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Richard Waters

West Coast editor

Richard Waters is the FT’s west coast editor, based in San Francisco. He leads a team of writers focused on tech in Silicon Valley. He also writes widely about the tech industry, and the uses - and impact - of technology. Current areas of interest include artificial intelligence, and the growing power of the leading US tech platforms.

His previous positions at the FT include various finance beats in London, New York bureau chief, and technology media and telecoms editor, also based in New York.

Email Richard Waters @RichardWaters  on X.com (link opens in a new browser window)
  • Thursday, 30 April, 2026
    Big Tech
    Big Tech’s AI payback might be coming into view

    Earnings hint at growth trajectory despite increases in capital spending

    Richard Waters
    A partially constructed three-level data center is lit up at night, with a vehicle's headlights shining on the street nearby.
  • Friday, 24 April, 2026
    Apple Inc
    The Apple juggernaut and the AI roadblock

    John Ternus will face innovation challenges that Tim Cook never had to

    Richard Waters
    John Ternus speaks on stage at an Apple event, with a large image of a MacBook and Apple logo projected behind him.
  • Thursday, 16 April, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    Mythos cyber scare signals the economics of AI scarcity

    As capabilities of frontier models advance, gaining access to technology could become critically important

    Richard Waters
    Anthropic logo displayed on a smartphone screen, with a bold shadowed “A” shape in the background.
  • Tuesday, 14 April, 2026
    Unhedged Podcast24 min listen
    Space ecstasy

    SpaceX might be the biggest IPO ever

  • Thursday, 9 April, 2026
    Quantum technologies
    The quantum computing race is wide open

    Investor money has been flowing into a widening range of companies with differing technologies

    Richard Waters
    Close-up of a quantum computer with gold and silver cylindrical components and wires on display
  • Friday, 3 April, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    The Big Read. Investors are betting on AI chaos. History suggests otherwise

    The experience of past tech revolutions suggests savvy incumbents might muddle through and even thrive

    Montage of a semiconductor chip merging into a dollar note
  • Thursday, 2 April, 2026
    SpaceX
    SpaceX IPO is Musk’s biggest financial moonshot

    Tech showman seeks to tap the Fomo factor with a market sales pitch for the ages

    Richard Waters
    A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ascends into a clear sky, leaving a trail of exhaust and flame behind it.
  • Thursday, 26 March, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    OpenAI makes a ‘Code Red’ turn in strategy

    The company shows some business discipline in ditching Sora video app and plans for erotic chatbot

    Richard Waters
    Sam Altman speaks and gestures with his hand while testifying at a Senate committee hearing on AI.
  • Thursday, 19 March, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    Tokens may soon drive the AI economy

    Jensen Huang of Nvidia has outlined a future based around the production, consumption and monetisation of output units

    Richard Waters
    Jensen Huang gestures with both hands while speaking on stage at the Nvidia GTC conference.
  • Thursday, 12 March, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    An uncomfortable truce in the AI platform wars

    Anthropic and Microsoft have struck an alliance on agents but the tussle over the future of the technology will only intensify

    Richard Waters
    Satya Nadella speaks on stage with the Microsoft Copilot logo displayed on a screen behind him.
  • Thursday, 5 March, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    The AI PR problem

    Sector companies have been slow to address the concerns of ordinary people over the technology

    Richard Waters
    Aerial view of an Amazon Web Services data center with large white buildings next to a row of residential houses separated by a strip of trees.
  • Thursday, 26 February, 2026
    PayPal Inc
    What went wrong at PayPal

    A company etched in Silicon Valley folklore as a disrupter needs reinvention

    Richard Waters
    The PayPal app logo displayed on a mobile phone screen
  • Tuesday, 24 February, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    AI upheaval forces software industry to ask if this is an ‘adapt or die’ moment

    Markets weigh whether incumbents will embrace disruption — or be sidelined by AI agents

    Montage of a laptop with a robot icon on the screen, surrounded by ServiceNow, SAP, and Salesforce logos on a red background.
  • Friday, 20 February, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    OpenClaw and the privacy problem of agentic AI

    How can you be sure that personal digital agents will always be working in your best interests  

    Richard Waters
    A smartphone screen displays the OpenClaw AI logo and slogan, with a colorful blurred background.
  • Thursday, 12 February, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    Why the AI attack on software has unnerved so many industries

    The battle over the use of agents is starting to come into focus

    Richard Waters
  • Friday, 6 February, 2026
    Technology sector
    Funding the Muskverse will require ever more audacious moves

    If folding xAI into SpaceX proves the key to unlocking the next trove of capital, why stop there?

    Richard Waters
    A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of Starlink internet satellites soars into space after launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
  • Wednesday, 4 February, 2026
    FT News Briefing podcast12 min listen
    The Muskverse enters a new era

    The consolidation of Elon Musk’s empire points towards a focus on AI and robotics

  • Thursday, 29 January, 2026
    Tesla Inc
    Tesla lurches into the Musk robotics era

    Future of the company lies in equipping and running a global fleet of driverless taxis and in selling humanoid robots

    Richard Waters
    Elon Musk in profile, wearing a dark suit, attends a memorial service with a neutral expression.
  • Thursday, 22 January, 2026
    Artificial intelligence
    AI advertising wars are finally breaking out

    Google has made a big head start but faces growing challenges from OpenAI and others

    Richard Waters
    The Gemini logo displayed on a smartphone screen with a finger hovering above it
  • Tuesday, 20 January, 2026
    Biography and memoir
    Ausländer by Michael Moritz — a Holocaust story with echoes in the present

    A powerful family memoir sounds a warning from history about antisemitism and threats to democracy

    Minnie, Ernest, Alfred, and Max Moritz stand on a balcony with Anna Volk behind them in the 1930s.
  • Sunday, 11 January, 2026
    Quantum technologies
    Are quantum computers finally becoming useful?

    Amid some scepticism, many say the machines can now achieve results beyond the capability of traditional computers

    Close-up view of the D-Wave Advantage2 Quantum processing Unit, showing its intricate wiring and central chip
  • Thursday, 8 January, 2026
    Technology sector
    The future of PCs in the age of AI

    Processing of the technology is starting to migrate from data centres to ‘the edge’ — devices like personal computers

    Richard Waters
    Attendees walk past a large CES sign; one person is taking a photo with a phone.
  • Thursday, 1 January, 2026
    Companies
    Business trends, wild cards and companies to watch in 2026

    Where power, profits and pressure points are likely to lie across five key sectors

    A montage of a UBS logo, an Ozempic injection pen, Rheinmetall 155mm artillery shell,  and a hand holding an iPhone, with “2026” in the centre.
  • Thursday, 25 December, 2025
    Artificial intelligence
    AI upheaval shows little sign of lessening

    If the boom continues its blistering pace through 2026, the stresses could start to show

    Richard Waters
  • Thursday, 18 December, 2025
    Artificial intelligence
    The AI adoption race in the workplace is on

    Sector companies are seeking to show that time saved on one-off tasks can translate into real-world business value

    Richard Waters
    Two hands each hold a phone; one displays the OpenAI logo, the other the Anthropic AI logo, with an abstract head and network graphic in the background.
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