President Donald Trump welcomed a high-powered group of Silicon Valley billionaires to the White House on Thursday for an exclusive dinner that mixed business with flattery.
Noticeably absent from the gathering was Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who later explained his absence on X after a user asked why Microsoft founder Bill Gates attended but not him. “I was invited, but unfortunately could not attend,” Musk wrote. “A representative of mine will be there.”
Trump addressed Musk’s absence earlier in the week during an appearance on The Scott Jennings Show. “He’s got 80 percent super-genius, and then 20 percent, he’s got some problems. When he works out the 20 percent, he’ll be great,” the president said.
The dinner drew an elite guest list. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg was seated next to Trump, while Gates sat beside First Lady Melania Trump. Also in attendance were Apple CEO Tim Cook and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
At one point, Trump asked each guest to speak about their companies, turning the conversation into a stream of praise directed toward the president. “It’s incredible to be among everyone here, particularly you and the first lady. I’ve always enjoyed having dinner and interacting,” Cook said.
The tone shifted to business as Trump pressed each executive on how much money their companies planned to invest in the United States. “I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States and have some key advanced manufacturing here,” Cook said.
When asked directly by Trump how much Apple would be investing, Cook replied, “$600 billion. We’re very proud to do it.” Altman echoed similar sentiments, saying, “Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president. It’s a very refreshing change.” He added, “We will invest a ton in the United States.” Trump interjected, saying the amount would be “hundreds of billions of dollars.”
The president then moved around the table, asking others to state their investment numbers “like an auctioneer.” Google, according to the exchange, committed $250 billion over the next two years, while Microsoft pledged between $75 and $80 billion.
Earlier in the day, some of the tech leaders had attended a session of the new Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force, chaired by Melania Trump. During the dinner, Zuckerberg mostly stayed quiet, though when a reporter asked him about social media crackdowns in the U.K., he appeared distracted.
“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” he admitted. Trump quipped, “This is the beginning of your political career.” Zuckerberg quickly replied, “No, it’s not.”