Dell CEO Michael Dell has donated $750 million to the University of Texas at Austin, marking one of the largest donations ever made to a public university in the United States. The gift will help fund a new healthcare and research campus, including what the university describes as the country’s first artificial intelligence-native hospital. The donation also supports scholarships, advanced computing infrastructure and medical research initiatives. The latest donation adds to a long history of contributions from Michael and Susan Dell in Austin. In 2005, the couple donated $25 million to help build Dell Children’s Medical Center. In 2013, they gave $50 million to establish Dell Medical School at UT Austin.With this contribution, the total amount donated by Michael and Susan Dell to the university exceeds $1 billion.
$750 million gift to fund AI-powered hospital
The University of Texas at Austin said the donation will support the development of the newly named UT Dell Medical Center, which is expected to open in 2030. The facility will form part of a larger healthcare and research campus focused on using artificial intelligence in medicine. According to the university, AI systems at the hospital could help doctors identify diseases earlier and create more personalised treatment plans.The funding will also go toward scholarships, research programs and advanced computing resources.
Michael Dell’s ties to UT Austin go back decades
Michael Dell’s connection to the university dates back to 1983 when he enrolled as a pre-med student. Speaking at CNBC’s Invest In America Forum earlier this year, Dell reflected on how his parents had hoped he would become a doctor.“I think about this as the next step in a timeline that actually goes back to my parents sending me off to UT to become a doctor,” Dell said. “Obviously, that part didn’t work out, but I never stopped thinking about that.”While studying at the university, Dell began selling computer upgrade kits from his dorm room using about $1,000 in startup capital. He left college before his sophomore year to focus on the business he launched in 1984, which later grew into Dell Technologies.In recognition of his connection to the university, UT Austin recently announced that the residence hall where Dell lived as a freshman will be renamed “Dell House.”
