Time magazine has just announced its Best CEO for 2024, and to everyone’s surprise, it was awarded to Lisa Su, the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), instead of the expected Huang Renxun. Both Lisa Su and Huang Renxun were born in Tainan, Taiwan, and have solid backgrounds in science and engineering. Just like Huang Renxun, Lisa Su does not dye her hair and her silver hair gives her an impression of wisdom and maturity. As an Asian female executive, Lisa Su has broken through the glass ceiling in the United States and become an outstanding CEO of a technology company, even making it onto the cover of Time magazine. Compared to Huang Renxun, she is equally impressive and her ambitious desire to challenge Nvidia’s position has prompted the US media to actively report on AMD’s strategy and industry trends.
Recently, Lisa Su was interviewed by Bloomberg reporter Emily Chang, where she shared a glimpse of her life outside of work, such as her regular morning boxing exercises, revealing her exceptional physical and mental strength. Lisa Su mentioned that she likes to win, displaying a strong inner personality. Although Lisa Su and Huang Renxun are distant cousins, both of them have become CEOs in the semiconductor industry as Asian Americans, but Lisa Su states that it is purely coincidental and they have had only a few conversations during business meetings with no interaction between their families.
When Lisa Su took over AMD, the stock price was only $2. In 2017, AMD’s introduction of the Zen architecture became a turning point, completely upgrading AMD and entering the chip race, officially becoming one of the top three alongside Intel and Nvidia. This year, Intel is struggling while AMD doesn’t need to make any effort to compete. Lisa Su and her team at AMD directly challenge Nvidia, even in the development of product lines and in the AI and gaming fields. The previously low-profile Lisa Su has been frequently exposed by the media, discussing product strategies and positioning.
Through a comprehensive redesign of AMD products and the promotion of AI strategies, AMD’s market value surpassed Intel for the first time in 2022, ranking second in the semiconductor industry, only behind Nvidia. Being named Time magazine’s Best CEO of the year has brought even more attention to Lisa Su, and the future outlook for AMD is very positive. Lisa Su is also very confident that she will take AMD to new heights next year.
What is Lisa Su’s leadership style?
Lisa Su has a leadership style that is very different from Huang Renxun. While Huang Renxun can get along with anyone, Lisa Su has a serious and reserved appearance. She often meets with management teams in the morning and on weekends, and personally participates in product testing, even working in the lab late at night. Former AMD executive Patrick Moorhead pointed out that Lisa Su’s management style may not suit everyone, but it is effective for those who meet her high standards.
Streamlining AMD and expanding into the AI and gaming markets
AMD plans to reduce its workforce by 4% this year and fully develop the AI ecosystem. AMD is actively investing in cloud system companies and announced its acquisition of ZT Systems for $4.9 billion on August 19th this year. ZT Systems is a company that provides cloud systems, computing, telecommunication services, and accelerator solutions.
Currently, AMD’s main AI product is the MI 300 generative AI accelerator, which has a high memory capacity of up to 192GB and 15.3 billion transistors, posing a strong challenge to Nvidia’s H100 chip. The H100 chip from Nvidia has been banned from export to China by the United States and has even appeared on the black market in China. Nvidia has introduced the H200 as a replacement for the H100 while migrating its manufacturing plants. AMD’s MI 300 has a great opportunity to capture a share of Nvidia’s market at this time.
Lisa Su revealed that her secret weapon this year is a gaming chip, which is reportedly the fastest and most efficient gaming chip on the market, with powerful memory. Lisa’s confidence in the product stems from the X3D technology behind it. A separate article will be released later to analyze AMD’s gaming strategy.
The photo of Lisa Su on the cover of Time magazine reveals a sharp and powerful aura, showcasing her ambitious aspirations and a sign of her dreams coming true.
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