Lisa Su has overseen what is widely considered to be one of the greatest turnaround stories in corporate history. When she became chief executive officer of Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) in late 2014, the chipmaker was fighting for its survival. Today, AMD stands as a $115 billion titan in the semiconductor industry -- and it's poised to become even larger and more valuable in the years ahead.

Prior to Su's appointment, AMD had failed to gain much of a foothold in the data center market and was struggling to maintain its portion of the personal computer (PC) industry. But Su placed AMD on a course that would see it gain significant market share from its rivals as it rapidly improved its chips' performance and power efficiency. As recently as 2017, AMD's server chip market share stood at less than 1%. Yet by the second quarter of 2022, that figure had grown to over 22%. Better still, AMD's market share in the desktop and mobile PC chip segments more than doubled during this time. 

When Su took AMD's helm, the company was working to cut costs and repair its debt-laden balance sheet in a desperate attempt to stave off bankruptcy. As a result, although AMD generated $5.5 billion in revenue in 2014, it racked up $155 million in operating losses. But by 2021, AMD's sales -- fueled by soaring demand for its chips from the data center, gaming, and PC markets -- had surged to $16.4 billion. And its profitability had improved so much that it produced a whopping $3.6 billion in operating income last year. 

Continue reading

Source Fool.com