Nvidia founding couple donate $50 million for AI computing at Oregon State University alma mater
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Oregon State University today announced that Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun (Jensen) Huang and Lori Huang have donated $50 million to the school to build a new innovation complex on campus.
The university has also raised a total of $100 million in donations to launch what will ultimately be a $200 million research and education center with one of the most powerful supercomputers in the country.
The center will conduct research in artificial intelligence, materials science, and robotics to solve global challenges in areas such as climate science, oceanography, sustainability, and water resources.
The complex will also support OSU research and teaching that support the broader technology and semiconductor industry in Oregon and beyond. Jensen Huang is the founder and CEO of Nvidia, and he and his wife Lori are both graduates of Oregon State University.
“We are delighted with this extraordinary philanthropy and commitment to advancing research, discovery and problem solving,” OSU President Jayathi Murthy said in a statement.
Murthy said the three-story, 150,000-square-foot center is under design and is scheduled to open at the school in Corvallis, Oregon, in 2025.
Murthy said the center is part of the state of Oregon’s efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM education and research. The Huangs graduated from Oregon high schools and met while studying at OSU’s College of Engineering.
“We discovered our love for computer science and engineering at OSU. We hope this gift will help inspire future generations of students to fall in love with technology and its ability to change the world,” the Huangs said in a statement.
“AI is the most transformative technology of our time,” they added. “To harness this force, engineering students need access to a supercomputer, a time machine, to speed up their research. This new AI supercomputer will enable OSU students and researchers to make breakthrough advances in climate science, oceanography, materials science, robotics and other fields.”
The center will have an Nvidia supercomputer to help teachers tackle highly complex and challenging computational problems. Powered by next-generation Nvidia CPUs, GPUs and networking, the OSU supercomputer is expected to be among the fastest university supercomputers in the world, powerful enough to train the largest AI models and perform complex digital twin simulations. The complex will also feature a state-of-the-art clean room and other specialized research facilities.
During the 2023 Oregon legislative session, OSU will request $75 million in bonds paid by the state to match philanthropic and university contributions to the collaborative innovation complex.
The complex will have a state-of-the-art supercomputer that will incorporate the NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD and OVX SuperPOD systems. The water used to cool it will help heat more than 500,000 square feet of building space on OSU’s Corvallis campus.
OSU Foundation CEO and President Shawn Scoville praised the Huangs’ philanthropy.
“Lori and Jen-Hsun are exceptional Oregon State alumni and truly visionary philanthropists,” Scoville said. “They bring a lot to the table. All the projects in which they participate are improved by their input, and OSU is the great beneficiary of their experience and active participation. It is a joy and an honor to work with them”.
The Huangs’ donation was announced as the OSU Foundation launched the university’s second campus-wide fundraising and engagement campaign.
The university has received four donations of $25 million or more for the campaign to date. In 2021, the OSU Foundation announced an anonymous donation of $50 million to support the completion of Research Stadium. In 2018, the university received its first gift of $50 million, a contribution from alumnus Gary Carlson to name the Gary R. Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine.
Lori Huang is the president of the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation, which supports higher education, public health, and STEM initiatives in the US, along with local community organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Huang Foundation previously donated $5 million to build a cancer research laboratory at Oregon State University and $30 million to the Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center at Stanford University. The Huangs joined Melinda Gates in supporting AI4ALL, a national nonprofit organization that works to increase diversity and inclusion in AI. They have also awarded significant educational grants to Johns Hopkins University and City Year San Jose. Lori graduated from Oregon State University in 1985 with a BSEE. The Huangs have two sons.
The state of Oregon has more than 34,000 students.
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