The Century’s 30 Greatest Vendor Leaders

9. Dr Lisa Su

President and CEO, AMD – 2014-present

Lisa Su’s decade in charge at AMD is a “true blueprint for corporate revival in the tech industry”, one of the seven channel leaders who nominated her declared (see below).

Holding a master’s degree from MIT and an expert in chip design and manufacturing, Taiwan-born Su is one of the few leaders in this countdown who could actually build what she sells. She spent the early part of her career in engineering and management positions at Texas Instruments, IBM and Freescale Semiconductor.

Since becoming its CEO in 2014, Su has helped grow AMD’s market value by around 50 times, in the process dethroning the once-dominant Intel.

Leadership style

Su has highlighted her belief in the power of bringing people together as key to her leadership style.

Low points

She endured a baptism of fire as AMD’s CEO, taking over when it was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Killer quote

“What you can do as a single person is great, but what you can do when you can bring 10 smart people together, or 100 smart people together, or 10,000 smart people together, aligned on a vision, it’s incredible.” (taken from interview with Consumer Technology Association)

What our panellists said about Su

Louella Fernandez, CEO, Quocirca

“I have immense admiration for Lisa Su. I have had the pleasure of listening to her speak at an event and her story is nothing short of inspiring. Her passion for technology really shines through. Her visionary leadership has been instrumental in the transformation and turnaround of AMD. A true blueprint for corporate revival in the tech industry. AMD dethroned Intel and challenged NVIDIA. Also the fact she has a PhD in Electrical Engineering is quite rare for any CEO. She is a great role model and advocate for aspiring (female) engineers.”

Larry Walsh, CEO and Chief Analyst, Channelnomics

“Lisa Su has done an amazing job of getting out from under Intel’s shadow. AMD is not a ‘also-ran’, it’s a true alternative to the Intel x86 architecture and a rival to the Nvidia empire.”

Hayley Roberts, CEO, Distology