President Donald Trump hosted a dinner for some of the most important people in the US IT industry at the White House. During the meal, he joked that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was starting his “political career.” The playful but uncomfortable back-and-forth happened when a reporter asked Zuckerberg about free speech. The CEO said, “No, it’s not,” and then added, “Sorry, I wasn’t ready.”
The dinner on Thursday, September 4, 2025, was a show of strength for the government’s efforts to get top tech businesses to invest in the U.S. Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, Bill Gates, and Sundar Pichai from Google were among those who came.
Trump went around the table during the event and asked each businessman how committed they were to investing in the US. The big tech companies made huge promises in response:
Tim Cook of Apple promised to invest $600 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta will match that and promised “at least $600 billion” in US investments through 2028.
Sundar Pichai of Google promised $250 billion over the next two years.
Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, estimated that his company would spend between $75 billion and $80 billion this year.
The dinner also showed how politics are changing in Silicon Valley. For example, Elon Musk, who used to be a close friend of the Trump administration, was not on the guest list. Many media outlets pointed out that the event shows how the relationship between the president and top tech leaders is getting stronger, even though it is still fragile. Many of these executives are trying to avoid tariffs by increasing domestic production.