When Dr. Lisa Su took over as CEO of AMD in 2014, the company was struggling, with revenues of just $4 billion. Over the past decade, Dr. Su has led an incredible turnaround, growing AMD’s revenues to over $20 billion in 2023. This remarkable growth has been driven by Su’s strategic focus on high-performance computing, including CPUs, GPUs, and specialized AI hardware.
The Rise of AI-Powered PCs (AIPCs)
Dr. Su emphasized that AI is the most transformative technology innovation in the past 50 years. The goal is to empower everyone with their own AI capabilities, rather than relying on the cloud. AIPCs will allow people to operate on their own data, ask questions, and get faster and more private answers, without having to go to the cloud. This will make people much more productive. AMD is working closely with partners like Microsoft, HP, and Lenovo to develop AIPC hardware and software to make this technology accessible to everyone. AMD’s partnerships with Microsoft, HP, and Lenovo to develop AIPC hardware and software.
Addressing Industry Challenges
Sustainability and Energy Efficiency
Dr. Su acknowledged that building more powerful computing systems requires a significant amount of energy and power. She stated that a key priority for AMD is to build the most energy-efficient systems possible, with a goal of reducing the power consumption of their computing technology by 30x over the next 5 years. Dr. Su emphasized the importance of addressing the intersection of high-performance computing and the climate crisis, recognizing the need to balance computing power with energy efficiency.
The Shift to Edge Computing
Dr. Su discussed the trend towards performing more AI inference at the edge, closer to the user, rather than relying solely on the cloud. She predicted that a significant percentage of AI inference will happen at the edge in the coming years, reducing latency and enabling more private and personalized AI experiences. This shift to edge computing is an area of focus for AMD as they work to develop hardware and software solutions to power this transition.
Embracing Technological Change
Dr. Su acknowledged that the pace of technological change, particularly in areas like AI, can be daunting and raise concerns. However, she argued that the answer is not to slow down innovation, but rather to “go faster” while being cognizant of the risks and working to address them. Dr. Su positioned AMD as a key player in enabling this technological transformation, providing the high-performance computing power needed to drive advancements in AI, media, and other industries. AMD has recently launched new Ryzen 8000 series processors and a dedicated AI neural processing unit to accelerate the development of AI-focused products.
AMD’s Approach to the Future of AI
Open Software Ecosystem
Dr. Su emphasized AMD’s commitment to an open software ecosystem for AI and machine learning, highlighting partnerships with frameworks like PyTorch, Hugging Face, and OpenAI’s Triton. This open approach aims to make it easier for developers to leverage AMD’s hardware across a variety of AI and ML workloads.
Powering the Future of Generative AI: AMD’s MI300 Chip
The MI300 chip, with 153 billion transistors across 12 individual chiplets, is designed specifically to power large language models and other generative AI workloads. Dr. Su explained the need to develop specialized AI hardware, where the MI300’s unique architecture is critical to providing the massive computing power required for advanced generative AI. The need for “infrastructure AI” to enable AI capabilities at the edge and in personal computing devices. The MI300 chip positions AMD as a key player in enabling the next generation of generative AI applications and services. Dr. Su’s emphasis on making transformative AI technologies more accessible to a wide range of users.
Supporting Media/Entertainment Industry
Gaming
Dr. Su acknowledged the strong presence of gamers in the SXSW audience, noting that many popular gaming platforms like Xbox, PlayStation 5, and Steam Deck are powered by AMD technology. She emphasized AMD’s deep involvement in the gaming industry, providing the high-performance computing power that enables immersive gaming experiences.
Hollywood and Visual Effects
Dr. Su highlighted AMD’s close partnerships with major studios and visual effects companies like Weta Digital, who worked on blockbusters like “Avatar 2” and “Planet of the Apes.” She explained how AMD’s processors with significantly more cores and compute power have enabled these studios to drastically reduce rendering times for complex visual effects.
Special guest David Conley (Weta Digital) highlighted the two-way feedback and collaboration between Weta Digital and AMD, where they work together to optimize the hardware and software to best support the needs of the visual effects industry. This close partnership allows Weta to leverage the latest AMD technology to push the boundaries of what is possible in filmmaking. He expressed excitement about exploring how AMD’s AI-focused hardware and software can further enhance Weta’s creative capabilities in the future.
Convergence of Gaming, Media, and Entertainment
Conley predicted a future where there will be more convergence between active entertainment (gaming) and passive entertainment (films), enabled by real-time processing and rendering powered by AMD’s hardware and software. He emphasized the need for a partnership between technology companies like AMD and the creative community to unlock new possibilities in areas like AI-assisted content creation.
Outro
Dr. Su reflected on her 10-year tenure as CEO of AMD, emphasizing the importance of focus and execution in building a high-performance computing company. She described her leadership style as that of a “doer” – setting ambitious goals and helping the team get things done. Dr. Su expressed gratitude for AMD’s 25,000 employees and emphasized the company’s commitment to delivering innovative products to meet the growing demand for powerful computing solutions across industries.
Ultimately, Dr. Su’s overarching message is that the pace of AI innovation will only accelerate, and AMD is positioning itself as a critical enabler of this transformation across industries. The company’s focus is on making AI more accessible, sustainable, and responsible as it becomes increasingly integrated into our daily lives.