Top Tech Leaders Convene for State Banquet with President Trump Amidst AI-Focused Partnerships Between US and UK
During President Trump’s second state visit to the UK on Wednesday, notable figures from the tech industry graced the banquet.
The seating arrangement included Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA; Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO; David Sacks, a venture capitalist and White House advisor on AI and cryptocurrency; Ruth Porat, president of Alphabet and Google; Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO; Marc Benioff, Salesforce’s CEO; and Sam Altman, from OpenAI. According to the New York Times, these were the attendees.
On Thursday, a partnership named the Tech Prosperity Deal was signed between the US and UK, focusing on the advancement of nuclear, AI, and quantum technologies. Earlier this week, Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and OpenAI announced plans to establish data centers in the UK, while CoreWeave and Salesforce announced a substantial investment in the country amounting to multiple billions of pounds. In total, American tech companies have pledged £31 billion ($42 billion) towards enhancing AI infrastructure in the UK.
Unlike previous state banquets that often attracted Hollywood celebrities, this event seemed to favor tech and business leaders. This shift highlights the evolving economic priorities of both the US and UK amidst the AI era, and the increasing influence of technology and its leaders within Trump’s administration during his second term.
In the past year, several major tech companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Apple have agreed to collaborate with the government. Their ventures range from providing AI-assisted tools for government services to constructing digital health ecosystems for the US healthcare industry.
The president has also shown a growing interest in technology. He has criticized Tim Cook over Apple’s outsourced supply chain, issued an executive order targeting ‘anti-work’ AI, and directed the attorney general to investigate companies receiving federal funds with allegedly illegal DEI programs.
This year, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and other tech leaders attended the president’s inauguration. In early September, President Trump hosted a dinner featuring 33 influential figures from Silicon Valley, including Altman, Cook, and Zuckerberg. However, Elon Musk, once known as the ‘First Buddy’, was absent from both events.
