AMD CEO Lisa Su Dismisses AI Bubble Talk: 'We Are Only in the Third Inning'

AMD Chair and CEO Lisa Su attended the Commonwealth Magazine 45th Anniversary Flagship Forum today, addressing concerns about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. She stated, "If you look at this as a baseball game, we are probably only in the third inning." Su emphasized that this means a massive amount of innovation is yet to come, and there are numerous opportunities across the entire ecosystem. She noted that while AI is a significant wave, technology is built over time and cannot be achieved in six or even 12 months; it typically takes three to five years to develop a strong vision and find one's place. For startups, her advice is to find where they can have the most impact. Su pointed out that two or three years ago, when AI expansion first began, only a few companies were pouring all their energy and capital into AI training, as training large language models requires massive computing power. "But the fact is, no one is really making money from 'training'," Su said bluntly. Training is necessary, but the real return on investment comes when people use this technology for inference. She emphasized that AI is not only entering the inference stage but also an era where it can do "truly smart things." People can ask AI to solve complex problems, which will significantly change how products are built, companies are run, and science is explored. Su said that while technological changes usually don't happen this quickly, the AI landscape is changing every few months, and the models are getting better. Although we are still in the very early stages of the AI cycle and it is not perfect, the rapid progress seen every few months is the key driver of demand.