Politics 6 min read By Arthur Ellington
Trump awards Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella national medal hours after visa suspension
President Donald Trump presented the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Thursday, hours after Vice President JD Vance announced the company had been suspended from a visa programme for skilled foreign workers. Five of the six tech leaders honoured were born overseas.
President Donald Trump awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella on Thursday, celebrating the Indian-born executive as a «key figure» in the company's transformation — just hours after his administration accused Microsoft of abusing the visa system to hire foreign workers over Americans.
The ceremony, part of a White House summit on science and technology, honoured six technology leaders. Five of the six were born outside the United States, a contrast that underscored the tension between the administration's immigration crackdown and the industries driving American economic growth.
Earlier in the day, Vice President JD Vance told a news conference that Microsoft had been suspended from a programme allowing companies to apply for green cards for skilled foreign workers holding H-1B visas. Vance said the company had laid off 6,000 American workers last year while obtaining 6,300 H-1B visas and almost 3,000 green cards.
«Our message to Microsoft is: You're a great American company, but you've got to hire great American workers,» Vance said. «You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.»
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, employs 223,000 people worldwide. The company said in a statement that the majority of its H-1B applications in the last fiscal year were «to extend or change the status of existing Microsoft employees» rather than to bring in new foreign workers.
Trump made no mention of the visa dispute during the medal ceremony. Instead, he praised Nadella's three decades at Microsoft, saying the executive had revolutionised the company and empowered businesses, students and consumers worldwide with «some of the most capable software ever built».
Asked about the apparent contradiction between the administration's actions and the celebration, Vance said: «We're going to continue to support Microsoft and have a great relationship with Microsoft.»
Trump also awarded the National Medal of Science to SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and Lisa Su, chief executive of semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices. Musk was born in South Africa, Brin in Russia, and Huang and Su in Taiwan. Michael Dell, founder of Dell Technologies, received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation alongside Nadella. Dell was born in Texas.
Trump described the group as «national treasures» and compared them to his uncle, John Trump, an electrical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who received the National Medal of Science in 1983. «Such a big day in the world of science and the world of technology — this is the biggest day there is,» the president said. «You're going to go down in the annals of history as being great.»
The National Medal of Science, established in 1959, has historically gone mainly to academics and research scientists rather than business leaders. The ceremony coincided with this week's awarding of the Nobel Prizes.
Nadella thanked Trump on social media, writing that he was «humbled to stand alongside so many giants of American innovation» and looked forward to advancing technology and driving American prosperity.
The event reflects the administration's broader embrace of the technology industry, particularly around artificial intelligence, which Trump has called «super intelligence» and increasingly relies on to deliver his economic agenda. The tech leaders have been frequent White House visitors in recent weeks. Musk, Huang and Su sat at the head table with Trump at a state dinner for China's leader, Xi Jinping, while Brin, Nadella and Dell also attended. Dell was at the Oval Office on Wednesday to discuss the government's special investment accounts for children, known as Trump Accounts.
Last week, Huang and Musk were among technology leaders at the White House to sign a voluntary agreement on developing AI after recent models raised national security and safety concerns.
With November's midterm elections less than a month away, Trump has sought to highlight how investment in AI data centres and related computer equipment has helped lift the stock market to record highs. Polls, however, show bipartisan concern that AI is developing too quickly, and high costs for everyday items such as petrol and groceries are weighing on the economic outlook for many Americans.
Vance also said several universities, including Stanford and MIT, should be investigated for visa fraud. Huang and Brin hold degrees from Stanford, while Su has multiple degrees from MIT. The White House praised the honorees, saying they are «helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation».
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