Lisa Su on semiconductors, compute, and big bets

What’s the role of semiconductors—and the companies that make them—in powering human progress? What does it look like to innovate thoughtfully in a landscape where the demand for power may be higher than the supply? With AI evolving faster and faster, how can we keep up? 

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su joins the show to talk about hardware, global manufacturing, and risk-taking. She shares what she has learned leading AMD from near-bankruptcy a decade ago to its current standing as one of the world’s leading chipmakers. Lisa also weighs in on geopolitics, the AI arms race, startups, what makes her want to hire someone, and AI’s enormous potential to advance healthcare for humankind. 

For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/ 

Topics:

2:46 - Hellos and intros

2:54 - The origins of Lisa's interest in hardware

4:19 - Deciding to bet on chips

6:06 - MIT and early engineering days

6:28 - Google Gemini defines "bunny suits"

8:25 - Differences between AMD and NVIDIA

10:25 - AI’s potential to improve healthcare

16:27 - Driving AMDs comeback

19:40 - Making patience and long-term vision a company-wide virtue

22:06 - Vision for the next 10 years

24:59 - Midroll

25:16 - The impact of geopolitics on AMD

28:38 - Environmental implications of chip production  

30:41 - Major hardware innovations in the start-up space

32:14 - AI driving coding acceleration

33:47 - How AMD encourages employees to leverage AI

35:22 - Identifying and empowering talent  

39:08 - Rapid-fire questions

Select mentions: 

Liquid.ai

The Worlds I See by Dr. Fei-Fei Li 

Possible is an award-winning podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Most of all, it asks: what if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Tune in for grounded and speculative takes on how technology—and, in particular, AI—is inspiring change and transforming the future. Hosted by Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, each episode features an interview with an ambitious builder or deep thinker on a topic, from art to geopolitics and from healthcare to education. These conversations also showcase another kind of guest: AI. Each episode seeks to enhance and advance our discussion about what humanity could possibly get right if we leverage technology—and our collective effort—effectively.