Big Tech elite lavish praise on Trump at White House dinner
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump during a dinner at the State Dining Room of the White House on Thursday. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
President Trump hosted the elite of Big Tech at a White House dinner Thursday evening, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft's Bill Gates — and each took turns to lavish praise on him.
Why it matters: The dinner comes at a time when tech leaders are pushing for a hands-off government approach to AI, and as current FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson is an outspoken critic of Big Tech.
- Many of the CEOs donated to Trump's inauguration fund earlier this year and went on to pledge to invest billions in the U.S.
What they're saying: Zuckerberg, seated next to Trump at the dinner, thanked him for arranging the event and said that all present were making "huge investments" in the U.S. "to build out data centers and infrastructure to power the next wave of innovation," with Meta committing to at least $600 billion through 2028.
- Gates, who was seated next to first lady Melania Trump, praised the president for his "incredible leadership."
- Apple CEO Tim Cook thanked Trump "for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing, advanced manufacturing here."
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman thanked Trump "for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president," adding: "It's a very refreshing change. ... I think it's going to set us up for a long period of leading the world, and that wouldn't be happening without your leadership."
The intrigue: All the big names of tech attended the dinner except for Trump's former senior adviser Elon Musk.
- Musk said on X he was invited but couldn't attend, while a White House spokesperson told Business Insider that the world's richest person's company had been invited and confirmed his claim that a representative would attend the event.
Of note: A reporter asked Zuckerberg at the dinner to comment on online freedom of speech issues in the U.K.
- Zuckerberg looked uncomfortable before Trump joked to him, "This is the beginning of your political career," adding to laughter: "He didn't think he'd get that question! He's looking at me and saying how the hell…he's saying how did I get that question?"
- The Meta CEO was caught in a hot mic moment as reporters were leaving the room, telling the president: "Sorry, I wasn't ready..."
Flashback: Companies line up to fund Trump's inauguration
Editor's note: This story was corrected by fixing a misattribution of Tim Cook's quote thanking the president for setting the tone.
