Lisa Su

juggernaut known for the superior performance of its products. Shares are up more than two thousand percent under her tenure, and a m D chips short for advanced micro devices, are now embedded in everything from Microsoft's Xbox to Sony

PlayStation and Apple Max to massive data center machinery. Semiconductors the brains, or you could call them the guts of all of our device is never got that much glory until the start of the COVID nineteen pandemic, when demand for chips shot up so much so fast it triggered an unprecedented global shortage, raising alarm from Washington to Beijing, joining me to talk about when the chip shortage will end.

How she turned the company around and what's next for a m D on this edition of Bloomberg Studio One point, Oh Am, D CEO Lisa Sue, you called an inflection point for a m D given the robust demand for everything from PCs two consoles, to data centers and laptops. I was an inflection point. What's It's a great question, um, Emily.

You know, I think when you look at UM the pace of technology, right, we we we've been developing you know, these technologies for like, you know, five years, right, So we made these decisions on hey, this is where computing is going. And UM was a phenomenal year. You know, we grew revenue for year on year. It was an inflection point for our business. Now as we come to one, what we see is it's a megacycle for UM for compute.

I mean it's like, UM, you know, if you had asked me a couple of years ago, would we have this kind of demand, whether you're talking about UM, you know, PCs or gaming products or the data center I I would have been surprised. And so it's a megacycle for compute. And on top of that, UM, you know, we have you know, just extremely strong you know, product portfolio and

and so on. So yeah, it's it's a megacycle. That's what I would call A and D chips are at the heart of the Sony, PlayStation, Microsoft, Xbox, laptops of all kinds, apples, Mac Pro, Amazon data centers. What are the new products that you have targeted to meet this new demand? Well, so for a M d our, our focus sort of what we're good at is high performance computing.

So when you think about you know, um, you know, computing and processors, they're really you know, the brains of you know, all of the things that that we use on a daily basis and um, you know. So for our products, it's around high performance PCs. So you know, when you're thinking about your next generation notebook, um, and uh,

you're thinking about all the productivity you want. I hope you're thinking about a M d Um it's the next generation game consoles are actually the current generation game consoles. I think, uh, Microsoft and Sony with Xbox and PlayStation of just put out phenomenal products that are extremely, um, extremely exciting, and we're proud to be a part of that.

And then it is about your data center and what's beneath you know, what's what's you know, sort of behind the scenes and um, you know, all the digital transformation that companies are doing, the fact that you know we all pivoted to work from home and and running you know, large scale businesses. UM. You know from our study, I mean that right requires incredible computing course power in the back end, UM, in the cloud or in on prem data centers. So are the types of products that that

we're in. How far in advanced you plan your products? And how do you know you'll have what the world wants by the time they're ready. That that is the in fact, the most difficult thing and probably the most fun thing. It's it's it's really we have to think three to five years in advance, and we have to think, hey, these are the things that are going to be most important. And it's about providing you know, more performance and smaller form factors. It's about um having um, you know, very

extended battery life. It's about providing new experiences. UM. It's about enabling companies and businesses to do something that they couldn't do before. And we do plan years in advance. But I will tell you, Emily, what this year has taught us is we can turn on a dime and UM. We have been very actively, you know, working with our customers, working with our partners on what their top priorities are and UM and that turning on a dime has proven

to be a very useful UH capability meantime. The chip shortage, I've been talking to a lot of chip industry CEOs over the last several months, and it sounds like it has been a disaster. You have demand outstripping supply by more than what are you seeing? You know, I don't think I would use the word UM disaster, Emily, I would use the word UM. It is a it is a cycle. And you know, semiconductors, you know, I mean, I've been in this industry whatever twenty five years or

a long time. Semi Conductors do go through these cycles and the cycles where there's sometimes when UM supply is much greater than demand, and there're sometimes when demand is much greater than supply. And this particular cycle is special because what we're seeing is UM the incredible demand for all things UM that require chips is having sort of all markets UM, you know, sort of wanting more, more,

more supply. And yes, it's a lot to manage but I have to tell you this industry is also really good at man udging these things, and UM, you know, it does take a while for the supply and demand UM, you know, imbalance to uh to balance itselves out. UM, but we are very much working together as an industry, and you know, I'm just amazed frankly at what people are able to do when they really put their minds to it. Once the shortage ends, then is there going

to be too much supply? Will supply outpaced demand? Well? UM, as cycles go, you know, you do go through ups and downs. I think what's important, Emily is UM it's it's also the strength of the product portfolio, the markets UM that we're addressing. You know, at a m D we've chosen markets UM that we think are very resilient, Like everyone's going to need more computing, you know, whether

it's this year. We just think communing computing is one of those trends that, UM, that you're going to need more of, and so we've been investing in those types of areas. So you know, my view of the world is that, UM, it's important to the right products, it's important to be in the right markets, and then UM, of course UH you know, executing well along the way.

Am D is one of several companies that has sent a letter to President Biden urging him to include more funding for chip manufacturing and research in the United States, adding that that you know, it's competition with China, it's competition with Taiwan that is at stake. What do you think the US needs to do well? I think the US is the leader and semi conductors, and we want to stay the leader and semi conductors. And frankly, UM, you know, many of the countries around the world are

investing in the same UM. And then there's also a discussion about manufacturing and ensuring that there's a good balance of manufacturing across UM the globe as well. So I think, you know, all of those UM kind of raised the level of importance of semi conductors, and I think it's UM it's great that the administration is choosing, you know, this industry as one of the priorities to ensure that, you know, the U US maintains its leadership in semiconductors.

A and D chose Taiwan semi Conductor to make A and D chips, and I wonder is there something about Taiwan. Well, you know, what is the reason for this very prolific industry there and you know, producing so much top tech chip talent UM. Is there something about the island that makes it so fruitful. We're very happy with our partnership with you know, Taiwan Semi Conductor UM. You know, they're

they're they're actually the best in the industry. And so you know, when we think about taking our design, you know, capability, which we think is you know, at the top of the industry, and combine it with their manufacturing expertise that's the best in the industry. That's how you get sort of the best products and UM. And so certainly we're

we're happy with that. But I think the key is sort of investing in that long term nature and ensuring that you have UM, you know, the right capabilities UM for this industry because frankly, it does take you know, many many, you know, double digit billions to UM keep pushing the leading edge. Meantime, here in the US you have many trillion dollar companies Apple, Amazon, Google bringing their chip designs in house. Where does that leave a m D.

Does that feel like a competitive threat? Well, I look at it, UM slightly differently. I look at it as the UM, you know the importance of computing in all products is just going up and up and up, and so as you see, you know, there will always be some specialization. And you know, um, you know very very UM. You know some of some of the companies you mentioned, you know, certainly Amazon and Apple are very very strong companies. Um, they will do some specialization of their chips. UM that

being the case. I mean, you know, we just started with you know, two thousand twenty one is you know, sort of where in a megacycle of computing, right, So UM, I think you know, our role is really to push the envelope on puting and continue to raise the performance and the capabilities. UM. You know for all applications. Then there's of course Intel and in video with also a big pool of resources. Intel has a new CEO, pack

Gal Singer, who's coming out strong saying Intel is back. Um, when the competition has a lot of money, and some would say momentum, how do you view that competition? Well, it's always been very competitive, Emily, I don't I don't remember time in this industry when it hasn't been competitive. UM. What I will say though, is UM, I'm really really pleased with our you know, what we've been able to accomplish.

I mean, it's it's fun to be able to say that, you know, we have uh, you know, really driven you know, the direction of computing in the industry. I mean, it's fun to be able to say that. And if I look at you know, some of the things that we've done over the last five years, you know, we've really you know changed you know, sort of what people expect um from high performance computing. So I would say it's a competitive world and and you know, we're going to

be very competitive in the process. N VideA is in the process of buying ARM. Do you see more consolidation in this industry or have we hit a tipping point? Well, I think for the highest um and sort of the bleeding edge of technology. UM. You know, scale is important. So when you're when you have more engineering capability, when you have a larger supply chain, UM, when you have a bigger impact on your customers, UM, you know sort

of you know innovation, you know, scale is important. UM. You know, we're very excited right now that you know, we are in the process of acquiring zy links Um. You know, Zy linx is you know, number one in the FPGA market and UM accelerated computing market. You know, as we think about bringing that together with UM, you know, a m D S technology, we'll be able to offer more capability and UM you know, more UM overall system design, you know, for our customers. So I do think consolidation

is one of the trends in the industry. Does that mean a m D is going to keep looking for deals. We're very focused on, you know, completing our Zylans acquisition. We're on track to do that by the end of this year. And you know, we'll always be looking for you know, how do we bring the best technologies together under the A m D umbrella. This is my conversation

with a m D CEO Lisa Sue. Coming up, we look back at the story of a little girl from Taiwan who moved to the US at a young age, took an interest in fixing her brother's remote controlled cars, and eventually got the top job at what is now one of the most respected chip companies in the world. She calls it her dream job. I'm Emily Chang. This is Bloomberg Studio. At one point, oh, you're an engineer by training. You're also an immigrant. You came to the

US from Taiwan at an early age. Tell us a little bit more about your upbringing, Like what was it like growing up Lisa Sue. Yeah, sure, so, Um, I was born in Taiwan and um, you know, my my parents immigrated to the US. My dad was was coming, um to uh to graduate school here. Um. So I grew up in New York. Um, I would say, pretty normal, Emily,

pretty normal New York, New York upbringing. Um, my parents wanted me to focus on, you know, hard stuff, so math and science is where I spent a lot of time. But uh, yeah, I would say, you know, I sort of drifted into engineering as as something that was, um, you know, sort of real and you could touch it and feel it and do something with it, and um, and that's a that was sort of sort of how I grew up. Well, I want to talk about how the drifting happened, because I understand your your father was

a statistician, your mom ran her own business. You played around with your other toys, I believe, um at a young age. Like how did you get there? Well, Um, I was just really curious as a kid and so you know, you know, my my brother had a remote controlled car and it stopped working and I wanted to know why, right, so I, you know, I opened it up and said, oh, this wire is loose. Maybe if I put it there it works again. And it was

just really amazing. Frankly, it was amazing to see that you could uh you know, make something sort of you know, work, and you can understand how you could put these things together. And um, you know, I went to the Bronx High School of Science, which was very science focused, and so I got you know some uh you know, I learned about computers, um in uh in high school and uh you know that's uh those are those are some of the steps. You worked your way through the engineering and

technical ranks of various companies. Texas Instruments, IBM. You were Luke Garsoner, the CEOs technical assistant for a time Freescale semi Conductor. Did you ever think you were going to be a CEO, let alone a CEO of one of the biggest chip companies in the world. You know, I wouldn't say that I thought about that. I think, um, the way I thought about things was always, um, you know, I wanted to make a larger impact. And so, you know, I spent a lot of years at IBM and UM.

You know, it was the first time that I built products that you could actually you know, go by you know at you know, the best buy or and UM I found, Boy, that's that's pretty interesting. And with each opportunity I got to, you know, to run larger and larger teams. UM, I would say, uh, you know, being a CEO of a of a semiconductor company and being CEO of a m D really is I've I've said it before, I'll say together it is like a dream job.

You know, it's it's something that you don't quite say that that's what you want to be when you grow up, but you know, when you grow up, it's kind of a nice thing to to be. So it was so interesting going back and looking at the history of a m D because you started at the company when analysts were worried am D was going to run out of money after several straight years of losing money. I believe shares at the end of we're trading at two dollars

and seven cents. Now they're trading at thirty times. That what drove you to take on that challenge in that moment back in two thousand fourteen, I start from the notion that what we do is just like really hard. There are very few companies in the world that can do it, and the opportunity to lead a m D and at the time, You're right, you know, there were some people who are like, hey, you know, are they going to be able to get this together? And and so on and so forth. But I knew in my heart.

I mean, I've seen it over and over and over. Um, if you have the right strategy, and you have the right people, and you have the right focus and execution, you will be able to do something amazing. So what do you think was responsible strategically for a m d S comeback. We made a couple of very good decisions. We said, first of all, our strategy was to focus on what we're very good at, and that's high performance computing.

And that means that there are some things that we were not so good at, and we said that's okay, We're not going to be the best at everything. Um. And then we really did focus on the foundation. Emily, I mean, I know this sounds, you know, simple, but um, it does take five years, you know, to to really build the foundation step by step of what um uh you know how you build products and making sure that we're um, you know, we're really pushing the leading edge.

And then on top of that, UM, you know, we built great relationships with our customers. And you know we started with the notion of you know, what problem are you trying to solve and let's work on that together. UM. So you know, I think you know we put um you know really um, you know, great team, UM, you know, right strategy, strong execution, and you know my mantra is

we do what we say we're gonna do. You're listening to my conversation with Lisa Sue, a m d CEO up next at a moment of reckoning for women and Asian Americans in business. How did she achieve what seems to be impossible? Where will she take the thriving chip company next? And what is the future of chip technology? Can they actually keep getting smaller forever? I'm Emily Chang. This is Bloomberg Studio one point. Oh, stay with us.

Fast forward now to today. Now that Wall Street is happy, does that mean you can relax a little or does that create even more pressure to be excellent to keep upping your own game. Oh it, UM, without a doubt. UM, it does not get easier. I say that it doesn't get easier because you know, there it we're in a very competitive um, you know market. UM. I think we have big ambitions about what we want to be able to do. UM. I think it's always about you know,

sort of what's next on the horizon. Um. What does get a little bit easier is um, just the track record? Right? So you know, I think you know, when when I would say back, you know, three or four years ago, when I said hey, something was going to happen, people were like really. And and now when we say hey, something's gonna happen, I think people people sort of understand. Now. A m D also has an award, I believe, for a five percent award to recognize excellence when an employee

makes a product or delivers five better. How do you balance the incremental with the five year plan? Well, Uh, it's it's it's actually called the next five percent UM. And Uh. The way you know I think about it is, look, we are very ambitious and what we want to do over the next five years. UM. But then I think we also UM, I encourage people to learn from every interaction and um, you know, every project and and and that's what the next five percent is all about. It's like,

what have we learned? What can we do better the next time? How do we up our game? Because as I said, the world's very competitive place, and we want to make sure we're always upping our game. There's no question, you know, we're at a moment of reckoning for women, for Asian Americans in general, but also in leadership. And you are so unique in this see of of of white men in this industry. What is your advice to people out there who look at you and think like,

how did she achieve what seems to be impossible? I would say that it is a time where we want to recognize UM, great people and give them, you know, UM good opportunities. What was really important for me in my career is that, UM, that I was given opportunities, and frankly, I learned through each one of those opportunities. And so what I would say for for women is, UM, who are aspiring to do big things, you know, be ambitious in what you think about, be ambitious and what

you think about UM. You know, UM, I have a saying that that a mentor once told me about running towards problems. You know, take on that big, hard task, even if you don't know how to do it, you're gonna learn a tremendous amount in the process. And um, and frankly you're gonna surprise yourself about how much you can do. And you know, what we have to do, as you know, the rest of the ecosystem is provide those opportunities and provide people an opportunity to learn and

maybe make a few mistakes along the way. But you know, really, um, develop as they as they go through you know, their careers. Do you think mentorship is really important in the own sort of next your own next chapter of your career. I really do, Emily, I mean, you know, again, I'm a product of people who helped me along the way. And UM, I really really recognize that. I mean, I was given opportunities that other people didn't have. UM, and UM,

I feel like I can do the same. And in particular, UH, for women and engineering, that's a particular passion of mine because UM, frankly they're not enough and UM and women are sometimes a little bit shy in their you know, in their approach to things. And so you know, if if I can provide that, um, a little bit of confidence and a little bit of help uh to some of UM. Are you know top um, you know the top you know engineering talent of of the future. You know,

that's something that I should do and I love doing. Meantime, the chip industry has been defined for so long by Moore's law and this idea that you can double the amount of computing crammed onto a single chip every couple of years. Are we at a point where Moore's law could be ending? Can chips get even smaller than they actually are? So I do believe that Moore's law is significantly changing. That's the way we should say it. So UM.

And it's changing because you know the traditional ways that we have you know, shrunk trips and put more transistors on a chip, those things are just getting harder, like you're reaching you know, physical limits. UM. But there are other things that we're doing UM to uh, you know,

to keep that productivity increase. UM. You know, one of the things that we pioneered was this idea of chiplets, and so what that means is we can you know, we can break up a big chip into little chips, and we can package them together, and we can put them on top of each other, and we can do all kinds of things that really brings more capability into

UM the technology realm. So I think more's laws changing. UM. I think what that means is, you know, other things like packaging, UM and UM you know, using, using different techniques will be more important. UM. But one of the things that I truly believe though, is that UM, the innovation is not going to stop at all. And and there there are so many ideas for how do you keep the productivity increases going on that UM that will will continue to drive real capability. It will just be

done in a different way. So what about what's next

for you? How long do you see yourself running? And well, I gotta tell you, I'm having so much fun Emily that UM, there is UH, there's no better place to be honestly, if you're if you're thinking about UM, you know, really having the opportunity to interact with so many smart people in in in this type of ecosystem and and you know, chips are fun now right, everybody's talking about chips, So, UH, this is a great place to be Lisa Sue, CEO of a D. Thank you so much for joining us.

It's been great to have you Bloomberg Studio at one point, I was produced and edited by Kevin Hines. Our executive producer is Alison Weiss. Our managing editor is Daniel Culbertson, with production assistants from Lauren Ellis and Mallory Abelhausen. I'm Emily Chang, your host and executive producer. This is Bloomberg