Nvidia Board Member Mark Stevens Donates $200 Million to USC to Accelerate AI Research

Meet Mark Stevens: The billionaire VC, Nvidia board member, and Giving Pledge signer who just donated $200 million to USC to help with the AI race | Fortune

As Big Tech competes to win the AI race, America's top universities are also clamoring for the best resources to study and research the technology. And the University of Southern California just got a massive bet from one of the country's most prominent venture capitalists to place them squarely in the competition. On Tuesday, USC announced Mark Stevens, a billionaire venture capitalist, Nvidia board member, and Giving Pledge signer, and his wife, Mary, are donating an eye-popping $200 million to launch a universitywide AI initiative. This marks one of the largest gifts in the school's 146-year history. In recognition, USC's School of Advanced Computing, housed within the Viterbi School of Engineering (one of the top engineering schools in the country), will be renamed the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence. "As a top destination for AI talent, USC can accelerate our mission of educating future leaders, addressing real-world problems, and enhancing human values and agency," USC President Beong-Soo Kim said in a statement. The $200 million donation will fund the recruitment of AI researchers and back work spanning health sciences, security, business, and the arts. "We know the next great universities will be those that invest in computing," Stevens, who is also a USC alum, said in a statement. "This is a key moment." Stevens, 66, earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and economics from USC in 1981 and a master's in computer engineering from the school in 1984, and went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1989. He joined Sequoia Capital that same year and became a partner in 1993, the year he led Sequoia's investment in the then-unknown chipmaker Nvidia. Run by Jensen Huang, Nvidia is now considered to be the world's most valuable company, and has a $5 trillion market cap. Stevens still sits on Nvidia's board today and runs his own family office, S-Cubed Capital, in Menlo Park, Calif. During his run at Sequoia, Stevens was part of the team behind early bets on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, and Nvidia. He left Sequoia to start S-Cubed Capital in 2012. His payoff has been substantial, with a net worth of $12.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and he also owns a stake in the Golden State Warriors NBA team. In 2013, Mark and Mary Stevens signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment founded by Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Melinda French Gates to get more billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth. "Mary and I realized that we had more than enough wealth that we would ever need and began to think about what to do about it," Mark Stevens wrote in his Giving Pledge letter. "There were four options: 1) give it to your kids (we have three), 2) let the government take it from you and redistribute it, 3) spend with reckless abandon or 4) donate virtually all of it to causes and organizations that we feel could make a difference in the world." "We are thrilled to devote a significant portion of our future time and energy to option four," he continued. USC has been a consistent beneficiary. Stevens has served on the school's Board of Trustees since 2001, and the couple's prior gifts include $50 million in 2015 to endow the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, which uses imaging tech to study Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, and traumatic brain injury, plus earlier naming gifts for the USC Stevens Center for Innovation and the Stevens Academic Center for student-athletes. The new $200 million pledge will scale up that neuroimaging work and pour resources into USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, a U.S. Army-affiliated research center that uses AI for military training simulations, as well as USC's new bachelor's degree in artificial intelligence and its AI for Business program. Stevens told the Los Angeles Times that schools risk falling behind if they don't move fast on AI, especially as much of the cutting-edge research has migrated to private companies. "I think a lot of American universities are in danger of getting left behind if they don't invest and raise money to further the AI revolution," Stevens said. He also acknowledged the technology's risks, adding "AI in the wrong hands ... can be very destructive." "I think one of the jobs of universities in America is to understand, have a balanced approach, understand the guardrails and the safeguards that need to be adhered to as AI proliferates," he continued. Several other billionaires have also donated to American universities to help them keep up in the AI race. Last month, Michael and Susan Dell donated $750 million to the University of Texas at Austin to fund a medical center built from the ground up around AI, pushing the Dells' total UT Austin giving past $1 billion. In January, tech billionaire and Workday cofounder David Duffield gave Cornell University a record-breaking $371.5 million to its engineering school, with a portion earmarked for AI and quantum engineering research, per the Ithaca Voice. Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman put $350 million into MIT in 2018 to launch the Schwarzman College of Computing, an AI-focused interdisciplinary hub.

Early Nvidia Investor Mark Stevens Gives $200M to USC for A.I. Push

USC has long been a cornerstone of the tech industry's talent pipeline -- it ranks second among the most common alma maters in Silicon Valley. Mark Stevens, a venture capitalist and early Nvidia investor, and his wife, Mary, are donating a staggering $200 million to the University of Southern California to accelerate A.I. research and education across the institution. The gift will help the 145-year-old university position itself as a "trailblazer" in A.I., according to Stevens, a USC alumnus. Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters The funds will primarily support a university-wide recruitment effort to attract top A.I. talent, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary expertise. In recognition of the couple's donation, USC plans to rename its advanced computing school, which opened in 2024, to the USC Mark and Mary Stevens School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence. "We know the next great universities will be those that invest in computing. This is a key moment," said Stevens in a statement. Stevens, 66, has an estimated net worth of $11.5 billion, largely stemming from his stake in Nvidia. He first invested in the chipmaker in 1993 while serving as a managing partner at Sequoia Capital, which he joined in 1989 after stints at Intel and Hughes Aircraft. Now investing through his family office, S-Cubed Capital, Stevens owns a stake in the NBA's Golden State Warriors and serves on Nvidia's board. During his more than two decades with Sequoia, he also made early-stage investments in companies including Google, Yahoo and YouTube. USC has long been a cornerstone of the tech industry's talent pipeline -- it ranks second among the most common alma maters in Silicon Valley. Stevens himself earned bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and economics, as well as a master's degree in computer engineering, from the university. USC, which already offers more than 30 programs related to A.I. and computing, plans to launch a new Bachelor of Science in A.I. this fall. The gift comes at a "critical inflection point for our society," said USC President Beong-Soo Kim. "As a top destination for A.I. talent, USC can accelerate our mission of educating future leaders, addressing real-world problems and enhancing human values and agency." USC is far from the only university receiving major funding for A.I. initiatives. In April, the University of Texas at Austin received $750 million from billionaires Michael and Susan Dell to support an A.I.-native hospital. That donation was followed by a $100 million commitment to the University of Wisconsin-Madison's new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence from alumni, business leaders and corporate partners. The University of Chicago also received $50 million last month from alumni Rika and Joe Mansueto to launch a program dedicated to recruiting A.I. scholars. In January, Bloomberg co-founder Tom Secunda committed $30 million to establishing the Center for AI Responsibility and Research at Binghamton University. For Stevens, the donation is the latest in a long history of giving to USC. He and his wife previously contributed $22 million in 2004 to a USC innovation center and $50 million in 2015 to support neuroimaging and informatics work, along with additional multimillion-dollar gifts to orthobiologics and athletics programs. Beyond USC, the couple's philanthropy includes support for Santa Clara University, Stanford University, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation. They also made a last-minute donation to save Oasis, a drag cabaret venue in San Francisco that had been facing closure. The couple have been signatories of the Giving Pledge since 2013, committing to give away the majority of their net worth.

Nvidia billionaire Mark Stevens gives $200 million to alma mater USC for AI research - The Economic Times

Nvidia director Mark Stevens and his wife Mary have donated $200 million to the University of Southern California to significantly advance AI research and education. This substantial gift aims to position USC as a national leader in AI, with plans for a new AI for Business degree and the renaming of its advanced computing school.Billionaire Nvidia director Mark Stevens and his wife Mary are gifting $200 million to the University of Southern California to advance AI research and education across the school. The donation will help make USC a "national leader in AI-powered research and creativity," the school said in a statement, adding the university's school of advanced computing will also be renamed after the couple. USC has plans to introduce a new degree in Artificial Intelligence for Business this fall. For Stevens, the world of AI more than any other tech era feels like "you're either quick or you're dead," he told Bloomberg News. "It became clear that USC didn't have the compute capacity that other schools or companies had, and I just felt like we've got to get back in the game and be aggressive," he said. Schools are facing increased competition for talent, particularly from the private sector, at a time when government funding for academic research is also dwindling, Stevens added. "The gift is not for brick-and-mortar buildings. It is aimed at recruiting top-flight faculty -- not just senior faculty, young up-and-comers from all over the world -- who will do core AI research and research that is at the nexus of other disciplines," he said, citing examples like applying AI to the film, business or medical fields. While universities are grappling with how to incorporate artificial intelligence into their teaching and what it means for the future of learning, USC President Beong-Soo Kim said Stevens' gift is a validation of both USC and higher education in general. It won't support a new initiative, but is "a deepening of a commitment to using AI to advance societal good," Kim said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. "He has an unsurpassed track record of seeing companies and their potential, and organizations and their potential, before others," Kim said of Stevens. "And the fact that he would want to make this investment in USC is such an incredibly important sign of confidence in our future and in the future of higher education." Since 2004, Stevens has gifted more than $290 million to his alma mater including Tuesday's donation, funding everything from athletics to brain science. A native of Culver City, California, Stevens graduated from USC in 1981. Stevens, who's worth $12.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, was one of the earliest Nvidia backers three decades ago and made his fortune mostly from a stake in the Santa Clara-based chipmaker. He first invested in the company in 1993 while at Sequoia Capital and served on the board until 2006, then rejoined the board in 2008 and has been a director since. He's also an active investor though his family office S-Cubed Capital and owns a stake in the Golden State Warriors. Nvidia's growth to become the world's most valuable company has made several of its earliest investors and board members billionaires, including Stevens and Tench Coxe. Earlier this year, Coxe and his wife gave $100 million to help launch a medical center at UT Austin.