US President Donald Trump on 9 October 2026 bestowed America's highest honours for scientific and technological achievement on six of the country's most influential technology leaders at the New Golden Age Summit in Washington, describing their contributions as foundational to America's global leadership in the 21st century. Among those honoured was Satya Nadella, the Indian-origin chief executive of Microsoft, who received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

Who Received What

Satya Nadella and Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell were presented with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation — the country's premier recognition for technological achievement. The National Medal of Science went to Elon Musk (founder of SpaceX), Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and AMD CEO Lisa Su. The ceremony brought together dominant figures from artificial intelligence, semiconductor design, cloud computing, and space exploration.

Trump on Nadella: 'Early Leader in Super Intelligence'

Trump singled out Nadella for special praise, crediting him with transforming Microsoft over more than three decades. 'For more than three decades, Satya Nadella has been a key figure in the transformation of Microsoft,' Trump said. The President credited Nadella with building out Microsoft's cloud computing capabilities and extending its reach to businesses, students, and consumers worldwide. 'Then he had the vision to make Microsoft an early leader in super intelligence,' Trump added. 'Satya, we are honoured to give you the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. It is so well deserved. Congratulations, Satya,' Trump said. The official award citation recognised Nadella's leadership in revitalising Microsoft for the cloud era and building infrastructure for the global deployment of advanced artificial intelligence.

Musk, Brin, Huang, Su and Dell: What They Were Recognised For

Trump described Elon Musk as a 'modern day Thomas Edison' and called the SpaceX founder a 'national treasure,' highlighting his work on reusable rockets, the Starlink satellite network, and space exploration more broadly. Sergey Brin was recognised for developing the search algorithms that reshaped global access to information; Trump noted that Brin had returned to Google to personally advance progress in superintelligence. Jensen Huang received his medal for advancing graphics processing technology that now underpins much of the world's artificial intelligence infrastructure — 'The entire world is now running on Nvidia,' Trump said. Lisa Su was honoured for her contributions to semiconductor engineering and high-performance computing, while Michael Dell was cited for making personal computers widely accessible and building a global technology enterprise.

Broader Scientific Priorities Outlined

Beyond the individual honours, Trump used the summit to lay out his administration's scientific agenda. He cited quantum computing, nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, and space exploration as priority areas, and said the United States was working toward developing a quantum computer capable of scientific discovery by 2028. He also referenced the Genesis mission and a White House accord on superintelligence aimed at maintaining American technological leadership in the years ahead.

Significance of the Medals

The National Medal of Science is awarded by the President to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to scientific knowledge. The National Medal of Technology and Innovation honours achievements that have demonstrably advanced technological progress and innovation within the United States. Both are administered through the White House and represent the highest civilian recognition in their respective domains. This ceremony is notable for clustering multiple recipients across AI, semiconductors, and space — reflecting the current administration's stated focus on sustaining American dominance in deep technology.