Record university gifts show billionaires backing engineering and AI | Wealth Office
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Record university gifts show billionaires backing engineering and AI

Forbes reviews a run of very large donations to US universities, led by Ken Griffin's $3bn gift to Carnegie Mellon.

Forbes reports on a series of unusually large gifts to American universities this year, which it says reveal where donors and institutions are placing their priorities. The largest is Citadel founder Ken Griffin's $3 billion commitment to Carnegie Mellon University, announced on 30 September, which Carnegie Mellon describes as the biggest gift from an individual in US higher education. According to Forbes, $2 billion is for a new campus in Miami and $1 billion for Pittsburgh, including $500 million for the School of Computer Science. About a week earlier, Phil and Penny Knight gave $1 billion to the University of Oregon to establish a college of engineering. Forbes also lists Michael and Susan Dell's gift to the University of Texas at Austin, tied to research in medicine, computing and AI.

The article notes that several of the gifts are the largest in the recipient institution's history, and that many are directed at engineering, computing and related research.

Why it matters: Gifts on this scale shape universities for decades, through new campuses, schools and research priorities. For families considering a major gift, these examples show the trend towards defined, large-scale projects with naming rights and close links to the donor's own field or home city. They also raise practical questions about governance, how gifts are staged over time and how donors stay involved once the money is committed.

Source: Forbes, October 5, 2026. Wealth Office summarises reporting by other publications and links to the original.