Nadella thanks Trump for top US tech honour
Washington: Indian-origin Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has thanked US President Donald Trump for conferring on him the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, saying he was humbled to receive the honour alongside some of America’s leading technology pioneers.
Nadella was among six technology leaders honoured by Trump at the New Golden Age Summit in Washington on Thursday, where the President recognised their contributions to scientific research, technological innovation and American economic leadership.
“Thank you, @POTUS, for this incredible honor today. I’m humbled to stand alongside so many giants of American innovation and looking forward for what we can continue to do together to advance technology and drive American prosperity,” Nadella wrote on X.
The Microsoft chief’s response came after Trump praised his role in transforming the company and positioning it as a leader in cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
“For more than three decades, Satya Nadella has been a key figure in the transformation of Microsoft, revolutionizing the company and empowering businesses, students, and consumers from all over the world with some of the most capable software ever built or ever even conceived,” Trump said.
The President recalled Nadella’s contributions to Microsoft’s research, development and cloud computing businesses before he became chief executive in 2014.
“Then he had the vision to make Microsoft an early leader in super intelligence,” Trump said.
“Satya, we are honored to give you the National Medal of Technology and innovation. It is so well deserved. Congratulations, Satya,” he added.
The official award citation recognised Nadella’s transformative leadership of Microsoft, its revival during the cloud computing era and the development of large-scale computing infrastructure supporting artificial intelligence.
The ceremony also honoured Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, AMD CEO Lisa Su and Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell.
Musk, Brin, Huang and Su received the National Medal of Science, while Nadella and Dell received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
Trump described Musk as a modern-day Thomas Edison and praised his achievements in space exploration, satellite communications and electric vehicles.
He also credited Huang with advancing Nvidia’s computing technology, which has become central to the development of advanced artificial intelligence systems.
The President used the summit to outline his administration’s scientific priorities, including quantum computing, nuclear energy, space exploration and superintelligence.
He said the administration had set a target of developing a quantum computer for scientific discovery by 2028.
