AMD's Lisa Su Joins Bloomberg 50

Bloomberg named AMD CEO Lisa Su one of its "Bloomberg 50" today. While that sounds like a list of the people most likely to be modified clones of Michael Bloomberg, it's actually supposed to honor "the people who defined 2019" across a variety of vital sectors, "from finance to fashion and technology to trade."

Su was included among the Bloomberg 50 for exactly the reason you'd expect: finding a way to beat Intel at its own game. Bloomberg said her "steady hand has made AMD a credible alternative for big customers that have long relied on" Intel. And, of course, she did so despite being at a severe market share disadvantage.

Bloomberg also recognized Su for stewarding AMD's release of 7nm processors shortly after Intel started to struggle with its 10nm offerings. (A shortcoming that Intel promised to rectify in October, when it said that it hoped to "recapture process leadership" from its competition.) Itty-bitty chips make for grand accomplishments.

We'd add some other noteworthy achievements to Su's entry. AMD's also given manufacturers a solid alternative while Intel's struggled to keep up with demand, become increasingly popular with enthusiasts and continued to close the performance gap between its offerings and those of its competitors.

Can all of those accomplishments be attributed solely to Lisa Su? Probably not. But they've happened under her leadership, and it's heartening to see relatively mainstream outlets like Bloomberg (we wouldn't call a publication meant to be accessed via a terminal that costs $24,000 per year "mainstream") recognize them.