AMD CEO Lisa Su on the AI revolution and competing with Nvidia

The Code Conference took place this week, and one of the highlights was a conversation between The Verge’s Nilay Patel and Dr. Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD. The discussion covered a wide range of topics, with a particular focus on AI and the chip supply chain.

The conversation began with a discussion about the global chip shortage that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Dr. Su stated that while the overall supply and demand balance is in a good place, there is a shortage of high-end GPUs that are needed to power large AI models. However, AMD is working on a new chip called the MI300 that will compete with Nvidia’s H100 chip, the current leading GPU in the market.

Dr. Su also touched on the efforts being made to increase manufacturing capacity, including the CHIPS and Science Act that recently passed in the United States. While she acknowledged that building chip manufacturing capacity takes time, she emphasized the importance of investing in onshore capacity and national research infrastructure for long-term semiconductor strength and leadership.

The conversation then shifted to the use of AI within AMD itself. Dr. Su revealed that AI is being used more extensively within the company than people might think. However, she also emphasized that AI is not going to be designing chips all by itself anytime soon.

Overall, the conversation provided valuable insights into the current state of the chip market, the efforts being made to address the global chip shortage, and the role of AI in both the industry and AMD itself. It highlighted the importance of diversifying the chip supply chain and investing in manufacturing capacity to meet the growing demand for AI models and other advanced technologies.