Not Huang Renxun! AMD's Su Zifeng appeared on the 2024 Time magazine cover and won the annual Best CEO award.

Time magazine just announced the best CEO of 2024. It was widely expected to be Huang Renxun, but the honor went to Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Su, who was born in Tainan, Taiwan, like Huang Renxun, has a solid background in science and engineering. Su, like Huang Renxun, does not dye her hair deliberately, and her silver hair gives the impression of wisdom and maturity. As an Asian female, Su has broken through the glass ceiling in the United States to become an outstanding CEO of a technology company, appearing on the cover of Time magazine. Compared to Huang Renxun, she is equally impressive, and her strong ambition to challenge Nvidia's position has prompted the U.S. media to actively report on AMD's layout and industry trends.

Su Zifeng recently accepted an interview with Bloomberg reporter Emily Chang, sharing a different side of her life outside of work, such as her regular morning boxing exercise, revealing the secret of her extraordinary physical and mental strength. Su Zifeng said she likes to win, bluntly showing her strong inner personality. Su Zifeng and Huang Renxun are distant cousins. Both of them, as a minority of Asian Americans in the semiconductor industry, have become CEOs, but Su Zifeng said it was purely coincidental. She only met and talked to Huang Renxun a few times at business gatherings, and there was no interaction between their families.

When Su Zifeng took over AMD, the stock price was only $2. In 2017, AMD's Zen architecture became a turning point for AMD, completely upgrading AMD and entering the chip race. It officially became one of the three major players alongside Intel and Nvidia. This year, Intel can only be said to be struggling, while AMD doesn't need to exert any effort to compete. Su Zifeng leads AMD to directly challenge Nvidia, even in the development of product lines, AI, and gaming. Previously low-key, Su Zifeng now frequently appears in the media, discussing product strategies and layouts.

Through a comprehensive redesign of AMD products and AI track layout, and driving company value, AMD surpassed its competitor Intel in company value for the first time in 2022, ranking second in the semiconductor industry, second only to Nvidia. The annual best CEO of Time magazine, Lisa Su, has attracted much attention, and the future market outlook for AMD is very promising. Lisa Su also has great confidence that AMD will reach new heights next year.

What is Su Zifeng's leadership style?

Lisa Su and Huang Renxun have very different leadership styles. Huang Renxun can get along with anyone, while Lisa Su has a serious and reserved demeanor. She often holds meetings with the management team in the morning and on weekends, and personally participates in product testing, even working in the lab late at night. Former AMD executive Patrick Moorhead pointed out that Lisa Su's management style may not be suitable for everyone, but it is very effective for those who meet her high standards.

Slimming AMD expands AI and gaming markets

AMD plans to lay off 4% of its employees this year and fully develop the AI ecosystem. AMD actively invests in cloud system companies and announced on August 19 this year that it will acquire ZT Systems for 4.9 billion. ZT Systems is a company that provides cloud system and computing, telecommunication services, and accelerator solutions.

Currently, AMD's main AI product is the MI 300 generative AI accelerator, which can have up to 192GB of memory and 15.3 billion transistors, posing a strong challenge to Nvidia's H100 chip. Nvidia's H100 chip has been banned from export to China by the United States and has even appeared on the black market in China. Nvidia has introduced the H200 as a replacement for the H100 and has also relocated its manufacturing. AMD's MI 300 enters the market at this time and has a great opportunity to capture Nvidia's market share.

Su Zifeng revealed that this year's secret weapon is the gaming chip, which is said to be the fastest and most efficient gaming chip on the market, with super memory. Su's confidence in the product comes from the X3D technology behind it, and a separate article will be published later to analyze AMD's game track layout.

In Su Zifeng's photo on the cover of TIME, she exudes a sharp and powerful aura, showcasing her ambitious aspirations and a sign of her dreams coming true.

This article is not Huang Renxun! AMD's Su Zifeng appeared on the cover of the 2024 Times magazine and won the annual Best CEO award. It first appeared in ChainNews ABMedia.