Tech Giants and Top Leaders Gather at White House for Xi Jinping State Dinner

Top executives from the world's biggest technology firms joined political leaders at the White House on Thursday night for a formal state banquet hosted for Chinese President Xi Jinping. U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed the visiting leader and his wife, Peng Liyuan, presenting the Chinese president with a custom sculpture of an American bald eagle.

Guest List and Seating

The high-profile guest list featured numerous Silicon Valley heads, including Tesla chief Elon Musk, Apple boss Tim Cook, Nvidia leader Jensen Huang, and OpenAI head Sam Altman, who signed autographs as he arrived. Other prominent figures present were Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google head Sundar Pichai, Dell chief Michael Dell, and French luxury goods executive Bernard Arnault. President Trump and Mr. Xi shared a table alongside chipmaker executive Huang—whose firm faces strict U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductors to China—alongside Apple chief Cook and AMD boss Lisa Su. Numerous high-ranking American officials joined the evening, among them Vice-President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, alongside members of the Trump family such as Ivanka Trump. The visiting Chinese delegation included senior officials like Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Vice-Premier He Lifeng, and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.

Banquet Details and Menu

Dinner guests enjoyed musical performances from classical tenor Christopher Macchio alongside military groups including the U.S. Marine Band and the U.S. Army Chorus. Event decor highlighted red tones to honor Chinese tradition, paired with historical White House tableware. The three-course dinner featured a first course of yellow squash velouté with wild mushrooms and crispy pancetta, a main dish of sesame-crusted sea bass with baby bok choy, and a vanilla crémeux dessert served with honey ice cream sourced from hives at the White House.