Key points
- Four tech leaders get the top US science medal
- Trump's first time presenting it in either term
- His disclosure lists July trades in all four companies
President Donald Trump will present the National Medal of Science to Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, Jensen Huang, and Lisa Su at the White House on October 8. Fox News first reported the awards on October 7.
Trump's accounts traded shares in companies tied to all four honorees in July: Musk's SpaceX (SPCX), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Huang's Nvidia (NVDA), and Su's Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). His latest financial disclosure, posted by the Office of Government Ethics on September 22, lists the transactions. The White House says independent financial institutions manage the portfolio, without input from Trump or his family.
Michael Dell of Dell Technologies (DELL) and Satya Nadella of Microsoft (MSFT) will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation at the same ceremony, part of the White House's "Science: A New Golden Age" summit.
"The Trump Administration is grateful for the contributions of these incredible leaders in science and technology," White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston said in a statement to CNBC. "These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation."
Trump has not presented the medal before
Congress created the National Medal of Science in 1959, and 529 scientists and engineers have received it, according to the National Science Foundation, which runs the program. Peers nominate candidates, a presidential committee reviews them, and the president makes the final decision.
October 8 will be the first time Trump has presented either medal in his two terms. His uncle, MIT professor John G. Trump, received the science medal under President Ronald Reagan for applying radiation to medicine and industry.
Musk was Trump's largest financial backer in the 2024 election cycle, giving more than $290 million. Brin gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee in 2025.
Nvidia gave $1 million to Trump's inauguration, and Huang donated to the fund to build Trump's White House ballroom. Dell is a longtime Trump donor. He and his wife, Susan Dell, committed $6.25 billion to seed Trump Accounts, which are designed to help US children start saving.
Musk and Huang were also among the six leaders who signed the White House's voluntary AI safety accord on September 29.
Trump's accounts bought and sold shares in July
The report lists more than 1,100 trades made on Trump's behalf in July. It reports their values in dollar ranges and doesn't identify who made the investment decisions.
Nvidia had the largest trades among the four companies. Trump's accounts sold between $500,001 and $1 million in Nvidia shares on July 17, then bought shares in the same dollar range on July 20.
The accounts bought $15,001 to $50,000 in SpaceX shares on July 10 and sold a smaller amount on July 17. They also bought $15,001 to $50,000 in AMD shares on July 8. Alphabet appeared several times on both sides of the ledger, with its largest transaction a sale of $100,001 to $250,000.
Elsewhere in the portfolio, the report lists a Microsoft sale of $5 million to $25 million on July 20 and a Tesla (TSLA) purchase of $100,001 to $250,000 on July 27.
The disclosure follows an earlier report listing 1,051 transactions in June.
