Mark Stevens, an early Nvidia investor who made billions from the chipmaker’s rise, is now directing his philanthropy closer to home. He and his wife, Mary, are donating $175 million to fund the region’s first new medical school in more than a century, which will be operated as a partnership between Santa Clara University and Sutter Health.
“The unique partnership between California’s oldest university, a large and respected integrated health care delivery network in Northern California, and our investment will provide the next generation of physicians and clinicians,” Stevens said in a statement. The newly launched school will also be “at the forefront of integrating AI technology with healthcare delivery.”
This is the largest donation ever made to either Santa Clara, a 175-year-old Silicon Valley university, or to Sutter Health, a nonprofit health care system serving California. In recognition of this gift, the institution will be named the Mark and Mary Stevens College of Medicine. The school will be housed in an 82,000-square-foot facility and plans to welcome its inaugural class after a multi-year accreditation process now underway.
Stevens, a member of Nvidia’s board of directors, first invested in the company in the early 1990s while working at Sequoia Capital, which he joined after working at Intel and Hughes Aircraft. He now invests through his family office, S-Cubed Capital, and owns a stake in the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Stevens has Her net worth is estimated at $12.2 billion.
Mary Stevens has a long-standing relationship with Santa Clara. She graduated in 1984, played on the university’s women’s soccer team and served on its board of trustees for more than a decade. The partnership with Sutter Health represents “a perfect fit between two organizations that share a deep mutual respect, a dedication to educating compassionate healers, and a commitment to serving the greater good,” she said in a statement.
Santa Clara alumni also includes California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called the new school an example of how the state is “moving forward” at a time when “we need more doctors in more communities.”
Nvidia’s high market capitalization fuels philanthropy
Nvidia’s high valuation has fueled a wave of philanthropy among major shareholders. Stevens is one of the company’s three largest individual shareholders, along with board member Tench Cox, whose net worth is estimated at $8.6 billion, and CEO Jensen Huang, whose net worth is estimated at $191.3 billion.
All three have directed portions of their wealth toward charitable causes. Earlier this year, Cox and his wife, Simone, donated $100 million to the University of Texas Medical Center in Austin. Huang also made a series of education-focused gifts, including a $22.5 million donation to California College of the Arts in 2025.
Founded in 1993, Nvidia has become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company amid growing demand for artificial intelligence chips, with a market value reaching $5.3 trillion. Since going public in 1999, its shares have risen more than 550,000 percent, creating a new class of wealthy technology executives.
Other Nvidia leaders have also contributed to philanthropic efforts. Deborah Shoquist, the company’s executive vice president of operations, donated $25 million to Santa Clara in April to launch an artificial intelligence center. In the same month, Roger Bringman, vice president of software assemblers at Nvidia, donated $50 million to Austin Christian University in Texas.
For the Stevens family, the donation adds to a growing collection of high-profile gifts. This comes just weeks after pledging $200 million to the University of Southern California to expand AI research and education, where Mark Stevens earned multiple degrees.
The couple has long supported their school. In addition to multi-million dollar contributions to USC, they have donated nearly $40 million to athletic facilities and programs in Santa Clara. Beyond academia, their philanthropy includes supporting the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, and Oasis, a San Francisco nightclub. They have signed the Giving Pledge since 2013.
