TechCheck

A report out today claims China is exploring a sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to Elon Musk.  With just days to go before the ban is set to take effect, we look at how another Chinese app is already rocketing to the top of the charts as TikTok users look for alternatives.  

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg continuing his MAGA makeover in a recent podcast appearance with Joe Rogan where he slammed Apple for a lack of innovation. We dig into how critics are responding to Zuckerberg’s public shift ahead of Trump’s second term. 

AI chip giant Nvidia coming out hard against newly reported AI chip export limits that the Biden administration is expected to announce. The three-tiered system would put new caps on companies and countries in an effort to maintain U.S. AI dominance. Plus, the fate of the TikTok ban now rests in the hands of the Supreme Court who heard oral arguments today in Washington.  

Just days before the Supreme Court hears the TikTok ban, TikTok Shop rival Whatnot announcing they’ve hit a nearly $5B valuation as part of its latest funding round. Plus, we talk to one Quantum CEO who is pushing back on Jensen Huang’s comments that the technology is still decades away.  

Mark Zuckerberg and Meta continuing their Trump charm offensive with an announcement today that the social media giant is ending fact checking. As more Silicon Valley leaders make public overtures to Trump, we look at what it could mean for the Tech Giants who haven’t. 

This weekend OpenAI CEO Sam Altman saying that Artificial General Intelligence – a metric that would mean AI has caught up to human reasoning – is within reach. Plus, we look at viral videos that are raising questions about trust in self-driving technology. 

Next week one of the biggest tech events of 2025 kicks off in Las Vegas. The Consumer Electronics Show – better known as CES – showcases some of the biggest names and advances in tech. We dig into what to expect as the focus turns to progress in AI applications, and signs of returns on the massive investments made in the technology. 

Tesla’s self-driving robotaxi technology may define the company in 2025, but it also puts them in direct competition against rideshare giant Uber. We take a look at the robotaxi battle lines taking shape in 2025 and who could be poised to come out on top. 

DeepSeek v3 is a new AI model developed by a Chinese lab, built in just 2 months with less-performant GPUs and for a fraction of what it cost Google, OpenAI and Meta to build theirs. It raises questions of America’s place in the AI race and whether shelling out hundreds of millions or even billions into building frontier AI models is still a worthy investment. 

OpenAI laid out its plan for converting into a for-profit company in a blog post Friday morning. The Generative AI darling says their existing for-profit division will become a public benefit corporation. We dig into what this means for OpenAI’s future and why the move might not be as easy as they hope. 

Increased competition is already impacting the chips trade, and that’s expected to continue into next year. But the biggest risk could be geopolitical, with Taiwan as the standout headwind for semiconductors in 2025. 

Micron shares tumbling today on weak guidance, but what the drop doesn’t reflect are signs of strength in the chipmaker’s AI data center business. A sign that AI is moving towards the so-called ‘digestion’ phase. Plus a conversation with Chetan Puttagunta, General partner at VC firm Benchmark about the shifting trend from scaling to innovation in generative AI. 

Mega Caps stocks are popping this month, and the trend is being propelled by more than just traditional trading. We dig into how bullish options activity is driving some of the biggest moves in tech and fueling increased volatility as investors search for more upside. 

CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa sits down with Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi to talk its mega funding round, what it means for AI enthusiasm and more.

Databricks is announcing an eye-popping $10 billion funding round at a $62 billion dollar valuation, one of the largest in Silicon Valley history. Investors include Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz as Databricks looks well positioned in the next phase of AI generative AI adoption. We look at what the ballooning Silicon Valley funding rounds mean amid Wall Street's IPO drought.

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son joined President Trump at Mar-a-Lago this morning to announce a $100 billion dollar investment in the U.S. over the next four years. The AI-focused investment comes as Washington’s hunger for the emerging technology grows, and Softbank shows signs of refining their own AI strategy. We dig into what sets this apart from Son’s 2016, $50 billion dollar investment after Trump’s first win. 

Tech leaders are previewing their playbook for Trump’s second term. Including trips to Mar-a-Lago, and larger donations to the inaugural fund. So will it translate into warmer relations between Trump's new White House and some of the Silicon Valley leaders he's long railed against?

Deirdre Bosa sits down with Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins to talk the outlook for business under a new Trump Presidency and how AI is creating a boom for new digital infrastructure. Plus, the latest developments from the Barclays Global Tech Conference in San Francisco. 

Google is announcing its more powerful Gemini 2.0 model, which will power its AI search tool “Overviews.” It means the company is now getting new capabilities like reasoning into the hands of more than a billion users, in contrast to OpenAI’s 12 days of Ship-Mas, where it released a full version of its model to a far smaller group of users.