The upcoming Hill and Valley Forum, a high-profile gathering of tech executives and U.S. policymakers, will focus on maintaining America’s leadership in artificial intelligence and expanding advanced manufacturing, according to organizers.
Now in its fifth year, the summit has become a marker of the increasingly close relationship between Silicon Valley and the federal government since President Donald Trump’s return to office. The forum’s mission is to facilitate open dialogue between industry and government, regardless of political affiliation, said Christian Garrett, partner at 137 Ventures and one of the event’s founders.
“This is nonpartisan, everyone believes in the importance of making sure that the US has technological, industrial and economic leadership and that is important for national security and that is how we create opportunity,” Garrett told Bloomberg Television.
Confirmed speakers for the March 24 event include Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap, and Young Liu, chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn). Venture capitalists such as Trae Stephens of Anduril Industries and Founders Fund, and Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, are also on the agenda.
The connections between Washington and Silicon Valley have strengthened compared to the forum’s early years under President Joe Biden, particularly as the AI investment boom aligns with the Trump administration’s economic priorities. The forum was founded by Garrett, Delian Asparouhov of Founders Fund, and Jacob Helberg, who now serves in the Trump administration as under secretary of state for economic affairs.
Over the past year, the administration has increasingly relied on the tech sector, granting executives significant access to government decision-making. Venture capitalists like David Sacks of Craft Ventures have taken government roles overseeing AI and crypto policy, while CEOs including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman have become frequent White House visitors.
Despite political shifts, the organizers emphasized the forum’s goal of keeping tech leaders engaged in Washington, no matter which party is in power.
“We want to make sure that, irrespective of who is president, it is a place where we can maintain those ties, no matter who is in office,” Asparouhov said.
Garrett added that the forum aims to include tech leaders from U.S. allied countries. “The same trend is happening abroad where you are seeing governments partnering with their technological sector,” he said. “Industrial and technological ownership through companies will play a big role in how the US and allies work together.”
