Trump holds a dinner for tech giants
US President Donald Trump hosted a high-level group of tech leaders at the White House on Thursday, September 4, 2025, exhibiting artificial intelligence research and talking about investments being made by American companies. The dinner was planned to be held in the White House’s Rose Garden, which was recently redecorated to set up tables, chairs, and umbrellas. However, due to bad weather, officials shifted it to the State Dining Room instead.
Top names who attended the dinner
A dozen tech titans attended the event from the biggest artificial intelligence and tech firms, according to the White House. Listed below are some of the top names that made it to Trump’s private dinner for technology and business leaders.
Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Satya Nadella
Microsoft's first CEO and co-founder, Bill Gates, praised Trump’s “Warp Speed” vaccine push and said the president is now talking with him about curing HIV, polio, and sickle cell disease. “The president and I are talking about taking American innovation to the next level to cure and even eradicate some of these diseases,” Gates said. The current CEO, Satya Nadella, who was also in attendance, expressed gratitude to the First Lady for hosting skilling and economic opportunities under the new AI task force.
Google’s Sundar Pichai and Sergey Brin
President Donald Trump congratulated Google CEO Sundar Pichai and co-founder Sergey Brin following Alphabet’s favorable antitrust ruling on Tuesday. Alphabet this week added $230 billion to its market cap after avoiding a breakup in a landmark antitrust case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2020.
Apple’s Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, thanked Trump for the opportunities for tech giants to grow. He said, “I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major [$600 billion] investment in the United States... That says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation."
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg
During the dinner, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Trump that his company will invest "at least $600 billion" in the U.S. over the next several years "to build out data centers and infrastructure to power the next wave of innovation."
Open AI’s Sam Altman and Greg Brockman
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who founded OpenAI initially as a nonprofit organization, and founder Greg Brockman, co-founder and president of OpenAI, were also in attendance at Trump’s dinner for tech giants.
Oracle’s Safra Catz
Oracle CEO Safra Catz was also seen seated at the long table with Donald Trump. She took to X and wrote, “Thank you, Donald Trump and the USGSA for working with Oracle to deliver the modern, cutting-edge technology our federal government deserves. Through our landmark agreement, the United States will gain access to the world’s most advanced, AI-ready, and secure cloud.”
Micron’s Sanjay Mehrotra
Another Indian-origin industry heavyweight to attend Trump’s dinner was Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology, a leading semiconductor company. Before joining Micron in May 2017, he co-founded the flash memory storage company SanDisk in 1988.
TIBCO’s Vivek Ranadivé
Indian-origin TIBCO Software chairman Vivek Ranadivé, who also owns the NBA’s Sacramento Kings team, also made it to the guest list of Trump’s White House dinner.
Palantir’s Shyam Sankar
Indian-origin Palantir executive Shyam Sankar was also present at Trump’s dinner. Sankar, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, has emerged as a key architect behind its success, as Palantir Technologies Inc. continues its meteoric rise, with its stock up more than 500% in the past year.
Blue Origin’s David Limp
Among the high and mighty of the tech world, Blue Origin’s CEO, David Limp, joined the dinner too. Blue Origin is a private space company founded by Jeff Bezos that builds reusable rocket engines, launch vehicles, in-space systems, and lunar landers.
Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang
Another American billionaire entrepreneur to attend Trump’s dinner was Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI, who was named Meta's Chief AI Officer in 2025.
Shift4 Payments’ Jared Isaacman
Jared Isaacman, Executive Chairman of Shift4 Payments, was also in attendance at the dinner. Isaacman, who is also a commercial astronaut, has commanded the private spaceflights Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn and was briefly nominated by Donald Trump to lead NASA before the nomination was withdrawn.