US President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a White House state dinner on September 24, bringing together more than 130 guests, including some of the world's richest technology and business leaders.
The guest list for the dinner attracted attention not only because of the high-level US-China discussions surrounding trade, tariffs, Taiwan and artificial intelligence, but also because of the extraordinary concentration of corporate wealth in the East Room.
Among those invited were Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Alphabet co-founder Sergey Brin, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Apple executive chairman Tim Cook. The White House officially released the guest list on September 24.
Tech billionaires at Trump-Xi dinner worth more than $2.4 trillion
According to Forbes, the technology moguls attending or expected to attend the dinner had a combined estimated net worth of more than $2.4 trillion, almost equal to the total Gross Domestic Product of Canada in 2026.
Elon Musk accounted for nearly 40% of that combined fortune. Forbes estimated Musk's net worth at $927.9 billion on September 24, while Jeff Bezos was estimated at $369.3 billion. Other major fortunes on the list included Mark Zuckerberg at $266.4 billion, Michael Dell at $265.4 billion, Sergey Brin at $258.5 billion and Jensen Huang at $194.5 billion.
Who were the tech leaders at the Trump-Xi dinner?
The technology sector had a particularly strong presence at the White House dinner. Among the prominent executives and founders on the guest list were:
Elon Musk— Tesla and SpaceX
Jeff Bezos — Amazon
Mark Zuckerberg — Meta
Jensen Huang — Nvidia
Sergey Brin — Alphabet co-founder
Michael Dell — Dell Technologies
Sam Altman— OpenAI
Greg Brockman — OpenAI
Satya Nadella — Microsoft
Sundar Pichai — Google
Tim Cook — Apple executive chairman
Eric Yuan — Zoom
Lisa Su — AMD
Cristiano Amon — Qualcomm
Sanjay Mehrotra — Micron Technology
The presence of leaders from Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Meta and OpenAI was particularly notable as artificial intelligence and advanced computing have become important areas of competition and cooperation between Washington and Beijing. Reuters and other reports had highlighted the participation of several of these executives ahead of the dinner.
Finance and other business leaders also attended
The guest list extended well beyond technology. Financial institutions were represented by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Goldman Sachs executive John F.W. Rogers, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman.
Major industrial and other companies were also represented. They included Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault was also among the guests.
Why so many business leaders were invited
The concentration of corporate leaders was notable because the Trump-Xi meeting came as the world's two largest economies continued to deal with major disputes involving trade, tariffs, technology and supply chains.
Artificial intelligence was another important area surrounding the summit. Technology companies on both sides of the Pacific are competing over advanced AI models, chips and computing infrastructure, while Washington and Beijing are also discussing the risks and governance of AI.
Xi said during the meeting that the US and China could continue dialogue on AI, including discussions about its risks, benefits and potential misuse, according to a Chinese state-media readout cited by CNBC.
Trump-Xi dinner guest list had 134 people
The White House guest list contained 134 invitees. It included senior members of the Trump administration, Chinese officials accompanying Xi, members of the Trump family, Supreme Court justices, media figures and corporate leaders.
The Chinese delegation included senior officials such as Vice Premier He Lifeng, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and China's ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng.
The American guest list included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Three Supreme Court justices — Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Brett Kavanaugh — were also invited.
