Taipei, July 20 (CNA) Lisa Su (蘇姿丰), visiting CEO of IC design giant Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), praised Taiwan as the center of the global semiconductor ecosystem Thursday when receiving an honorary doctorate from a local university, citing the nation's rapid progress in the field.
Being in Taiwan reminds her that this is truly the center of the global semiconductor ecosystem and that the Taiwan spirit is what makes the local semiconductor ecosystem so amazing, said the U.S.-based AMD chairperson when delivering her address at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu.
Su, who was born in Tainan in 1969 and moved to the United States at the age of three, has been called "the queen of semiconductors."
When she was appointed AMD's CEO in October 2014, Su achieved two milestones: she was the first female CEO of the American company and the first ethnic Chinese woman to hold a CEO position in the U.S. semiconductor industry.
During the Q&A session at the event, a student asked Su about her thoughts on the future of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan, to which she replied that throughout Taiwan, "you have so much talent and so many resources" and a wonderful culture for innovation.
Su noted that the future of semiconductors is the most essential field impacting every aspect of our lives, adding that the progress in semiconductors in Taiwan has been incredibly fast and extremely efficient.
"This is what makes the Taiwan ecosystem so important," she noted.
Su arrived in Taiwan on Monday and has maintained a low profile regarding her itinerary.
Sources indicate that among the suppliers Su is scheduled to visit are the world's largest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and contract electronics producer Pegatron Corp..
The planned meetings have sparked optimism over the potential for increased collaborations between AMD, a leading global semiconductor development company, and Taiwan's semiconductor industry, as well as companies in the AI server supply chain, analysts said.
Addressing the issue of AI development, Su highlighted the transformative power of generative AI and noted that AI will be the "defining megatrend" for the next 10 years and more.
"Generative AI has really reshaped how we think about this, where we see that every product, every service, every business in the world will be impacted by AI and the technology is actually evolving faster than anything that I've ever seen before," she said.
Su emphasized that AI also requires all disciplines to come together, including hardware, software, systems, applications and even business models.
"It's an incredibly exciting time for all of us in the technology industry and it's also an opportunity for all of us to come together to drive the industry faster,'' she stated.
Recollecting her student years, Su stressed the importance of learning on the job and went on to say that one of her bosses told her that it's very important to "run towards problems" when asked by a student how she developed her business mindset.
What that means, she said, is "to develop business capability or overall technical capability," adding "you want to choose some very hard problems and try to solve them and every time you learn, you will become better the next time."
"That's how I would suggest you can learn either engineering or business. It's the same. Try to pick some very interesting and hard problems and learn through each one," she said.
