President Trump with tech leaders at the White House, where AI and investments dominated the dinner.
President Donald Trump invited the top IT executives in the world to come to the White House on September 4 2025. The dinner's main topics were the billions of dollars invested in America and the growing significance of artificial intelligence.
But one detail stole the spotlight — Elon Musk was not there. Once a close ally of Trump, Elon Musk’s absence has raised questions about shifting loyalties and whether something big is coming next.
Trump sat at the centre of a long table filled with tech giants. He praised them as “high IQ people”, but quickly turned to numbers. Going one by one, he asked how much each company was investing in the US.
Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Tim Cook of Apple each said $600 billion. Google’s Sundar Pichai pledged $250 billion. When Trump asked about Microsoft, Satya Nadella replied $80 billion per year. “Good. Very good,” Trump said with approval.
For Trump, the dinner was less about ideas and more about proving that big tech is pouring billions into the country under his watch.
The biggest surprise was the absence of Elon Musk. He was once one of Trump’s closest allies and even headed the Department of Government Efficiency. But after a public fallout earlier this year, Musk and Trump went their separate ways.
Instead of Elon Musk, his AI rival Sam Altman of OpenAI took a seat at the table. For many, that swap symbolized a shift in Trump’s tech circle. Musk’s name was not mentioned during the dinner, but his absence sent a loud message — the once-strong bond between the billionaire and the president has cracked.
Musk’s absence leaves room for speculation. Is it simply a result of personal tensions? Or is Musk planning something larger outside Trump’s circle that could change the balance of power in the AI race?
With Sam Altman, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Safra Catz, David Limp, and others present, Trump made clear he still has strong allies in tech. Yet Musk’s no-show hints at new rivalries. The billionaire may now be preparing a separate vision for AI and space technology, free from Trump’s influence.
The dinner was supposed to take place in the Rose Garden, where Trump recently replaced the lawn with a Mar-a-Lago-style outdoor setup. Rain forced the event inside the State Dining Room.
The setting may have changed, but the goal remained clear, Trump wanted to show that America’s biggest tech names are investing at home, and he is the president making it happen.
Earlier in the day, first lady Melania Trump led a meeting of the new Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force. “The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,” she said. Sundar Pichai, IBM’s Arvind Krishna, and Code.org’s Cameron Wilson joined her.
Trump’s dinner displayed strength, money, and influence. But Musk’s empty chair was the real headline. It showed that cracks are appearing in the once-tight relationship between Trump and Silicon Valley’s most famous billionaire.
If Musk is keeping his distance, it may be because he is preparing for his own big move in AI or space. That could set the stage for a new rivalry that goes beyond politics and into the future of technology itself.
