Nvidia and Apple each pledged $25 million to President Trump's White House ballroom renovation, topping a donor list that exceeded $330 million in total contributions from technology and corporate giants including Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft.
Nvidia and Apple each committed $25 million to President Donald Trump's White House ballroom renovation project, making them the top technology donors to the effort, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. The total donations listed in the filing exceeded $330 million.
Nvidia confirmed the contribution in a statement to CNBC on Thursday. "As an American company, our support for the United States is paramount, and independent of any business interests," an Nvidia spokesperson said. "We were proud to be able to make a donation to a nonpartisan trust that serves all Americans and have said so publicly since the donation was made."
Amazon, Palantir, ServiceNow, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft also contributed amounts in the millions, according to the Post's reporting. The documents showed 67 contributions above $10,000 as of late September.
Cisco and ServiceNow each confirmed a $5 million donation. ServiceNow pushed back against suggestions that its government business influenced the gift. "ServiceNow's business with the U.S. government is separate and unconnected to any donations we make to any cause," the company said in a statement. "Any attempt to connect the two processes is wholly inaccurate."
Microsoft and Meta declined to comment. Amazon, Apple, HP Inc., Micron, Palantir, Salesforce, and Vast Space did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Post reported that contributions were routed through a nonprofit trust, and donors received a pledge form designated for the "Donald J. Trump Ballroom."
The disclosures have renewed scrutiny on Capitol Hill and among ethics watchdogs. Lawmakers and independent experts have repeatedly called for more information on private donors to the project, raising concerns about whether corporate donations could affect policy decisions or federal contract awards—particularly as several participating companies have secured substantial government contracts during Trump's second term.
The overlap between the donor list and Trump's inner circle of technology allies is notable. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg have both been regulars at state dinners and White House meetings, and both were among the executives present at a White House AI luncheon on September 29. Tech leaders broadly have cultivated ties to the administration, which has pursued a lighter regulatory posture on antitrust enforcement and advanced billions in artificial intelligence infrastructure and defense spending.
The breadth of the donor list—spanning chipmakers, cloud platforms, enterprise software companies, and aerospace ventures—underscores how broadly the technology sector has sought to maintain proximity to the executive branch. Whether the donations represent goodwill gestures or carry implicit policy expectations is a question lawmakers and outside groups are increasingly pressing in public.
Jay Goldberg is a staff writer at TechEchelon covering technology, markets, and policy. He files the breaking news and deal coverage that move the publication's core desks.
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