Arjun Kharpal
Arjun Kharpal is CNBC’s senior technology correspondent, focused on how frontier technologies, major platforms and digital finance reshape global power and business. He works across TV, online and audio, combining daily news reporting with longer-form interviews and series that explain how technology, markets and geopolitics intersect. He hosts The Tech Download and Built for Billions, and has also fronted CNBC’s international tech podcast Beyond the Valley, giving him a central role in the network’s global technology coverage.
AI, security and the race for dominance
Kharpal devotes sustained coverage to artificial intelligence, tracking how cutting-edge models, safety debates and security risks are handled by the companies and governments building them. On The Tech Download podcast, he interviews leaders such as the CEO of Palo Alto Networks about whether slowing AI development is realistic and how cyber risks are evolving.
He reports on concerns that advanced models could become “the most potent cyber weapon” ever created, using expert voices to explore how AI transforms offensive and defensive cybersecurity. His pieces and segments follow calls from labs like OpenAI and Anthropic for a slowdown in AI development, weighing those appeals against the commercial and strategic incentives driving rapid deployment.
He also examines AI agents and their move into real commercial work, focusing on how they could change the way software companies get paid and how tech firms are rethinking products and business models in response.
China technology, semiconductors and geopolitical tension
Kharpal has developed a strong speciality in China’s technology industry, writing and presenting stories that track the country’s ambitions in AI, chips and platform businesses for a global audience. His reporting addresses arguments that China’s AI progress is driven by techniques such as model distillation, testing whether that explanation matches the wider reality of research, infrastructure and talent.
He has covered questions over whether China is closing the AI gap through work such as his interviews with Cohere’s CEO and other leaders, placing technical advances within the broader strategic rivalry in technology. Across TV and digital, he frames semiconductor manufacturing, AI advances and export controls as elements of a geopolitical technology contest rather than isolated corporate developments.
In coverage around high-level summits, he asks whether the U.S. and China can cooperate on AI safety and governance while simultaneously competing for leadership in critical technologies.
Crypto cycles and the financial side of technology
Kharpal follows the financial side of the tech world closely, particularly cryptocurrencies and digital assets. He has chronicled sharp rallies in Bitcoin, including moves to fresh highs that prompt questions over whether the long “crypto winter” has ended and a new bull market is underway.
Earlier, he covered speculative frenzies around tokens such as Dogecoin, tracing how online communities, memes and retail investor campaigns can produce rapid price spikes. His crypto reporting is grounded in market data and interviews with industry figures, linking price action to narratives about regulation, institutional adoption and the resilience of digital asset infrastructure.
This financial lens carries into his broader technology coverage, including pieces on how public listings, valuation swings and investor expectations shape companies at the frontier of AI, space and platforms.
Tech empires, platforms and long-term business models
Beyond day-to-day news, Kharpal uses Built for Billions and The Tech Download to unpack how the world’s largest technology firms scale, monetize and defend their positions. Episodes and stories he fronts dig into companies such as Nokia, Nintendo, BlackBerry and Amazon, explaining how decisions around hardware, software, cloud services and licensing translate into durable revenue streams. He has reported on BlackBerry’s shift from phones to car software and robotics, showing how a once-dominant handset maker rebuilt itself around automotive and industrial technology. His coverage includes Europe’s startup scene and the question of why the region produces few global tech giants, using that gap to discuss capital, regulation and market structure.
He explores AI agents, chip strategies and device roadmaps through interviews with executives at companies like Qualcomm and Amazon, connecting product plans to the evolving economics of software and hardware. In work on firms such as SpaceX, including analysis of its AI cloud ambitions and stock market swings, he links narratives about innovation and “cult of founder” dynamics to volatility in investor sentiment and valuation. Across these stories, he focuses on the architectures and choices that turn promising technology into empires built for billions of users and dollars.
Cross-platform reporting and interviews
Kharpal appears regularly on CNBC TV programs such as Squawk Box Europe while filing analysis and news stories for CNBC.com, giving his coverage a continuous presence across the network’s platforms.
His reporting leans heavily on direct interviews with chief executives, founders and investors, using their comments to illuminate how decisions on AI, cybersecurity, hardware and crypto are made inside major technology firms. He has moderated conversations on topics ranging from AI in warfare and manufacturing to social media liability and platform design, bringing complex technical and policy debates onto accessible broadcast formats.
Before his current role at CNBC, he wrote technology stories for major newspapers including The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian and The Mirror, adding a print background to his broadcast and digital work. Across formats, his distinguishing trait is a consistent focus on how technological innovation, markets and global power dynamics intersect, rather than treating any of those strands in isolation.
4 more technology journalists.
Aaron Brown
Aaron Brown focuses on how major games and consumer tech platforms work in practice for ordinary users, using high-profile launches to show what fans can and cannot do with the hardware and services they already own. He covers technology for GB News with an emphasis on console ecosystems, digital storefronts and online fan culture around blockbuster releases. His current work centres on big franchise titles on PlayStation and Xbox and what they mean for players. He looks past hype to practical details like missing pre-order options and staggered announcements, explaining how storefronts act as a key communication channel. He writes in a straightforward, accessible style that breaks down timelines, terminology and platform quirks. He also brings a broader consumer-technology lens, treating consoles as part of a wider home tech setup of services, apps and hardware.
Aaron Trueman
Aaron Trueman is a technology journalist at Rockstar Intel who stands out for cutting through speculation and focusing on clear release timing. He covers the business and release-cycle side of Rockstar Games, with a particular focus on Grand Theft Auto 6 and the concrete information players can take from executive announcements. His reporting tracks release dates, internal targets, project timelines, and Take-Two CEO updates, and he explains how official guidance changes expectations for when GTA 6 will arrive. He treats company leadership’s own words as the backbone of his coverage, using formal statements and industry signals to show what is firm, what has shifted, and what still matters. His work sits at the intersection of gaming, corporate strategy, and launch windows, and he reports in practical, grounded terms.
Adam Riley
Adam Riley’s reporting stands out for showing how products perform in real life, not just on paper. He is operations director at Cubed3, where he writes hands-on reviews of gaming hardware, audio gear, accessories, storage, smart tech and creator tools. His beat includes headsets, earbuds, speakers, lights, docks, chargers, power banks, stands, gaming chairs and desktop gear, judged by usability, reliability, comfort and everyday performance. He also covers industry design and engineering through interviews, plus UK game charts and release trends. His wider work includes reviews of Japanese snack, beauty and lifestyle boxes, event reports and live music. He links technical features to gaming, streaming and mobile work, tests how products fit into busy setups, and explains where design choices, software limits or missing features affect daily use.
Al Landes
Al Landes focuses on what AI, security, and hardware choices mean for everyday users. He is a long-time tech writer and managing editor at Gadget Review, where he oversees review writers and reports for the technology desk. His work covers AI agents, privacy, cybersecurity, personalized tech, consumer hardware, accessories, and practical troubleshooting. He examines issues such as Meta’s Muse, Google’s Personal Intelligence, malware in anime wallpapers, and McAfee’s focus on identity and personal data. His hardware coverage includes iPhone cases, Apple TV 4K, and the Apple–Samsung rivalry. He also writes about hotel technology, science claims, and sports technology such as the PONGBOT Aura training robot. He uses hands-on testing, clear explainers, and evidence-based reporting to show risks, benefits, trade-offs, and whether a product or upgrade is worth the money.