All eyes were on the White House Thursday evening as President Donald Trump hosted a lavish dinner with some of the biggest names in tech.

Throughout his second term, Trump's focus on tech investment – at times to the detriment of the broader industry – has been clear, but many are still wondering what prompted so many influential figures to gather at the event.

The President has made significant investments in cryptocurrency, particularly following the passage of the GENIUS Act, which officially introduced stablecoins into the U.S. economy. He has also highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence with several key bills designed to streamline infrastructure plans for tech companies.

Which tech leaders attended the event?

According to Axios, some of the biggest names in the tech world were present, including Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Bill Gates, and Tim Cook. Most of these figures were also front and center at Trump's inauguration in January and contributed substantial amounts to the inauguration fund before committing billions to the U.S. in the months that followed.

Notably absent were Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Elon Musk. While many assumed Musk skipped the event following his public fallout with Trump earlier this year, he later clarified on X that he had been invited but "unfortunately could not attend," adding that a representative would attend on his behalf.

Why did Trump host the dinner for tech leaders?

The event didn’t appear to have a clear-cut agenda, but it was another display of solidarity between the President and the nation's leading tech giants, especially after their significant investments in the U.S. economy amidst ongoing tariffs.

Mark Zuckerberg of Meta highlighted that all the attendees were making "huge investments" to "build out data centers and infrastructure to power the next wave of innovation," with his company taking the lead with a massive data center large enough to cover all of Manhattan.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, who has previously been critical of Trump, expressed gratitude to the President "for setting the tone so that we could make a major investment in the United States, including key manufacturing and advanced manufacturing here."

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, also praised Trump for being "such a pro-business, pro-innovation president," noting, "It's a very refreshing change [...] I think it's going to set us up for a long period of leading the world, and that wouldn’t be happening without your leadership."