During the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix, the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Lisa Sufound herself in an awkward viral moment during a walk on the Formula 1 starting grid – years before her chip company’s meteoric rise transformed it into a more than $665 billion semiconductor powerhouse.
Viral moment in Formula 1 puts Lisa Su in the spotlight
During the walk on the starting grid before the race in Shanghai, carried out by the Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundlehe approached Su – then present as manager of one of the key sponsors of Ferrari – and asked him: “Do you speak English?â€
Su, who holds advanced engineering degrees from MIT and had previously led AMD through a major change, calmly responded: “Yes, I do.â€
“I’m with AMD. We’re sponsoring the Ferrari car,” Su said during the interview — a simple statement that, in retrospect, carried far more weight than viewers realized.
Brundle didn’t seem to know he was speaking to the AMD CEO. He even referred to her as a “random person.”
At the time, AMD had just announced a multi-year partnership with Scuderia Ferrari, whose branding featured prominently on Formula 1 cars and Ferrari team assets.
AMD Stock Volume Explodes Under Lisa Su’s Leadership
Since that day in April 2018, AMD shares have soared nearly 4,000%, fueled by the company’s aggressive push into high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and data center chips.
AMD’s market capitalization has grown from around $10 billion at the time of the incident to more than $665 billion today, making Su one of the most successful executives in the semiconductor industry.
In 2020, the company also announced that it had ended its sponsorship of Ferrari. The chipmaker then moved its sponsorship from Formula 1 to the team Mercedes-AMG Petronas.
AMD’s Q1 Profit Beats Estimates With 38% Revenue Increase
Earlier this month, AMD reported first-quarter revenue of $10.25 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.37 per share, beating analysts’ estimates of $9.89 billion and $1.29 per share, respectively.
Turnover increased by 38% compared to the previous year.
For the second quarter, AMD forecast revenue of approximately $11.2 billion, above estimates of $10.52 billion, with adjusted gross margin expected to improve to 56% from 55%.
Warning :Â This content was partially produced using AI tools, then proofread and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy of: jamesonwu1972 on Shutterstock.com
