Michael, Susan Dell donate $750 million for UT Austin medical campus

Michael and Susan Dell announced Tuesday that they have committed $750 million to the University of Texas at Austin that will fund the development of a new medical center and research campus.

The billionaire CEO told CNBC that the new medical center, which will include a hospital and research facility, will use artificial intelligence and advanced computing to deliver earlier and more precise treatment for patients.

“There are a lot of medical centers out there,” Dell said in an interview. “But what you get with the opportunity to build something new is that you can design it from the start with data and computing and AI built in. It allows you to make better decisions earlier and coordinate care more effectively and ultimately create better outcomes.”

The university expects to break ground on Dell Medical Center later this year and open the facility in 2030. The new medical campus will also include a cancer center, which is already under development. The Dells’ donation will also go toward student scholarships and UT’s supercomputing center.

The couple’s donation is one of the largest ever to an American public university. Dell founded his namesake technology firm from his dorm room at UT Austin in 1984 when he was a premed student. He dropped out of UT Austin before his sophomore year.

“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,” he said. “Obviously, that part didn’t work out, but I never stopped thinking about that.”

With the latest commitment, the couple has contributed more than $1 billion in total to UT Austin, including a $50 million initial gift to establish Dell Medical School in 2013. Their foundation also gifted $25 million to establish Austin’s first pediatric hospital in 2007.

Nvidia investor and billionaire Tench Coxe and his wife, Simone, both Austin residents, donated $100 million in January to the new academic medical center.

Dell said he and his wife have stepped up their giving as Austin’s population has surged. The city’s metro area population has roughly doubled since 2000 and was last estimated at nearly 2.6 million people in 2024, according to data from the city.

Investing in Austin’s health-care system means residents are able to seek care closer to home, Dell said.

“My perspective on this is as a parent and as an employer. You know, years ago, if there was a health challenge, you didn’t actually stay in Austin. You went to Houston or Dallas,” he said. “And that’s becoming less and less true, and now Austin is becoming a destination for special surgeries and difficult procedures, and it’s attracting that kind of talent.”

The Dells have ramped up their charitable giving in recent months, committing $6.25 billion in December to fund “Trump accounts” for 25 million U.S. children. The couple’s philanthropic commitments to date total more than $10 billion, according to their foundation.

“The scale has increased as we’ve had more ability to have a greater impact,” Dell said of their philanthropy. “We want to do this while we’re still here — and we’re very much still here — and so there’s a lot to be done.”

Patient advocacy groups and medical professionals have raised concerns about AI’s use in health care, such as data privacy risks and the potential for bias.

Dell said he prioritizes AI’s ability to aid health-care professionals rather than replace or hobble them.

“You’ve got to have the right sort of controls and standards around privacy and security,” he said. “At the end of the day, these are just tools. And they’re very powerful, they’re amazing, and they’re going to keep getting better, but still, I think having that human judgment is incredibly important.”