Tech leaders are among those said to have secured the “hottest ticket in town” as the race for AI dominance added to the backdrop of an upcoming state dinner.
For the first time since then-President Barack Obama’s administration, Chinese President Xi Jinping is slated to arrive in Washington, D.C. for some red carpet treatment. Having previously journeyed with President Donald Trump to the East on a diplomatic trip in May, Elon Musk and now-former Apple CEO Tim Cook are just a few executives who’ve secured a “very limited number of seats.”
Reporting on the dinner scheduled for Thursday, September 24, the New York Post detailed that along with Musk and Cook, the guest list included OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, NVIDIA President Jensen Huang, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell.
BREAKING: Elon Musk will reportedly attend President Trump’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24.
Jeff Bezos, Jensen Huang, Michael Dell and Sundar Pichai are also expected to attend. pic.twitter.com/zSX8XjmBLg
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) September 19, 2026
Of those, Fraser and Huang had been with Musk and Cook at the Chinese State Banquet hosted by Xi when Trump visited China in May. As has been the case before, the world’s richest man and first recorded trillionaire — albeit briefly — drew considerable attention for his lack of pretension.
“The formal dinner is the hottest ticket in town,” a senior administration official told the Post while commenting on the “very limited number of seats.”
“This dinner is a big one, as China is the biggest of them all, and they all want a place at the table,” continued the official.
Attesting to the gravitas of the summit, while other visiting dignitaries have been met by the president at the White House, Reuters reported that Trump is expected to greet Xi at Joint Base Andrews when the communist leader arrives at the military air base.
“The grandeur of this three-day event reflects the importance of our bilateral relationship and the strategic issues impacting our two countries and the world,” State Department chief of protocol Monica Crowley told the Post.
On strategy, the chief executive spoke to the inclusion of CEOs on his China visit earlier this year during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“Those business people are here to make deals and to bring back jobs,” Trump explained, as during his second administration he’s touted trillions of dollars worth of investments pouring into the United States from abroad. “China’s going to invest hundreds of billions of dollars with those people that were in that room today. That’s why they came.”
Commenting further on the planning of the dinner, Crowley said, “Every detail has been thoughtfully curated by the President and First Lady, who are incredibly gracious hosts.”
“They anticipate a highly successful visit, grounded in exceptional American hospitality,” she went on, adding that they “look forward to welcoming President Xi and Madame Peng to the United States of America for their first State Visit in 11 years.”
