Lisa Su

Lisa Su
Name	Lisa Su
Birth date	November 7, 1969
Birth place	Tainan
Nationality	Taiwanese American
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University
Occupation	Electrical engineer, business executive
Known for	Semiconductor design, leadership at AMD

Lisa Su

Lisa Su is a Taiwanese American electrical engineer and business executive known for her leadership in the semiconductor industry. She rose from an academic researcher in silicon-based device physics to become chief executive officer of a major microprocessor company, presiding over product restructurings and commercial turnarounds. Her work spans semiconductor materials, integrated circuit design, corporate strategy, and public advocacy for advanced manufacturing.

Early life and education

Born in Tainan and raised in New York City, Su emigrated with her family to the United States as a child and grew up in Buffalo, New York. She attended North Carolina State University briefly before transferring to Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering. She completed a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford University under advisors connected to research groups at Intel Corporation and collaborated with teams at Micron Technology on semiconductor device characterization. During graduate school she conducted research on compound semiconductor heterostructures and advanced packaging, working with faculty associated with IEEE conferences and the Materials Research Society.

Academic and research career

After earning her doctorate, Su joined the research staff at IBM Research in the early 1990s, contributing to work on metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor scaling and high-k dielectric films. At IBM she co-authored papers presented at International Electron Devices Meeting and collaborated with researchers from Bell Labs and Hewlett-Packard on novel transistor architectures and process integration. Her publications addressed dopant profiling, low-temperature annealing, and thin-film deposition techniques that were cited in follow-on studies at Stanford University and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. While at IBM she participated in cross-disciplinary projects that connected to fab-level process control efforts at GlobalFoundries and device reliability programs at Semiconductor Research Corporation.

Industry career and leadership at AMD

Transitioning from research to industry management, Su held business and engineering roles at Texas Instruments and Freescale Semiconductor before joining Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). At AMD she initially led engineering groups focused on system-on-chip design, graphics processor integration, and platform validation in coordination with partners such as NVIDIA and foundries including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Promoted through senior management, she became chief operating officer and then president, overseeing product roadmaps for server microprocessors, consumer processors, and embedded solutions. In 2014 she was appointed chief executive officer and chair of the board, orchestrating strategic shifts toward high-performance computing, custom system-on-chip development for clients like Sony and Microsoft, and partnerships with Google and Microsoft Azure for cloud workloads.

Under her tenure AMD launched microarchitectures and product lines that competed directly with offerings from Intel Corporation and accelerators from NVIDIA; these included Zen-series central processing units and Radeon-branded graphics products. Su led supply-chain agreements with TSMC for advanced process nodes and negotiated collaborations with memory suppliers such as SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics for high-bandwidth memory integration. Her leadership emphasized research collaboration with institutions like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and workforce initiatives linked to University of California, Berkeley and Georgia Institute of Technology. Financially, AMD returned to profitability, secured partnerships with major cloud providers, and pursued public-market strategies interacting with investors on NYSE governance.

Awards, honors, and recognition

Su has received numerous awards from professional societies and civic institutions. She was named among the world's most influential business leaders by publications associated with Forbes and Fortune, honored with engineering distinctions from IEEE and the National Academy of Engineering recognition committees, and received business awards from organizations such as Glassdoor and the Time 100 lists. Universities including Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have invited her for commencement addresses and honorary distinctions. Industry honors include executive awards from SEMICON and lifetime achievement acknowledgments at events organized by CES and the Computer History Museum.

Personal life and philanthropy

Su maintains ties to academic communities, serving on advisory boards at institutions like Stanford University and MIT, and participates in STEM outreach initiatives affiliated with Girls Who Code and the Society of Women Engineers. She has engaged in philanthropic support for scholarship programs at North Carolina State University and endowed fellowships at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to promote diversity in engineering. Outside of professional activities, Su is reported to have interests in mentoring entrepreneurs and supporting regional economic development efforts in collaboration with organizations such as Economic Development Administration and state-level chambers of commerce.

Category:1969 births Category:American chief executives Category:People in semiconductor industry