AMD CEO Lisa Su: 'We are a data center-first company'

"We're a tech company that has a lot of resources and the ability to expand our supply and expand our ability to help our customers. And that's what's led to tremendous growth. So being able to say that my data center business is going to grow 50% sequentially from Q3 to Q4, it's a big step up and it's a testament to how important computing is in the industry today.

"We're looking to double the business⁠—more than double the business⁠—as we go into next year. We are a data center-first company, that is our profile and people need more computing to power all these applications.

[Responding to a question about this past week's slump in AI and tech valuations] "I think the market can sometimes be a little bit short-sighted. Look, it is what it is. What I look at is in the long term, if you believe⁠—which I do, deeply⁠—that computing in many ways equates to intelligence. So the more compute you have, the more intelligent you are, the more intelligent your company is, the more problems you're going to be able to solve, the more you're going to accelerate your business.

"If you believe that foundation, then investing ahead of the curve is the right thing to do because we're always investing for the long term. Long term being, you know, three, four, five years and beyond. And that means you have to make the investments now.

"I've always operated AMD that way. We're always looking at, what do we see over the horizon? And over the horizon, I see AI and super intelligence becoming more and more essential to every aspect of our lives and every aspect of our business. So I believe in this demand and I very much believe that many of the investments that are being made throughout the ecosystem are also seeing some of these same trends."

I found Dr. Su's statements incredibly frustrating, and that all comes down to fundamental differences in perspective and incentive. I do not believe that "computing equates to intelligence" when the output of AI models is so unreliable. They have not changed my life or my work, except to make computer components prohibitively expensive. I do not see "super intelligence" becoming more essential to every aspect of my life in the coming years.

Dr. Su sees the post-US midterm election decline in tech stocks as Mr. Market being short-sighted, but I see overinvestment in data center buildouts and the ludicrous valuation of AI companies as the fundamental error. PC sales will undoubtedly slump next year as the RAMpocalypse continues, but it's hard to swallow tech leaders' sober prognostications on the subject when they caused the shortages and price increases driving the slump.

I believe⁠—and what's more, I hope⁠—that the fever will break and that there will be a correction. Unfortunately, with how much of the economy⁠—particularly 401ks and pension funds⁠—that has been bet on AI's continued growth, I think the coming hangover will be far more democratically distributed than the decision to go on the bender in the first place.