Trump Hosts Top Tech CEOs at White House Dinner; Musk Not Invited

President Donald Trump hosted more than two dozen technology executives at a White House dinner Thursday evening that brought together leaders from major software, hardware and artificial intelligence firms — a high-profile gathering that conspicuously excluded Elon Musk.

The guest list included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, among others, according to the White House. Attendees praised the administration’s approach to business and innovation, with several executives stressing plans to increase domestic investment.

At the dinner, Sam Altman told the president, “Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation President. It’s a very refreshing change,” and said the industry was "very excited" about the administration’s actions to bolster U.S. companies. Apple’s Tim Cook told the president that Apple would invest $500 billion in domestic manufacturing and credited the administration with setting a tone that enabled that commitment.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle described the outdoor event, held in the Rose Garden, in celebratory terms, saying, “The Rose Garden Club at the White House is the hottest place to be in Washington, or perhaps the world.” The White House recently altered the Rose Garden’s landscaping and added tables, chairs and umbrellas for the event, a setup observers noted bore a resemblance to the outdoor arrangements at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

One high-profile absence at the dinner was Tesla and X owner Elon Musk. Musk, once an ally of Mr. Trump and briefly tapped to lead a government efficiency initiative, publicly split with the president earlier this year, White House officials said. The administration did not provide details on invitations or the reasons for individual absences.

Participants represented a cross-section of the technology sector, including companies heavily involved in artificial intelligence research and deployment. Altman, whose company created the widely used ChatGPT platform, emphasized investment and the importance of policy stability for companies scaling operations in the United States. Cook’s $500 billion pledge — announced at the dinner — was framed by executives as evidence of renewed industrial investment and confidence.

The gathering offered tech leaders an opportunity to convey priorities directly to the administration. Executives at the dinner praised steps they said would support domestic manufacturing and investment but did not announce coordinated industry actions or new legislation. The White House described the event as part of ongoing outreach to the private sector on economic and technological competitiveness.

The dinner comes amid an intense national debate about the regulation of artificial intelligence technologies, supply-chain resilience and the role of government incentives in spurring onshoring of critical manufacturing. While attendees publicly lauded the administration’s stance on business and innovation, the administration did not disclose a formal agenda or any specific policy commitments emerging from the meeting.

Officials and executives said conversations at the event spanned investment, workforce development and the broader economic benefits of keeping more technology production in the United States. Several leaders publicly reiterated existing company commitments to U.S. investment and to building infrastructure that supports advanced computing, AI research and manufacturing.

No immediate, formal policy announcements resulted from the dinner. The White House said it will continue engaging with technology companies as it advances priorities related to economic growth and technological competitiveness.