President Donald Trump hosted an exclusive White House dinner on Thursday night with some of the world’s most influential tech leaders, alongside top business executives and political figures, as part of ongoing efforts to shape the future of AI, innovation and domestic manufacturing.
According to the White House, the guest list included Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Trump, who has worked to cultivate close ties with Silicon Valley’s elite while seeking investment commitments from several of them, praised the group as “leading a revolution in business and in genius.”
During the dinner, Bill Gates focused his remarks on advancements in vaccine technology, highlighting the success of Trump’s Operation Warp Speed while emphasizing the need for continued research on diseases like HIV and sickle cell anemia.
“This is definitely a high-IQ group, and I’m very proud of them,” Trump told reporters before the dinner, according to a White House readout.
The president has also been pressuring tech companies to expand their U.S. footprint, even threatening tariffs of up to 100% on imported semiconductors unless companies commit to manufacturing chips domestically.
Earlier in the day, First Lady, Melania Trump hosted an AI summit at the White House, attended by several of the same tech executives. Press cameras were briefly allowed into the dinner before it continued behind closed doors.
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