US President Donald Trump hosted an event at the White House on Thursday, inviting multiple technology industry leaders who praised Trump's efforts to promote investment in chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI). Notably, Elon Musk and Jensen Huang were absent from the day's event.
According to reports, tech company CEOs including Apple's (AAPL.US) Tim Cook and OpenAI's Sam Altman expressed gratitude to Trump, with some revealing the scale of their companies' planned investments in the United States.
Altman stated: "Thank you for your contributions as a president who supports business development and innovation. This is truly a refreshing change. I believe this will lay the foundation for us to lead the world long-term, and none of this would be possible without your leadership."
Cook indicated that Apple expects to invest $600 billion in the United States. Cook reportedly said: "I want to thank you for setting the tone that allows us to make major investments in America and establish some key manufacturing bases here. I think this fully demonstrates your leadership and emphasis on innovation."
The dinner was originally planned to be held in the newly renovated Rose Garden but was moved indoors due to rain. Earlier that day, multiple executives including Altman, Alphabet (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) CEO Sundar Pichai, and IBM (IBM.US) CEO and Chairman Arvind Krishna participated in a White House AI Education Task Force meeting hosted by First Lady Melania Trump.
Multiple companies including Microsoft (MSFT.US), NVIDIA (NVDA.US), IBM, Amazon, Alphabet's Google, and OpenAI announced AI education-related commitments during Thursday's event.
Trump stated: "This table brings together the smartest people. This is definitely a group with very high IQ."
Reports indicate that Trump addressed a key obstacle facing tech companies at the beginning of the dinner - procuring sufficient electricity to power the large data centers needed for AI development. The Trump administration has been working to eliminate barriers for data center access to the power grid, but many challenges remain at the state level.
Trump said: "Through reading and studying relevant materials, I have indirectly gotten to know each of you and am familiar with your businesses. In fact, this provides tremendous convenience for you in obtaining power capacity and power permits."
Meta Platforms (META.US) CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked about his views on online free speech in the UK during the banquet. Zuckerberg appeared surprised by the question. Trump told Zuckerberg: "This is the beginning of your political career." "No, it's not like that," Zuckerberg laughed.
Trump also discussed the Google search monopoly case ruling with Pichai. Trump said: "You had a very pleasant day yesterday. Do you want to talk about that wonderful day you had yesterday?" "I'm glad this matter is finally over," Pichai responded.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang did not attend this event. Reports suggest that Huang prefers to communicate with the White House in one-on-one settings where the president has sufficient time to focus on important matters.
Additionally, Tesla (TSLA.US) CEO Elon Musk, who had a public falling out with Trump earlier this year, also did not attend. Musk reportedly posted on the X platform that he was invited but "regrettably cannot attend" and would send a representative instead.