In this age, our peak technology feels immaterial. We interact with Ai, we store data in the clouds.
That is the surface. The final layer. The Gods of modern Olympus have their feet planted on the ground. Their power comes from beneath. Rare Earth Elements are the mana used for create the future.
Advanced computing depends on materials, chemistry, and industrial processes that cannot be virtualized. Old mines, chemical processing. Sweat and vapor.
The Flow of Mana
ASML, the God of Creation, the real monopolist, understands this better than anyone. Its EUV machines require a magnitude of components: precision magnets, exotic alloys, ultra-pure materials, atomic-scale lenses.
But the mana flows mostly through China. Other regions can mine but cannot refine, process, and scale fast enough.
If rare earth refining slows, ASML does not collapse but the whole pantheon can't move forward. TSMC is unable to produces better components. Progress stalls.
These two gods have the strongest aegis, they are unique and not easily replicable. Whatever happens the final cost is paid somewhere else.
NVIDIA has CUDA, a powerful form of insurance. A deep bond with other companies and developers that protects its business. NVIDIA is intertwined with other demigods, OpenAi, Oracle... They can help each other, transforming scarcity into leverage.
AMD is more exposed. Dependent from manufacturing, AMD absorb scarcity and high prices more directly. This God is close to the ground but not directly exposed. Its design excellence remains intact, the real impact is suffered two layer below.
Intel can use it. The lack of mana means less ground to cover, secondary markets are more attractive, less inefficient. Its goal is independence. Intel can bleed, can wait. It's easier to carry a stone when the slope is gentler.
The Dragon's Power
The beast from the East has it's claws on the mana, the REE (rare earth elements). Not only it controls more than two thirds of world extraction, China controls close to 90% of refining capacity.
The Unite States dominates designing and software. They have a privileged access to manufacturing but a crucial source of global power is mostly in Chinese hands.
Washington can stop machinery and production in China. Beijing can decide the speed at which America develops. Asymmetry vs asymmetry at different layers of the stack
Final
Olympus appears eternal. The Gods looks monolithic. Their products feels ethereal.
But their forges depend on mana coming from far away. Their power has a cost, the mana is finite. And even gods can fall if the ground beneath them shifts.
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Diary
11.01.2026, h 11.30
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