A co-founder of chip maker Nvidia is bankrolling a futuristic quantum computer system at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – and wants to turn New York’s Hudson Valley into a tech powerhouse.
Curtis Priem, 64, donated more than $75 million so that the Albany-area college could obtain the IBM-made computer — the first such device on a university campus anywhere in the world, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The former tech executive and RPI alum said his goal is to establish the area around the school, based in Troy, into a hub of talent and business as quantum computing becomes more mainstream in the years ahead.
“We’ve renamed Hudson Valley as Quantum Valley,” Priem told the Journal. “It’s up to New York whether they want to become Silicon State — not just a valley.”
The burgeoning technology uses subatomic quantum bits, or “qubits,” to process data much faster than conventional binary computers. The devices are expected to play a key role in the development of advanced AI systems.
Priem will reportedly fund the whopping $15 million per year required to rent the computer, which is kept in a building that used to be a chapel on RPI’s campus.
RPI President Martin Schmidt told the newspaper that the school will begin integrating the device into its curriculum and ensure it is accessible to the student body.
Representatives for IBM and RPI did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.
An electrical engineer by trade, Priem co-founded Nvidia alongside its current CEO Jensen Huang and Chris Malachowsky in 1993. He served as the company’s chief technology officer until retiring in 2003.
Priem sold most of his stock in retirement and used the money to start a charitable foundation.
He serves as vice chair of the board at RPI and has reportedly donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the university.
Nvidia has surged in value as various tech firms rely on its computer chips to fuel the race to develop artificial intelligence.
The company’s stock has surged 95% to nearly $942 per share since January alone. Nvidia’s market cap exceeds $2.3 trillion, making it the world’s third-most valuable company behind Microsoft and Apple.
In November 2023, Forbes estimated that Priem would be one of the world’s richest people, with a personal fortune of $70 billion, if he hadn’t sold off most of his Nvidia shares.
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