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With 2024 approaching, AMD CEO Lisa Su has been named Time Magazine’s CEO of the year. Su’s leadership has transformed AMD from a firm unable to turn a profit into a company that has capitalized on Intel’s weaknesses to eke out precious market share for itself in the personal and enterprise computing CPU markets. Since she took over the helm at AMD, the firm’s market value has surpassed that of its larger rival, Intel. It is now targeting the AI industry and competing with another giant to sell chips for next-generation computing technologies.
AMD’s Shares Have Gained 3,700% Since Lisa Su Took Over In 2014
The company that Su is heading in 2024 vastly differs from the one she took over in 2014. Since then, AMD has launched its well-known Zen CPU lineup and managed to establish a foothold in the cloud computing and data center market. The firm has also brought other companies under its fold, the most notable of which is the FPGA designer Xilinx. These deals have enabled AMD to have the most diversified product portfolio in the age of AI.
However, with NVIDIA holding close to a monopoly on the AI market, big tech’s shift towards custom AI processors developed by the likes of Broadcom and Marvel have created doubts about AMD’s position in the market. In an interview given to Time Magazine as part of her nomination as the CEO of the year, Su remained optimistic about these developments.
Industry momentum towards custom AI chips has slowly gained momentum in 2024. Not only has Amazon launched a fresh batch of its AI processors, but Marvell has also expressed confidence that custom AI chips will be one of the biggest drivers of growth in certain business divisions.
In her interview given to Time Magazine as part of the nomination, Su viewed these fresh developments as an “opportunity.” She believes that the custom chips will not completely replace AMD’s products in the market. Instead, according to Su, big technology firms will rely on custom processors and AMD’s chips to ensure diversification in their computing ecosystems.
Su’s tenure at AMD has been accompanied by a meteoric share price rise that has enabled it to surpass larger rival Intel Corporation in market capitalization. Since October 2014, AMD’s shares have gained nearly 3,700% after losing 37% since the March 2024 peak. The share price growth has also been accompanied by revenue growth and profitability as the firm continues to eat Intel’s market share and target industries such as gaming consoles with its products.
AMD’s fiscal year 2014 revenue sat at $5.5 billion. On the other hand, the firm’s Q3 2024 sales clocked in at $6.8 billion, meaning that it earned more revenue in its latest quarter than it did in the twelve months ending in December 2014.
The firm is entering 2025 on the back of a strategic revamp that saw it lay-off 4% of its employees in November as part of a bid to align its resources with the “largest growth opportunities.”
