AMD's Lisa Su has already vanquished Intel. Now she's going after Nvidia

Core Insights - Lisa Su's leadership has transformed AMD from a struggling company on the brink of bankruptcy in 2014 to a market leader with a valuation of $172 billion in 2022, an increase of approximately 85 times during her tenure [2][4] - AMD is currently focused on expanding its presence in the AI GPU market, where it lags behind Nvidia, which dominates with a market cap of nearly $3 trillion [5][24] - The company has committed to annual announcements of new AI chips and is building a software division to create open-source tools to compete with Nvidia's CUDA [10][27] Company Performance - AMD's revenue in 2024 reached approximately $26 billion, a 14% increase from the previous year, and nearly five times the revenue when Su took over [24] - The company spent $6.5 billion on research in 2024, over six times its expenditure in 2014 [24] - AMD recorded $5 billion in AI chip sales in 2024, a significant increase from $100 million in 2023 [25] Strategic Decisions - Su's strategy included a "blank sheet" approach to redesign AMD's processor architecture, leading to the development of the "Zen" core, which is now in its fifth generation [19][24] - The introduction of "chiplets" allowed AMD to enhance manufacturing flexibility and efficiency, which was crucial given the company's previous cash constraints [20][21] - AMD's decision to focus on high-performance chips rather than cutting costs was pivotal in its turnaround [17][18] Market Position - AMD's current market value positions it as the fourth-most valuable U.S. chip company, surpassing Intel [16] - Despite its advancements, AMD's relationship with Nvidia in the GPU market mirrors its previous competition with Intel in CPUs [24][25] - Su anticipates the AI chip market will grow to $500 billion annually by 2028, which presents a significant opportunity for AMD [29] Software Development - AMD is developing ROCm, its alternative to Nvidia's CUDA, to attract AI developers and enhance its software capabilities [26][27] - The company has reorganized its software teams into a new AI software division to improve its offerings and open-source many components [27][28] - Su is actively engaging with developers to improve AMD's software reputation and address criticisms [28]