Who will be Trump’s new Silicon Valley bestie?

We might’ve just witnessed the messiest — and most public — breakup of the year: Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. But Trump may not stay single for long.

Trump’s second inauguration in January was a who’s who of Silicon Valley with executives from Apple, Meta, Google, and OpenAI in attendance. It might also foreshadow who could be next to take Musk’s place as Trump’s tech consigliere.

With Musk now potentially out of the picture, a new tech exec could slide into the president’s DMs and the Oval Office.

Business Insider has rounded up a shortlist of who could become Trump’s new tech right-hand based on who has done business with, lobbied, or cozied up to the president during his comeback tour in Washington. (Representatives from Meta, OpenAI, Amazon, and Blue Origin didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople from Google and Nvidia declined to comment.)

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Platforms founder and CEO

Zuckerberg was something of a MAGA stan earlier this year. Meta, his company, dropped $1 million on Trump’s inauguration, and Zuck even co-hosted a black-tie soirée that night to honor the second-time president.

Now, with Meta in the throes of a federal antitrust lawsuit, Zuckerberg may not be on Trump’s good side. But the Meta CEO could be playing the long game here: He snapped up a $23 million, 15,000 square-foot DC mega mansion, establishing more of a presence in the capital. Zuck has also been on a bit of a rebrand journey, from a hoodie-wearing founder to a gold chain-wearing CEO with unapologetic swagger. Part of this transformation has included podcast appearances, like an episode with Trump-endorsing Joe Rogan in which Zuck talked about his “masculine energy” and his proclivity for bowhunting.

Sam Altman, OpenAI cofounder and CEO

Altman has also been circling the throne. First came Stargate: the $100 billion AI infrastructure plan between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, announced the day after Trump’s inauguration.

Then, in May, the OpenAI CEO joined Trump on a trip to Saudi Arabia while Altman was working on a massive deal to build one of the world’s largest AI data centers in Abu Dhabi. This reportedly rattled Musk enough to tag along at the last minute, according to the Wall Street Journal. OpenAI was ultimately selected for the deal, which Musk allegedly attempted to derail, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Trump is a fan of the AI arms race, and Altman is poised to ride its hype wave.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and executive chairman, Washington Post owner, and Blue Origin founder

Back in 2015, Bezos wanted to launch Trump into orbit after the at-the-time presidential candidate fired shots at Bezos on what was Twitter, now X, calling the Washington Post, which Bezos owns, a “tax shelter,” Bezos responded that he’d use Blue Origin, a space company Bezos founded, to “#sendDonaldtospace.”

Times have certainly changed. In January, Bezos said he is “very optimistic” about the administration’s space agenda. Behind the scenes, he has reportedly given Trump political advice, allegedly as early as the summer of 2024, according to Axios.

There was a brief flare-up in April, though, after Amazon reportedly considered listing Trump’s tariffs next to products’ prices on the site, according to Punchbowl News. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the plan a “hostile and political action.” The idea, which was never implemented, was scrapped, and an Amazon spokesperson insisted it was only ever meant for its low-cost Haul store.

If Trump does cancel Musk’s SpaceX government contracts as he threatened to do, Bezos’ Blue Origin, and rival to SpaceX, could stand to benefit. Blue Origin already has a $3 billion contract with NASA.

Jensen Huang, Nvidia cofounder and CEO

While Huang was notably missing from Trump’s second inauguration in January, he did attend the Middle East trip in May. Nvidia is partnering with Oracle, SoftBank, and G42 on the OpenAI data center plans in the UAE.

But Nvidia hasn’t gotten off too easy: In April, Trump banned the chip maker from selling its most advanced chips, the H20, to China, a move that Nvidia says cost it $5.5 billion and reportedly prompted the company to modify the chip for China to circumvent US export controls.

Sundar Pichai, Google CEO

In April, a federal judge ruled that Google holds an illegal monopoly in some advertising technology markets. This is one of two major legal blows to Google in the past year: Back in August 2024, a federal judge ruled that Google violated antitrust law with its online search. If Google has to sell Chrome, Barclays told clients on Monday, Alphabet stock could fall 25%.

This flurry of litigation — and potential divestment of the Chrome business — puts Pichai between a rock and a hard place. While the CEO was spotted with the rest of the technorati at Trump’s inauguration, it’s hard to say how he might cozy up to Trump, and whether friendly relations would do anything to remedy these rulings.

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