AMD CEO Lisa Su on AI Chips, Trump's Tariffs and the Magic of Open Source
May 1, 2025
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Lisa Su, CEO of AMD and named Time's CEO of the Year in 2024, shares insights on her transformative leadership that revived a near-bankrupt company and outpaced Intel in market cap. She discusses the explosion in demand for AI chips, fueled by innovations like ChatGPT, and navigates the challenges posed by Trump-era tariffs on semiconductor supply chains. Su also emphasizes the need for solid university and private sector partnerships to ensure America remains competitive in the global tech landscape while advocating for skilled immigration to attract top talent.
Lisa Su emphasizes the semiconductor industry's crucial role in AI advancement, highlighting the exponential demand for high-performance chips amidst increasing geopolitical tensions.
AMD's strategy focuses on domestic manufacturing and supply chain resilience to navigate tariffs and competition, ensuring innovation and stability in the semiconductor market.
AI's early integration in businesses reflects a transformative potential, encouraging companies to reassess operations and innovate through user-friendly tools like ChatGPT.
Deep dives
The Importance of Hardware in the AI Landscape
The conversation emphasizes that while generative AI models often take the spotlight, the true power in the AI race lies in the semiconductor industry, which provides the essential hardware needed for computation. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, highlights the surge in demand for high-performance chips required to fuel AI advancements, illustrating that this trend is not just about riding a wave of growth but navigating significant challenges as well. The semiconductor sector is facing numerous headwinds, including geopolitical tensions, export restrictions, and increasing competition from both established companies and new entrants. This backdrop underscores the critical role that semiconductor manufacturers play in shaping the future of technology and the importance of long-term investment in innovation.
The Impact of Geopolitical Challenges on Semiconductor Production
The ongoing trade war and tariffs, particularly those affecting semiconductors with China, present significant challenges for AMD and the broader industry. Su notes that while these trade restrictions impact pricing and access to materials, the focus remains on achieving supply chain resiliency and ensuring the ability to innovate. The conversation highlights AMD's strategic planning processes, which involve anticipating market changes and investing in manufacturing capabilities, particularly in the U.S., to mitigate potential disruptions. By committing to build advanced manufacturing facilities domestically, AMD aims to create a more stable supply chain and maintain competitive advantage despite external pressures.
AI's Transformation of Business Models and Productivity
AI's integration into business operations is still in its infancy, but its potential for transforming productivity is already evident. Lisa Su describes the dual nature of AI adoption: companies are looking to streamline operations by automating labor-intensive tasks, while others are reassessing their entire business models in light of AI's capabilities. The introduction of user-friendly AI tools, like ChatGPT, is democratizing access to technology and enabling users from varied backgrounds to harness AI for diverse applications. As businesses experiment with AI, there is an expectation that this technology will not merely augment existing processes but inspire entirely new ways of working and innovating.
The Race for AI Dominance and Competitive Strategies
The AI landscape is characterized by fierce competition, particularly with companies like NVIDIA currently dominating the market. Su points to AMD's strategy of prioritizing AI across all product lines and fostering partnerships that enable innovation in data centers and cloud services. The conversation includes insights into how AMD plans to enhance its offerings through recent acquisitions and new product launches, such as the MI355X AI accelerators. By focusing on a diversified product line and maintaining an open ecosystem, AMD aims to compete effectively with both established tech giants and emerging startups in the rapidly evolving AI market.
The Role of Innovation and Research in Semiconductor Leadership
The discussion highlights the intrinsic relationship between semiconductor manufacturing, innovation, and research, particularly in academic partnerships that bolster technological advancement. Lisa Su emphasizes the importance of continued investment in research and development, advocating for meaningful collaboration between the private sector and universities. The potential caps on government funding for university research pose a threat not only to technological progress but also to the cultivation of new talent in engineering and tech. As AMD navigates this landscape, the company seeks to play an active role in reinforcing the importance of research funding to sustain long-term innovation and leadership in semiconductors.
In 2014, when Lisa Su took over as CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, AMD was on the verge of bankruptcy. Su bet hard on hardware and not only pulled the semiconductor company back from the brink, but also led it to surpass its historical rival, Intel, in market cap. Since the launch of ChatGPT made high-powered chips like AMDs “sexy” again, demand for chips has intensified exponentially, but so has the public spotlight on the industry — including from the federal government.
In a live conversation, at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, as part of their inaugural Discovery Series, Kara talks to Su about her strategy in face of the Trump administration’s tariff and export control threats, how to safeguard the US in the global AI race, and what she says when male tech leaders brag about the size of their GPUs.
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