Nadella, Pichai among guests at Trump’s state dinner for Xi

Washington: Indian-origin technology leaders Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and Sanjay Mehrotra were among the corporate heavyweights invited to President Donald Trump’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House.

The guest list brought together the leaders of some of the world’s most influential technology companies as Washington and Beijing explored cooperation on artificial intelligence while competing for dominance in advanced computing and semiconductors.

Nadella is the chairman and chief executive of Microsoft. Pichai heads Google and its parent company, Alphabet. Mehrotra is the chief executive of memory-chip manufacturer Micron Technology.

Second Lady Usha Vance was also among the guests, alongside Vice President JD Vance. Sangeeta Mehrotra, Sanjay Mehrotra’s spouse, was included on the White House list.

Other technology executives invited included Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman.

The guest list also included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, Zoom chief executive Eric Yuan, Qualcomm chief executive Cristiano Amon and Dell chief executive Michael Dell.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, AMD chief executive Lisa Su and David Sacks, co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, were also invited.

The concentration of technology executives came after Trump and Xi identified artificial intelligence as an important subject in the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

During his welcome remarks earlier on Thursday, Trump said the leaders would discuss security, technology and superintelligence.

“The decisions we make in these areas today can promote peace and prosperity for decades and decades to come,” Trump said.

Xi said China and the United States had both the ability and the responsibility to manage artificial intelligence.

“Both China and the United States are major powers in artificial intelligence; we have the capability and the responsibility to develop and manage AI effectively, ensuring that its development remains under human control and benefits the people,” he said.

The White House dinner also drew leaders from banking, manufacturing, aerospace, energy and pharmaceuticals. The list included JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon, BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink, Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg and Lockheed Martin chief executive Jim Taiclet.

General Motors chief executive Mary Barra, Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla, ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods and GE Aerospace chief executive Larry Culp were among the other invitees.

Senior members of the Trump administration attended, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Xi’s delegation included Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Zheng Shanjie, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission.

The dinner followed a day of ceremonial events and closed-door discussions at the White House. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump received Xi and Peng Liyuan at the North Portico shortly after 7 p.m.

The dinner menu combined American ingredients with Chinese influences. It began with the sparkling wine served during the “Toast to Peace” between President Richard Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing in 1972.

Technology has become one of the central points of competition between the United States and China. Their disputes cover advanced computer chips, semiconductor-manufacturing equipment, artificial intelligence models and access to computing power.

Nadella, Pichai and Mehrotra were born in India before building their careers in the United States. Their presence at the dinner placed three prominent members of the Indian diaspora inside one of the year’s most consequential gatherings of political and corporate leaders.

IANS