Log in Sign up
Back to Discover
💻

Lisa Su

technology Maturity 9-11

Lisa Su is a smart leader.

Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
She helps make computer parts. She likes to see how things work. She fixes things at home. Now she helps a big company. Do you like computers too?
AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg

42 words

Lisa Su is a leader for a big company.

Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
She was born in Taiwan. She moved to the United States as a child.

Lisa loves to see how things work. When she was ten, she fixed toy cars.

AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
She also studied hard in school.

She learned how to make small computer parts. These parts help machines run fast. Her work helped make game machines better.

Now, she is the boss of a company called AMD. She helps make chips for many things. These chips go into many gadgets.

Many people think she is a great leader. She has won many awards for her work.

112 words

Lisa Su is a leader in the world of technology.

Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
She was born in Taiwan in 1969. Her family moved to the United States when she was three. As a child, she loved to see how things worked. She even fixed remote control cars when she was ten.

Lisa studied very hard. She earned three degrees from MIT. She studied electrical engineering. This is the study of how electricity works in machines. She also studied semiconductors. These are small parts that help computers think.

Lisa worked at many big companies. At IBM, she helped make chips faster. She used copper to make them work better. Later, she helped make chips for the PlayStation 3.

AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg

In 2014, Lisa became the leader of AMD. She is the president and CEO. This means she is the top boss. Under her lead, AMD grew very large. The company now makes chips for games and big computers. Many people call her one of the most powerful women in the world. She has won many awards for her great work.

182 words

Lisa Su is a famous leader in the world of technology.

Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
She is a computer scientist and an electrical engineer. Today, she serves as the president and CEO of AMD. This means she is the top leader of a large American company. AMD makes semiconductor chips, which are the small parts that make computers run. Since she took charge in 2014, the company has grown a lot. Its value went from about $3 billion to over $200 billion.
AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg

Lisa learned how things work by taking things apart. When she was ten, she fixed her brother's remote control cars. She also owned an Apple II computer in junior high school. This curiosity led her to study electrical engineering at MIT. She earned three different degrees from that school. During her studies, she worked in labs to design products. She was even one of the first researchers to study silicon-on-insulator technology. This is a way to make transistors, or tiny switches, work more efficiently.

Her career began with several important jobs in science. She worked at Texas Instruments and then moved to IBM. At IBM, she helped find a way to use copper in chips. This was a big deal because it made chips 20% faster. She also helped create a special chip for the PlayStation 3. Later, she worked at Freescale Semiconductor as a chief technology officer. She also held leadership roles at companies like Cisco Systems. Each job helped her learn more about how to build better technology.

Lisa joined AMD in 2012 before becoming the CEO in October 2014.

AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
She wanted to help the company make many different kinds of products. Instead of just making parts for PCs, she focused on gaming and big data centers. She worked with Microsoft and Sony to put AMD chips into Xbox One consoles. Because of her hard work, AMD's market share grew quickly. In 2017, their new Ryzen chips became very popular with many people. Her leadership helped AMD overtake Intel in market value for the first time.

Many groups have given Lisa awards for her great work. She was named Executive of the Year in 2014. Fortune magazine called her one of the World's Greatest Leaders in 2017. In 2021, she was the first woman to get the IEEE Robert Noyce Medal. Forbes even named her the tenth most powerful woman in the world for 2025. She was also called one of the "Architects of AI" by Time magazine. Her life shows how curiosity can lead to amazing discoveries in science.

433 words

Lisa Tzwu-Fang Su is a prominent computer scientist, electrical engineer, and business executive.

Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
She currently serves as the president and CEO of AMD, a major American semiconductor company. Semiconductors are the essential components that power modern electronics. Since Su took leadership in 2014, AMD has experienced massive growth. The company's market capitalization rose from approximately $3 billion to over $200 billion. This growth allowed AMD to overtake Intel in market capitalization for the first time. Her career combines deep scientific research with high-level corporate strategy.

Su's interest in engineering began with a childhood curiosity about how objects function. At age ten, she would take apart and repair her brother's remote control cars. This drive led her to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She earned three degrees from MIT, including a Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1994. During her doctoral studies, she focused on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. This technique involves building transistors atop layers of insulating material to increase efficiency. Her dissertation specifically addressed extreme-submicrometer silicon-on-insulator MOSFETs.

Her professional career started with roles at Texas Instruments and IBM. While at IBM, Su served as vice president of the semiconductor research and development center. She played a critical role in developing a new manufacturing "recipe." This process allowed copper to be used for connections within semiconductor chips. Previously, companies used aluminum, but copper prevented impurities from contaminating the devices. This innovation launched in 1998 and made chips up to 20% faster.

AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
Such advancements set new standards for the entire semiconductor industry.

Su also demonstrated leadership by founding the Emerging Products division at IBM. She managed this group like an internal startup with ten employees. Her team focused on biochips and low-power, broadband semiconductors. One major success was a microprocessor that improved battery life in handheld devices. Her team also collaborated with Sony and Toshiba on next-generation chips. They developed a nine-processor chip known as the Cell microprocessor. This technology eventually powered the PlayStation 3 gaming console.

After working as the chief technology officer at Freescale Semiconductor, Su joined AMD in 2012. She initially served as senior vice president of global business units. In October 2014, she was appointed president and CEO, replacing Rory Read. Su implemented a strategy to diversify AMD's products beyond the personal computer market. She worked with Microsoft and Sony to include AMD chips in the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. By February 2015, non-PC sales grew from 10 percent to roughly 40 percent. This shift focused on gaming, datacenters, and immersive platforms.

In 2017, AMD launched its Zen chip architecture, which led to the Ryzen line of CPUs. These processors gained popularity due to high thread counts and competitive pricing. This success helped AMD's CPU market share surge to nearly 11%. Su further expanded AMD's capabilities by completing a $49 billion acquisition of Xilinx in 2022. This move brought programmable systems on chip technology into the company. Her leadership has transformed AMD into a leader in high-performance computing and graphics.

Su has received numerous prestigious honors for her scientific and business contributions. In 2014, she was named Executive of the Year by EE Times. She was the first woman named Time magazine's CEO of the year in 2014, and again in 2024. In 2021, she became the first woman to receive the IEEE Robert Noyce Medal. Forbes named her the tenth most powerful woman in the world for 2025. Additionally, Time magazine identified her as one of the "Architects of AI" for 2025. Her journey reflects a profound impact on the global technology landscape.

595 words
🖼️ Images & Media (2)
File:AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
AMD CEO Lisa Su 20150603.jpg
File:Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
Dr. Lisa Su.jpg
Up Next
💻
Morris Chang
Technology
More to explore

🔬 Go deeper

More advanced topics to explore

🪜 Step back

Simpler topics to build understanding

What is Nepedia?

A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.