Top names in the tech industry were among attendees for the banquet thrown for U.S. President Donald Trump during his visit to the UK. The seating chart included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, AI and crypto car David Sacks, Alphabet and Google president Ruth Porat, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to The New York Times.
The U.S. and the UK signed a partnership called The Tech Prosperity Deal on Thursday, to focus on developing nuclear, AI, and quantum technologies. Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI made announcements earlier this week to build data centers in the UK, while CoreWeave and Salesforce announced a multibillion-dollar investment in the country. Overall, American tech firms committed a total of £31 billion ($42 billion) to boost AI infrastructure in the UK.
READ: US to invest £150 billion in the UK and create over 7,000 jobs (
Aside from tech CEOs, other business leaders also attended the banquet, as did Trump associates and political leaders. Royals were also in attendance. However, there was a noticeable lack of celebrity faces, unlike previous banquets of a similar nature.
Business leaders who attended the banquet included Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch. Around two dozen seats were taken up by Trump’s associates, including his wife Melania, daughter Tiffany, and son-in-law Michael Boulos.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff —Trump’s special envoy who is playing a pivotal role in foreign policy on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza — and Susan Wiles, the White House Chief of Staff were also present. Royals who attended the banquet include King Charles and Queen Camilla, Prince William, Princess Anne and her husband, and the Duke of Gloucester.
READ: UK, US ink multi-billion dollar tech deals during Trump’s visit; Microsoft pledges $42 billion (
The prominence of tech and business leaders in this event indicate the shifting economic priorities of the U.S. and UK. Just this past year, numerous Big Tech companies like OpenAI, Google, and Apple have pledged to work with the government, from providing AI assistant tools to government services to building digital health ecosystems for the U.S. health industry. The president had also taken a number of decisions related to tech companies, criticizing Tim Cook for Apple’s outsourced supply chain, signing an “anti-woke” AI order, and instructing the attorney general to investigate private companies receiving federal funds that have DEI programs deemed “illegal.”
A number of tech leaders, including Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg were present during the presidential inauguration earlier this year. In early September President Trump threw a tech dinner with 33 top names in Silicon Valley, including Altman, Cook, and Zuckerberg. Notably, Elon Musk, once a key Trump-associate was not present in either dinner.