Donald Trump awards national science medals to Elon Musk and top tech leaders

Donald Trump is awarding America’s top science and technology honours to a group of Silicon Valley’s most influential executives, capping months of increasingly intimate ties between the administration and the tech sector.

The White House announced that Elon Musk, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, AMD head Lisa Su and Google co-founder Sergey Brin will receive the National Medal of Science. Michael Dell and Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation at a gathering billed as the "Science: A New Golden Age Summit".

"The Trump Administration is grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology," White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston said, adding that the honourees "are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation."

Close ties and campaign money

The formal recognition formalises an exceptionally close working relationship between the president and the technology sector's billionaire class. Every recipient honoured at Thursday’s summit has backed Trump or broader Republican efforts financially.

Musk was the president’s single largest donor during the 2024 presidential campaign, contributing more than $290 million before briefly serving as a special government employee charged with shrinking the federal workforce. Others on the honours list have similarly opened their wallets. Brin gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee in 2025 after attending Trump’s inauguration. Huang donated towards construction of a White House ballroom, while Nvidia gave $1 million to the inauguration ceremony. AMD has also contributed to Trump-linked political funds.

Michael Dell and his wife Susan committed $6.25 billion to help fund "Trump Accounts", an administration savings initiative aimed at American children.

AI deals and personal holdings

The ceremony follows a White House luncheon on artificial intelligence held just over a week earlier, which gathered many of the same leaders in the East Room. Following that meeting, Trump said he had signed a "morally binding" agreement with executives as public concern escalated over the pace of AI deployment.

The administration's engagement with the industry also touches Trump’s personal portfolio. Federal financial disclosure filings reveal that Trump actively bought or sold shares in SpaceX, Tesla, Nvidia, Microsoft, AMD and Google’s parent company Alphabet as recently as July.