Starlink, Tesla robots and more: Here's why Elon Musk accompanied Trump in his Saudi Arabia visit
World | US President Donald Trump’s adviser and tech billionaire Elon Musk joined him for a VIP lunch in Saudi Arabia hosted by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS)
US President Donald Trump’s adviser and tech billionaire Elon Musk joined him for a VIP lunch in Saudi Arabia hosted by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS). Soon after, in an event in Riyadh, Musk announced that Saudi Arabia would authorize the use of SpaceX's Starlink service for aviation and maritime shipping.
Apart from Musk, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Larry Fink of BlackRock and Jane Fraser of Citigroup, Andy Jassy, the chief executive of Amazon, Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia were also present at the VIP lunch.
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Musk's Starlink in Saudi
"I’d also like to thank the Kingdom for approving Starlink for maritime and aviation use," Musk said during the Saudi-US Investment Forum, which coincided with a White House-led visit to the Kingdom.
Musk also revealed that he showed Tesla Optimus robots to Trump and MBS."I think they were very impressed," he noted.
Addressing a panel at Saudi-US Investment Forum 2025, Musk said,"It would be very exciting to have autonomous vehicles here in the kingdom."His remarks came before speeches by Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Read More | Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia, meets Crown Prince MBS; Elon Musk joins in for VIP lunch: See pics here
Trump secures $ 1 trillion Saudi investment pledge
On Day 1 of Trump's West Asia visit, he announced a haul of over $1 trillion in investments with Saudi Arabia. He also signed a defence deal worth $142 billion.
"With this trip, we’re adding over $1 trillion more in terms of investment into our country and buying our products," Trump told the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh.As he arrived in Riyadh, Crown Prince MBS welcomed him at the King Khalid International Airport.
