President Trump honored leading technology CEOs on Thursday with medals honoring achievements in science and technology, dubbing them pioneers in America’s “Golden Age” and the backbone of the emerging artificial intelligence field.
Mr. Trump led off the roster of National Medals of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation recipients with SpaceX and Tesla leader Elon Musk, a South Africa-born entrepreneur who helped Mr. Trump slash federal payrolls in 2025 and is considered the world’s wealthiest person.
“In one field after another, his genius and determination have made science fiction into reality,” Mr. Trump said. “SpaceX saved NASA from relying on foreign nations to send our astronauts into space.”
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Mr. Trump recounted Mr. Musk’s development of Tesla as a popular electric vehicle, and his efforts to bolster communications after Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina in 2024.
“Elon is our modern-day Thomas Edison,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump also honored Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su, Dell CEO Michael Dell and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
The executives play a leading role in the U.S. economy.
Major tech companies are investing heavily in artificial intelligence. The AI industry is intertwined with the stock market, and firms like Nvidia and AMD make semiconductors that power the pioneering technology.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Huang started by developing graphics and processing units for video games.
“He soon realized and discovered that their chips had many other important uses and applications,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump hailed Mr. Dell as a technology pioneer who donated heavily to new tax-advantaged savings accounts for American children, known as “Trump Accounts.”
The president handed out the honors at his New Golden Age Summit at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
“This is the Golden Age. It wasn’t two years ago, but it is now,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump celebrated technology pioneers as central to U.S. advancement and status on the global stage.
The president says the U.S. must compete with China for AI dominance and embrace the data centers that power the technology, despite not-in-my-backyard opposition across the country.
“There is nobody that can compete with us, nobody,” Mr. Trump said. “This is the whole ballgame.”
The AI boom is animating voters in the midterm elections. Some voters worry about AI taking their jobs, or oppose energy-gobbling data centers.
Some fear that AI models will think for themselves and override human instructions, posing risks to society.
Mr. Trump has taken a more positive view of the technology. He recently met with leading AI CEOs, urging them to “self-regulate” to ensure safety.
The president says the Department of Justice will watch closely for violations of the law among AI companies.
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