Who Is Lisa Su? TIME'S CEO Of The Year

The best way to predict the future is to create it, and Lisa Su created a glorious future for semiconductors. Su was recently voted as TIME Magazine's CEO of the year 2024. Coming from Taiwan and creating a trailblazing legacy, Su's journey is nothing short of inspirational. 

Who Is Lisa Su? TIME'S CEO Of The Year

Dr Lisa Su was born in 1969 in Taiwan. At the age of three, her family migrated to the USA. Her father Su Chun-hwai, a statistician, introduced Su to the world of mathematics. Her mother Sandy Lo, an entrepreneur introduces Su to the business world. Su began attending the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), majoring in electrical engineering. She further completed her PhD in electrical engineering from MIT.

 During her days as a doctoral candidate, Su became one of the first engineers to look into the SOI (Silicon On Insulator) Technology to increase transistors' efficiency by building them atop layers of insulating material. 

From June 1994 until February 1995, Su extensively worked in the Semiconductor Process and Device Center (SPDC) at Texas Instruments. Su was later hired by IBM as a research staff member specializing in device physics. As an active member of IBM's R&D, Su went on to work on the copper technology which was later launched in 1998. This innovation increased the productivity of chips by up to 20%, setting up new industrial standards. 

In 2001, Su was titled "Top Innovator Under 35" by MIT Technology Review for her work with Emerging Products. This included a microprocessor that improved battery life in phones and other handheld devices. IBM further collaborated with Sony & Toshiba for a nine-processor chip that eventually became a Cell microprocessor used in PlayStation 3. 

In January 2012, Su joined AMD as a Senior Vice President. She eventually became the President & CEO of AMD in 2014. Under her leadership, the company diversified its operations from the PC market to game consoles. 

In February 2022, Su joined the Chair of AMD after completing a reported $49 billion acquisition. 

Accolades & Honours

Su has published more than 40 technical articles. She has been given multiple honours for her leadership. She was named one of the "50 Most Powerful Women in Technology" by the National Diversity Council in 2016 and 2017. Su ranked 49th in Forbes' list of "World's 100 most powerful women" followed by 12th on Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women in 2023. She was lately included in Time's 2024 list of the "100 Most Influential People in AI."

Su lives with her husband Daniel Lin in Austin, Texas. She has a reported net worth of more than $1 billion.