Mark Schenkel

Practice Areas

Intellectual Property & Technology Transactions, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Infrastructure, Privacy

Career

Recognized as a 2024 “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer, one of Bloomberg Law’s 2024 “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40,” and recognized as “Up and Coming” in 2025, and 2026 California Technology by Chambers USA, Mark is widely regarded as one of the leading technology deal lawyers of his generation.

Mark has advised growth-stage and established companies at the cutting edge of technology, life sciences, and finance on transformative, IP- and data-driven transactions. Drawing on his broad experience, Mark is now one of the leading advisors on high-stakes AI and digital infrastructure transactions, having advised on AI compute transactions valued in excess of $1 trillion.

Mark has played a central role in OpenAI’s strategic partnerships, including its groundbreaking transactions with Amazon (including 2 gigawatts of Trainium capacity), AMD (for 6 gigawatts of GPUs), Cerebras (for 750 megawatts of ultra-low latency compute), CoreWeave (for over $22 billion of compute), Google Cloud, Microsoft (including their 2023, 2025, and 2026 agreements), Oracle (for 4.5 gigawatts of compute), SB Energy (for development of multi-gigawatt AI datacenter campuses), and SoftBank Group (in a joint venture to deploy Advanced Enterprise AI in Japan), as well as OpenAI’s launch of DeployCo. He has also advised a number of other AI startups, including Character.AI, World Labs and Twelve Labs, in strategic compute partnerships with hyperscalers and neoclouds. Mark also plays a central role in representing Broadcom in strategic AI compute initiatives, including transactions involving Anthropic and Google (for 3.5 gigawatts of TPU-based capacity, as well as $21 billion of Google TPU chips).

In addition to extensive experience in AI and AI infrastructure, Mark advises clients across a wide range of industries on AI adoption, implementation, and governance; privacy and cybersecurity; open source; and other complex technology and IP issues. His broader transactional practice includes technology-intensive mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, collaborations, licensing arrangements, commercial agreements, strategic supply arrangements, and IP litigation settlements.

As a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s Intellectual Property and Technology Transactions Group and a member of the Firm’s AI Practice and Digital Infrastructure Practice, Mark brings deep experience advising industry leaders, innovators, investors, and emerging companies on transactions driven by technology, intellectual property, data, and regulated innovation.

Personal

UC Hastings College of the Law (JD, 2010); Tufts University (BS, 2007).