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Trump to Host Tech Leaders in First Rose Garden Event After Renovation

U.S. President Donald Trump will host more than two dozen technology and business leaders for a dinner in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden on Thursday, a White House official confirmed. The guest list includes Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The event underscores Trump’s shifting relationship with Silicon Valley. Once marked by frequent clashes over issues like content moderation and antitrust, the dynamic has changed since his 2024 election victory. Tech executives have since sought closer ties with the administration, aligning with the rollback of diversity and equity initiatives while engaging Trump on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, “The president looks forward to welcoming top business, political and tech leaders for this dinner and the many dinners to come on the new, beautiful Rose Garden patio.”

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, was not on the invite list, though he said on his social media platform X that he “was invited, but unfortunately could not attend,” adding that a representative would be present. Musk previously split with Trump after serving as an adviser earlier this year.

The Rose Garden renovation, completed in August, replaced the iconic lawn with a stone patio and umbrella-covered tables inspired by Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The dinner follows a White House event on AI hosted by First Lady Melania Trump earlier in the day.

Other executives expected include Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, Blue Origin CEO David Limp, Micron Technology CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, AMD CEO Lisa Su, Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, and Meta’s chief AI officer Alexandr Wang.

OpenAI’s GPT-5 Model Nears Release Amid High Expectations

OpenAI is on the brink of releasing GPT-5, the next-generation language model succeeding GPT-4, which powered the ChatGPT phenomenon starting in 2022. Industry insiders and early testers express cautious optimism, praising its enhanced coding and scientific problem-solving capabilities, though some say the leap from GPT-4 to GPT-5 feels less dramatic compared to the jump from GPT-3 to GPT-4.

OpenAI, backed by Microsoft and currently valued at around $300 billion, has faced challenges scaling GPT-5 due to limitations in available training data and increased complexity in training runs that can last months and are prone to hardware failures. Unlike GPT-4, which saw significant gains through increased compute power and data, GPT-5 incorporates a novel approach called “test-time compute,” directing extra processing power dynamically to solve complex reasoning and decision-making tasks.

Since the debut of ChatGPT nearly three years ago, generative AI has rapidly advanced. GPT-4 notably outperformed its predecessor by passing the simulated bar exam in the top 10%, setting a new standard in AI capabilities. Meanwhile, competitors like Google and Anthropic have developed rival models, and open-source initiatives such as Meta’s Llama 3 have narrowed the performance gap.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman noted earlier in 2025 that GPT-5 would blend traditional large model training with test-time compute techniques, reflecting the company’s increasingly sophisticated and multifaceted AI portfolio. The broader AI industry awaits the release with anticipation, expecting GPT-5 to unlock new applications beyond conversational AI toward fully autonomous task execution.

Europe’s Ageing Power Plants Set for AI-Driven Data Centre Transformation

Big tech firms, including Microsoft and Amazon, are eyeing Europe’s retiring coal and gas plants as prime locations for new data centres — tapping into their existing power grid connections, water infrastructure, and cooling systems to meet surging AI energy demands. Utilities such as Engie, RWE, and Enel see these conversions as a way to offset decommissioning costs, secure lucrative long-term power contracts, and underwrite future renewable projects.

Many of the EU’s and UK’s 153 remaining hard coal and lignite plants are scheduled to close by 2038, joining the 190 that have shut since 2005. Repurposing these sites offers utilities stable, high-margin revenues, with tech companies reportedly paying up to €20/MWh in “green premiums” for low-carbon electricity. Depending on scale — some data centres can require up to a gigawatt — such premiums could translate into contracts worth hundreds of millions to billions of euros over decades.

The approach also addresses one of Europe’s key data centre bottlenecks: grid connection delays, which can stretch over a decade. Converting old plants offers “speed to power,” significantly accelerating deployment timelines. Projects range from retrofitting existing sites to building “energy parks” pairing renewable generation with direct supply to data centres.

Engie is actively marketing 40 potential sites worldwide, including its decommissioned Hazelwood coal plant in Australia, while EDP, EDF, Enel, and Britain’s Drax are pursuing similar strategies. Some developments, such as a planned 2.5 GW facility at a former German coal plant and multiple UK sites, are already in motion — though details remain scarce for security reasons.

Industry analysts say the trend represents a diversification of utility business models, creating new revenue streams and fostering long-term tech–energy partnerships. For hyperscalers, the premium is worth paying if it secures earlier market entry in the AI race.