

• This follows US President Donald Trump’s January 2025 announcement of Stargate, a $500 billion private-sector AI infrastructure push backed by SoftBank Group, OpenAI, and Oracle.

• This alliance, now strengthened by Nvidia and xAI, highlights the escalating global race for AI supremacy.

• And the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s influence is undeniable—MGX’s backing, potentially linked to sovereign wealth giants like Mubadala, anchors the partnership firmly in the Middle East.

Who’s Up For Some “Vibe Coding”?

What's your plan this weekend? How about doing some "vibe coding"?

It's the latest trend buzzing in Silicon Valley, and here’s what it’s all about:

• The term "vibe coding" was coined by Andrej Karpathy, renowned computer scientist and OpenAI co-founder.

• Last month, he described this new approach where developers "fully give in to the vibes" and "forget the code even exists."

• Instead of manually typing, they rely on AI-assisted coding through natural language prompts, letting AI generate the code for them.

• Karpathy sometimes doesn’t even type the English prompts —he uses SuperWhisper to dictate commands to the Cursor coding assistant.

The result? Code gets written. Apps get built. And instead of spending hours debugging or waiting for your tech engineers, you get to be creative and prototype ideas. According to Y Combinator, most startups coming through their incubator are now generating 90% of their code with AI tools like ChatGPT.

Still, some might say that it’s better to write your own code than spend hours debugging what AI gives them. What do you think?

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