President Trump touted Thursday's long-awaited state dinner at the White House as a tough ticket, and while the Chinese business delegation was notably absent, the glittering event featured a wide array of US CEOs.

The official invite list included more than 30 present or former US CEOs, largely from the technology sector, as well as from banking, carmakers, and pharmaceuticals.

Perhaps most striking were the four CEOs whom Trump's team chose to sit at the head table with the two heads of state.

Elon Musk of Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX (SPCX) was seated next to Melania Trump, while Jensen Huang of Nvidia (NVDA), former Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, as well as Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) filled out the head table.

In his remarks before the crowd, Trump said the US and Chinese relationship has been built on a "foundation of commerce and mutual respect between our countries, and together we can continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security for future generations."

The dinner menu, according to the White House, featured three courses to showcase "American ingredients with subtle Chinese influence," including a wild mushroom fricassée, sesame-crusted sea bass, and honey ice cream.

Read more: Tech stocks gain after tech titan dinner with Trump and China's Xi Jinping

The central table at a State Dinner at the WHite House featured US President Donald Trump, US First Lady Melania Trump, Elon Musk, Lisa Su, Daniel Lin (Lisa Su's husband), Jensen Huang Lori Huang, Tim Cook, Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan, and Chinese President Xi Jinping (speaking). (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) · AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The guest list was notable for the outsized presence of tech CEOs and leaders in artificial intelligence. Huang, in particular, has spoken out in recent days against government regulations on the sector, a position Trump has often echoed.

One of the attendees, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, spoke to Yahoo Finance's Deirdre Bosa earlier this week and offered optimism about the overall US-China relationship, saying of AI, "I think both sides will care about the same set of things at the end of the day, which is they want to be able to have this technology actually help their citizens get value." He said safety will be an important element for both sides as norms are set.

The dinner — like many previous Trump events — mixed CEOs among administration officials, Republican party leaders, Fox News hosts, and Supreme Court justices.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was at a nearby table, seated next to Citigroup (C) CEO Jane Fraser. Former Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos was seated next to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, according to a photo.

OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) CEO Sam Altman was also close at hand, along with White House Deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino (an aide who has been at Trump's side since the 1990s) and Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg.