Elon Musk, Altman, Fink join Donald Trump in Riyadh for Saudi-US forum amid investment pledges & defense talks; here¡¯s what we know
Elon Musk, Sam Altman and other top US CEOs joined Donald Trump in Riyadh for the Saudi-US Investment Forum. The visit saw $600 billion in Saudi pledges, with discussions on technology, defense, and deeper partnerships across the Gulf region.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was among several prominent American business leaders who joined US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Tuesday. The meeting was the beginning of Trump¡¯s major foreign tour during his new term and focused on economic partnerships and regional cooperation.
Musk, along with OpenAI¡¯s Sam Altman and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, was seen greeting both leaders at the Saudi royal court ahead of a formal lunch hosted by the Crown Prince. The gathering comes as Trump begins a multi-country tour across the Persian Gulf region, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar on the agenda.
Business leaders gather at Riyadh royal court
The Riyadh event brought together a high-profile lineup of US business leaders. In addition to Musk, Altman and Fink, the delegation included Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, IBM¡¯s Arvind Krishna, Citicorp¡¯s Jane Fraser, Boeing¡¯s Kelly Ortberg, NVIDIA¡¯s Jensen Huang and Palantir CEO Alex Karp. According to media reports, these figures were seen lining up to speak with Trump and bin Salman before attending the official lunch.
US President Donald Trump | Credit: X
Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone also attended and is listed among the speakers for the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum taking place the same day. The forum aims to deepen US-Saudi ties across sectors including technology, defense and finance.
$600 Billion in Saudi investment, more possible
Saudi Arabia has already pledged $600 billion in investments into the US. The commitments include defense deals, technology transfers, AI initiatives, and stock market participation. Trump has indicated that the total Saudi investment may ultimately reach $1 trillion. These figures signal strong Saudi interest in long-term collaboration with American businesses and institutions.
Alongside economic deals, Trump and bin Salman are expected to discuss a potential civil nuclear program and increased defense cooperation. These topics were previously linked to normalization efforts between Saudi Arabia and Israel, similar to the Abraham Accords.
U.S.-Saudi investment forum and broader gulf tour
The Saudi-US Investment Forum is being held at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh. A statement on the event¡¯s website says, ¡°The Forum will bring together major Saudi and American investors to celebrate a partnership that has been nearly a century in the making.¡± It adds that the relationship between the two countries dates back to the 1945 meeting between King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud and President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the USS Quincy.
Trump is expected to headline the forum alongside Saudi ministers, White House crypto adviser David Sacks, and several business leaders.
Following Riyadh, Trump will attend a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting and then travel to Qatar on Wednesday for talks with Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and a visit to the U.S. military¡¯s Al Udeid Air Base. His final stop on Thursday will be Abu Dhabi, where he will meet UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
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Nancy Jaiswal is a journalist who started her career in reporting and has covered both hard and soft news. From serious city news developments to lighthearted lifestyle pieces, she has written on almost everything hapenning in India (except maybe alien invasions¡ªyet!). For her, writing isn¡¯t just work; it¡¯s a passion, an obsession, and sometimes the reason she forgets to reply to texts.
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