Originally from Tainan, Taiwan, Su isn’t as famous as some other tech big shots, but her leadership at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has brought her into the spotlight.
As CEO of AMD, a company in Santa Clara that makes powerful chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications, Su has made it onto Forbes’ list of billionaires. Her net worth is now around $1.3 billion.
Su took over AMD in 2014 when it was struggling. Now, she’s aiming to challenge her cousin, Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, who’s worth about $77 billion.
Here’s how Su got to where she is today, and what might come next for her in the age of AI.
Su moved to the US with her family when she was young. She studied electrical engineering at MIT and then got her master’s and Ph.D. there too. She worked at big companies like Texas Instruments and IBM before joining AMD in 2012.
When Su became CEO in 2014, AMD was in rough shape. But she turned things around by focusing on new kinds of computer chips called Zen CPUs. These chips are more powerful and energy-efficient, and they’re used in products like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.
Even though Su has led AMD to great success, she hasn’t always received the recognition she deserves. In one memorable incident, a former Formula One driver underestimated her during a race event in Shanghai.
Now, as the demand for AI computing power grows, Su is facing off against her cousin’s company, Nvidia. But she’s up for the challenge. AMD has released new chips to compete with Nvidia’s offerings, and the company is aiming for big growth in the AI industry.
For Su, the journey to becoming a billionaire is just beginning.