United States President Donald Trump has awarded the country\u2019s most prestigious honours in science and engineering to executives from top technology firms including SpaceX, Alphabet, Microsoft and Nvidia.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Trump presented the National Medal of Science to billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Lisa Su of the semiconductor firm AMD.<\/p>\n
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Two more recipients received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation: Michael Dell of Dell Technologies and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.<\/p>\n
At the award ceremony, Trump credited the honourees with \u201chelping pioneer an incredible future for America\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of these people here, we will always be on top. No one else can compete with us,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Five of the six people receiving medals on Thursday were born outside the US. Four are among the 10 wealthiest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.<\/p>\n
The award ceremony took place hours after the Trump administration announced it was suspending<\/a> Microsoft and other top tech companies from using the H-1B visa system, which allows companies to hire skilled foreign workers and put them on a path towards permanent residency in the US.<\/p>\n The suspension, officials said, was due to the companies allegedly using the system in a fraudulent manner.<\/p>\n White House builds ties with Silicon Valley<\/p>\n The medal ceremony was the latest example of what critics see as an increasingly close relationship between Silicon Valley tech executives and the second Trump administration.<\/p>\n Powerful companies like Amazon, Meta and Nvidia contributed money to Trump\u2019s second inauguration, and several high-profile industry leaders attended his swearing-in, including Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.<\/p>\n Trump, for his part, has pledged to slash regulations and position the US \u201cas the world leader in artificial intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n He has also touted self-regulation<\/a> in the AI industry amid concerns about the safety of the technology.<\/p>\n Several of the tech entrepreneurs honoured on Thursday have forged close ties to the White House, through political and business dealings.<\/p>\n The South Africa-born Musk, for example, was the largest contributor to Trump\u2019s 2024 presidential campaign and has been a supporter of right-wing causes around the world, which he amplifies on his social media platform, X.<\/p>\n He briefly served as a special adviser to the president during the first months of Trump\u2019s second term, helping to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its efforts to downsize the federal government.<\/p>\n Around the time he left DOGE, however, Musk and Trump had a public falling-out<\/a> over the president\u2019s tax-and-spending plans.<\/p>\n The two have since reconciled. On Thursday, Trump hailed Musk as \u201cour modern-day Thomas Edison\u201d and an \u201cindustrial titan\u201d, citing his work with the aerospace company SpaceX<\/a> and the carmaker Tesla.<\/p>\n \u201cFew Americans in history have done more to advance America\u2019s national interest than Elon in one field after another,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n Another honouree, Dell, has been a financial backer of the president\u2019s efforts to launch Trump Accounts, a scheme to enrol American children born during Trump\u2019s second term into government-backed investment accounts.<\/p>\n Dell and his wife Susan Dell committed $6.25bn to the programme last year.<\/p>\n Separately, the White House entered into a deal in August for the US government to take a 15 percent cut of any AI chip sales that Nvidia and AMD make with China.<\/p>\n