Trump honours Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

US President Donald Trump honoured Indian-origin Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for his contribution to American technological leadership.

Trump praised Nadella at the New Golden Age Summit, where six prominent technology leaders received the National Medal of Science or the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

"For more than three decades, Satya Nadella has been a key figure in the transformation of Microsoft, revolutionising 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.

He credited Nadella with transforming Microsoft's cloud computing business and positioning the company as an early leader in superintelligence.

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 superintelligence," Trump said.

"Satya, we are honoured to give you the National Medal of Technology and innovation. It is so well deserved. Congratulations, Satya," he added.

Nadella, who was born in Hyderabad and became Microsoft's chief executive in 2014, thanked the President.

"Thank you, @POTUS, for this incredible honour 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," he wrote on X.

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.

Indo-Asian News Service