Unlike in 2009, when Jobs took a six-month leave to receive a liver transplant, he did not set a return date last month.

Apple COO Tim Cook has been leading the company in Jobs' absence, as he did in 2009.

Others at the dinner were Cisco CEO John Chambers, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz.

Art Levinson, chairman and former CEO of Genentech, also dined with Obama. Levinson is on the Apple board of directors.

According to the Associated Press, White House press secretary Jay Carney said after the dinner that Obama exchanged ideas with the business leaders "so we can work as partners to promote growth and create good jobs in the United States." Carney also said Obama discussed research and development spending proposals with the CEOs.