AMD Teams Up with OpenAI — Even Jensen Huang Couldn’t Stay Calm

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The Rise of Chinese-Origin Leaders in the Chip Industry

The world's three major chip giants — NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel — are now all led by CEOs of Chinese descent:

• NVIDIA: Jensen Huang, founder and “Leather Jacket Guru”
• AMD: Lisa Su, affectionately known as “Dr. Su”
• Intel: Steven L. Chen, who replaced Patrick Gelsinger in March this year

NVIDIA is soaring, Intel is struggling, and AMD — under Lisa Su’s first decade of leadership — has surpassed Intel and is now aiming at NVIDIA.

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AMD–OpenAI Partnership: A Billion-Dollar Bet

Timeline: Ten days ago, AMD and OpenAI announced a bold, multi-year collaboration:

• OpenAI Deployment: 6 gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPUs over several hardware generations
• Phase One: 1 gigawatt roll-out in the second half of 2026
• Deal Value: Tens of billions of dollars worth of AMD data center hardware
• Equity Upside: OpenAI gains options to buy ~160 million AMD shares (~10% ownership), contingent on performance metrics

Immediate Impact: AMD’s stock surged 23.7% in a single day.

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Jensen Huang’s Reaction

> “I saw the deal. It’s imaginative, unique, and surprising... I’m surprised they gave up 10% of the company before it’s even built. I think it’s wise.”

His words — “imaginative,” “unique,” “wise” — sound complimentary, yet hint at skepticism.

Takeaway: Huang’s guarded praise is a tacit acknowledgment that AMD’s momentum is now too strong for NVIDIA to dismiss.

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Lisa Su: From Survival Mode to Industry Challenger

Calm, approachable, but relentlessly ambitious, Lisa Su has:

• Lifted AMD’s stock from $3 to over $230
• Became a Harvard Business School case study in leadership and turnaround strategy
• Championed core values: make the best products, deepen customer trust, simplify operations

Chris Miller, author of Chip War, calls it:

> “One of the great turnarounds in modern American business history.”

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01 — The Santa Clara Push Toward AI Leadership

At AMD HQ, Lisa Su tells executives:

> “We can’t miss even a single beat. No slack. No organizational changes should slow the pace.”

From her office windows, she sees NVIDIA and Intel — the competitors she’s overtaking.

2014 Reality Check

• Share price: ~$3
• Server CPU share rounded down to 0%
• Workforce cut by 25%
• HQ sold, then leased back

Boardroom consensus: pivot to low-power mobile processors

Lisa Su’s call: bet on AMD’s strength — powerful processors

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Her first CEO message:

> “I believe we can make the best products!”

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Strategic Bets That Changed AMD

• Goal: 40% CPU performance boost over last generation
• Moonshot: Lead in exascale supercomputing (>10^18 ops/sec)
• Outcome:
• 2017 Ryzen launch: competitive with Intel at ~50% cost
• Market doubts erased by the 2nd Ryzen generation
• Chiplet architecture leadership
• First 7nm data center GPU
• Data center revenue doubled in 2 years

In 2022:

• Market cap: $197.7B (surpassed Intel for first time)
• Today: AMD worth 2× Intel

Lisa Su’s stance: “AI + data center accelerators” as a core future pillar.

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02 — The Low-Key, High-Impact CEO

The F1 Moment

2018 Formula 1 Chinese GP — mistaken for a passerby — Lisa Su replies:

> “I’m from AMD, and we sponsor the Ferrari team.”

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Early Life and Education

• Born: Taiwan, 1969
• Raised: Queens, NY
• Parents: Statistician (father), business owner (mother)
• MIT major choice: Electrical engineering (“felt like the hardest”)
• PhD at MIT, one of Silicon Valley’s technically elite CEOs

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Career Before AMD

• Texas Instruments: brief stint
• IBM: led copper-based chip design (20% faster)
• Elevated by CEO Lou Gerstner in 1999 to technical assistant
• Known for breaking conventions
• Direct, fast-moving work style

Wired’s advice:

> “If you’re going to meet Lisa Su, wear sneakers.”

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03 — Playing the Underdog Card in AI

For AMD to win: Customer adoption is key, despite migration costs and past perception.

Building Trust

• Years cultivating data center client relationships
• Drove through an ice storm to meet HP Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri
• Persuasion even with no product in hand

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Strategy with OpenAI

• 2023: OpenAI runs models on AMD hardware
• MI450 chips designed with OpenAI input
• Triton GPU language adapted for AMD (was NVIDIA-exclusive)

The NVIDIA Moat?

• CUDA seen as industry stronghold
• AMD’s view: Future innovation will make GPU programming easier, reducing the moat’s strength

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Su’s Partnership Playbook

• Tap existing ties (Microsoft, Meta, Tesla) from gaming & PC success
• Expand into AI infrastructure partnerships
• Microsoft now deploying AMD in next-gen Xbox and full cloud framework

With Meta:

> “Give me a chance. I will be the best partner — not just in technology, but in integrating infrastructure.”

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The 10-Year AI Supercycle

Lisa Su rejects the “AI bubble” claim:

> “This is the beginning of a 10-year supercycle.”

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Lessons for Creators: AI Strategy as a Template

Just as AMD diversifies partnerships and invests in ecosystems, creators can leverage platforms like AiToEarn官网 to:

• Generate AI-driven content
• Publish across channels (Douyin, Kwai, WeChat, Bilibili, Rednote, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, X)
• Analyze reach with AI模型排名
• Use open-source tools (AiToEarn开源地址) for full control

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