US President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at a White House state dinner on Thursday, September 24, bringing together some of the world’s richest technology executives.
Among the high-profile guests seated at the main table with Trump and Xi were Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, AMD CEO Lisa Su and Apple executive chairman Tim Cook.
According to Forbes estimates, the combined net worth of the technology billionaires seated at the head table was approximately $1.13 trillion.
Musk accounted for the largest share, with Forbes estimating his fortune at about $927.9 billion. Huang was estimated at $194.5 billion, while Su and Cook were valued at approximately $3.5 billion and $3.1 billion respectively.
Trump, whose fortune Forbes estimates at around $7 billion, was also seated at the table, while Xi was among the principal guests at the dinner.
Other major technology figures who attended the event included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
The dinner was held as part of Xi’s state visit to Washington and followed talks between the two presidents on US-China relations, including trade and artificial intelligence.
The gathering also brought together business leaders whose companies have significant interests in China. Tesla and Apple have major commercial exposure to the Chinese market, while Nvidia and AMD are affected by US restrictions on the export of advanced artificial-intelligence chips to China.
The White House said the dinner was attended by official delegations, business leaders and government officials. The menu included yellow squash velouté, sesame-crusted sea bass and vanilla crémeux with sour cherry confit.
The high-profile gathering underscored the close links between the technology sector and the economic relationship between the United States and China, as both countries continue discussions over trade, technology and artificial intelligence.
