Trump-Xi state dinner draws billionaire tech leaders as table wealth estimate hits $1.13tn

A White House state dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump for Chinese President Xi Jinping brought together some of the world’s most prominent technology and business leaders, with one media estimate placing the combined wealth represented at Trump’s table at about $1.13 trillion.

Trump and First Lady Melania Trump hosted Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at the White House on September 24 as part of the Chinese leader’s state visit. The White House confirmed that government officials and business leaders were among those attending.

The wider guest list included Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google chief Sundar Pichai and Apple chairman Tim Cook, among several other senior executives. Reuters confirmed the extensive corporate guest list.

TMZ calculated that people seated at Trump’s table represented roughly $1.127 trillion in estimated personal wealth, using then-current estimates for figures including Musk, Huang, Cook and AMD CEO Lisa Su.

The number should not be treated as an official financial statistic.

Personal net-worth estimates can change significantly with share prices and asset valuations, and different publications may use different methodologies. The $1.13 trillion figure also relates to the individuals included in that particular calculation rather than the total wealth of everyone attending the state dinner.

Beyond the attention surrounding the guest list, the dinner took place against the backdrop of continuing US-China discussions involving trade, Taiwan, artificial intelligence and technology restrictions.

The concentration of technology executives at the event also highlighted the importance of US-China relations to companies involved in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, consumer technology and global supply chains.