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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Great engineers love solving problems. Fortunately for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Lisa Su is one of them, and she has a knack for dealing with the semiconductor industry’s hardest ones.

After getting her doctorate in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Su, 49, played a key leadership role in IBM ’s groundbreaking work using copper to replace aluminum interconnects in computer chips, making them faster and more energy efficient.

In 2012, the year she joined AMD, the company was in trouble. AMD lost more than $1 billion as its products drastically underperformed Intel’s. But Su was undaunted and excited to come aboard. “I’ve always been attracted to solving really tough problems,” she says. “Problems actually create opportunities.”

After becoming CEO in October 2014, she quickly refocused the company on its core high-performance computing business, establishing an ironclad policy of meeting commitments to customers.

[...]

During Su’s tenure as CEO, AMD stock has risen more than 800%. The shares are up 80% this year through June 10, and AMD was the No. 1–performing stock in the S&P 500 index last year.

Su’s technical expertise and intuition were critical to this resurgence. “I love spending time with the engineers, going into the lab, and getting a feel for what the real challenges are, because it just helps me make better decisions on the business,” she says.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/gms-mary-barra-amds-lisa-su-and-more-of-the-worlds-best-ceos-51560566096 [barrons.com]

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