Inside Trump’s White House Tech Dinner: Who Was There and Why Wasn’t Elon Musk?

Former US President Donald Trump held a high-profile dinner at the White House, attracting a collection of influential tech leaders from around the world. The State Dining Room provided the setting for the event. The conspicuous absence of Elon Musk, the head of X and SpaceX, became a topic of conversation. It was unclear whether Musk had not received an invitation or if he had chosen not to attend. The event was relocated from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate due to adverse weather conditions. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was present, highlighting the competitive landscape in AI. Mark Zuckerberg of Meta revealed plans for significant investments in the U.S. over several years. The guest list also included Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Bill Gates, Google’s Sergey Brin, OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, Oracle’s Safra Catz, and executives from Micron, TIBCO Software, Palantir, Scale AI, Blue Origin, and Shift4 Payments. When questioned about his absence, Musk stated he was invited but couldn’t make it and would send a representative. A White House official, however, contradicted this, stating Musk was not on the official guest list.