There is no eternal king in the world. This unwritten objective law is also true in the field of science and technology in the 21st century.
On February 16, 2022, Beijing time, the semiconductor industry giant AMD, which had just completed the acquisition of Xilinx, received another happy event. The company's total market value, which closed at US$121.47, reached US$197.75 billion. not only set a new record since its establishment, but also surpassed its old rival Intel for the first time . Although AMD's stock price has since dropped and is no longer in the lead, everyone is excited about it.
Analysts believe that AMD at this moment has also reached the historical peak of corporate strength: in terms of consumer products, through the combination of architecture and design innovation and advanced processes, it has brought about CPUs that can compete head-on with its main competitors Intel and Nvidia. , GPU and other products. The acquisition has allowed AMD to reach a higher level in the commercial field, and its product strength and business scope are also comparable to those of its competitors.
Around 2010, AMD was still mired in the biggest crisis since its founding. To mention the person who made the company undergo tremendous changes in the past ten years, we must not avoid its current chairman and CEO. Dr. Su Zifeng (Lisa Su) . As the leader of the enterprise, she has created miracles that are considered impossible by countless people. As a woman and a Chinese, she has reached a height that more people dare not think or do..
Where did Su Zifeng come from, what decisions did she make, and how did she change AMD and the semiconductor industry? This article will briefly talk about the legendary story of this woman who is called "Su Ma" by Chinese PC enthusiasts.
The academic master who does not accept the definition
Let’s go back to the 1960s, during which human scientific application results emerged one after another. China has completed the development and testing of the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb. Apollo 11 took humans to the moon for the first time. Science represented the romance and passion of the fashion back then. Intel and AMD, which we are familiar with, were also established in 1968 and 1969 respectively. The development of the semiconductor industry is about to enter the fast lane. When
was founded, AMD was far less dazzling than Intel. Although it obtained highly valuable military and aerospace certifications within ten years of its establishment, its market share and product strength have long been in the shadow of others. However, from the 1990s to around 2000, AMD relied on cross-licensing, technology investment and high cost-effectiveness to equal Intel in the PC processor market, and even took the lead for a time.
At the same time, world politics are also undergoing dramatic changes. The United States' relaxed immigration policy has attracted a large number of intellectual immigrants from around the world. Su Zifeng was born in Tainan City in 1969. Her family immigrated to the other side of the ocean with her father, who was studying for a doctorate in statistics from Columbia University . Influenced by her father and mother who ran an auto repair shop, Su Zifeng showed great interest in technical principles at a young age.
0-year-old Su Zifeng was once keen on dismantling and repairing her brother's toy cars to understand the scientific knowledge behind the toys. In the perception of many people, such experiences are only for boys and are insulated from girls . Su Zifeng recalled that the same education standards her father implemented for both children made her realize that gender would not be a hindrance, and also gave her the motivation and willpower to continuously acquire knowledge.
When Su Zifeng was a student, she could definitely be said to have "bloomed in both culture and sports": she was able to study piano playing at the top art school Juilliard School, and her math and team leadership abilities were also superior to most of her peers. In 1986, Su Zifeng, who had skipped a grade to enter junior high school, remained loyal to her scientific ideals and studied electrical engineering at MIT. During her eight years at MIT, she witnessed and participated in the progress of the semiconductor industry.
Su Zifeng, who received a doctorate, has worked for Texas Instruments , IBM and Freescale .She promoted the substitution of copper materials for aluminum materials in chip manufacturing at IBM, and also promoted the low-power consumption and high-efficiency improvements of chips. After becoming the CTO of Freescale in 2007, Su Zifeng led the company to achieve success that year. It has achieved leadership in embedded chips and communication products and provided support for the launch of .
Putting aside all of Su Zifeng's identity labels, such achievements and progress are equally rare in Silicon Valley, which gathers the world's technological elites. Countless job opportunities flew to her like snowflakes, including an invitation from AMD.
The first woman to take over the "bad business"
The "triple A" combination of AMD processor + AMD motherboard + AMD graphics card is the recognized performance choice for today's PC enthusiasts. In the past, AMD did not have such strong multi-computing capabilities and was only a cost-effective candidate in the CPU market. In 2006, AMD acquired graphics manufacturer ATi for US$5.6 billion, which far exceeded its cash reserves. It was thought to be a strong alliance, but it entered a decade of disadvantage.
If you are familiar with business stories, you will naturally know that "Snake Swallowing Elephant" will definitely bring quite difficult indigestion to the company, and AMD was very unhappy with this meal.. Not only was it suppressed by Nvidia in the field of graphics cards, but its processor products also lost the ability to compete head-on with Intel in the mid-to-high end. Various conditions such as chaotic operations, high costs, and poor sales made it the second largest player in the industry at the same time.
AMD is not sitting still: splitting the chip production department into GlobalFoundries (GlobalFoundries), and proposing a convergence plan to integrate the CPU and GPU are extremely correct today. However, the new CEOs were replaced several times in a short period of time. At the time, it seemed that the decision-makers were desperate for medical treatment. The hope of pulling this company that once occupied half of the market out of the quagmire was pinned on a coaching change.
What's even more regrettable is that this series of actions did not quickly translate into rewards. The outside world only saw AMD seeking self-rescue in various ways, but failed to give the company more confidence. The stock price was once reduced to just over $2. It wasn't until Su Zifeng was promoted to CEO in 2014 that AMD's various turmoils began to ease, and AMD regained product performance and growth curves that more people could identify with.
When Su Zifeng joined AMD in 2011, her position was more like a "CEO reserve". She did not disappoint the management and promoted a series of changes in technology strategy and management operations, laying the foundation for the AMD we know today. The major game console chip orders with Microsoft and Sony were signed during this period. The Zen series processor architecture that is now in the limelight also began to be developed during the same period.
After becoming the first woman to lead a large semiconductor company, Su Zifeng did not receive many positive comments. People, including the then CEO of Intel, believed that no matter how strong her technical understanding and management skills were, she would not Possibly pulling the giant back from the brink. Su Zifeng revealed in an interview that as an MIT doctor, she was unwilling to work for a Harvard MBA and found it difficult to accept those stupid decisions.
A "Yes" comes from the strength of rebirth
After adjustments and structural reorganization of the CPU and GPU businesses, AMD products began to become competitive, and there was a clearer and more feasible mid- and long-term plan than before. The outside world's distrust of Su Zifeng is still reflected in AMD's stock. In the first two years she took charge of the company, the stock price has been hovering at a low level. Fortunately, the management has not been in a hurry to replace her.
The official product APU of the Convergence Project does not show strong general computing performance, but its powerful graphics performance and ultra-high cost performance have enabled both PS4 and Xbox One to gain huge performance improvements, pushing the entire console game industry forward. Low-cost APU solutions have become a new choice for entry-level computers, and consumers are beginning to be willing to choose AMD products for better gaming performance.The Ryzen Ryzen processor built on the
Zen architecture has shown performance advantages over Intel processors of the same period since 2017. Whether in the high-end, terminal or low-end markets, AMD processors are often much cheaper than Intel. All have better performance. Since you can get a powerful enough computer for less money, users will naturally move to the other side of the market .
Of course, Intel's technical bottleneck also provides certain opportunities for AMD. The Core series, which once led Intel to dominate the CPU market, encountered iterative disadvantages around 2016, and the improvement of each subsequent generation of products gave priority to competitors. Therefore, when AMD Ryzen, which has advantages in both price and performance, comes out, and Intel Core will no longer be very attractive.
The changes promoted by Su Zifeng also affected AMD's vital graphics computing business , but this is a story of strength: starting from the Fury series, AMD graphics cards have regained the top performance, and NVIDIA in the same period High-end graphics cards are hard to tell apart. In the mid-to-high-end graphics card market in the following years, the two sides are still chasing each other and there is no obvious gap.
After the core business gained a foothold, AMD led by Su Zifeng began to eat cakes in more markets. Similar to consumer-oriented desktop products, the EPYC architecture server CPU has considerable strength compared to its competitors and is capable of meeting the procurement needs during the rapid development stage of Internet infrastructure. Simultaneous joint ventures and other cooperation also affected the performance of China's server processors.
AMD has made the most obvious changes in notebook products. There were only a handful of AMD-based notebooks on the market around 2010. Intel chip notebooks, which were easy to develop and were significantly ahead in performance and battery life, were the common choice for manufacturers and consumers. In 2022, almost all manufacturers will have multiple Distributed in the APU notebook product line of high, middle and low-end, consumers are also very enthusiastic..
Summary
With the rebirth, catching up and surpassing of AMD, Su Zifeng himself and this career experience can be called a "legend". In Silicon Valley and the semiconductor industry, which have been led by talents of a certain ethnic and cultural background for a long time, it is hard not to be impressed by the emergence of such an outstanding leader and engineer who transcends his own background and gender.
The F1 arena, which symbolizes extreme speed and cutting-edge technology, has attracted a large number of sponsorships from technology companies, and AMD, which wants to further consolidate its brand image, is no exception. At the 2018 China Grand Prix, Su Zifeng was "unfortunately" asked by foreign reporters if she knew English. She was subjected to a slightly funny interview. She remained magnanimous and just smiled slightly in front of the camera. : We AMD sponsored Ferrari team.
Just like people's pursuit of speed, our demand for advanced computing power never stops, which drives AMD and other companies to remain dynamic and advanced at all times. We also know that this special figure who led the great company to regain its glory will continue to fight on the front line.
