AMD's defining moves.
The defining strategic moves at AMD — each one explained and grounded in the record.
The Moat Anatomy · Moat Anatomy
AMD Didn't Come Back From the Dead. It Came Back From a Bad Architecture Bet.
The legend says Lisa Su rescued a near-bankrupt AMD by sheer will. The filings say otherwise: $5.5B in revenue and $1B in cash in 2014. The real turnaround wasn't heroism - it was outsourcing the factory and betting everything on one chip design.
8 min
The Turnaround · Decision Forks
Lisa Su Didn't Save AMD From Bankruptcy. She Did Something Harder.
AMD wasn't insolvent when Lisa Su took over in 2014 - it had $187M of equity, a stock under $2, and an accumulated deficit of $6.6B. The real story isn't a rescue. It's a decade-long architectural bet that took AMD from ~0% of the server market to ~30%, and revenue from $5.5B to a record $34.6B.
8 min
The Turnaround · Decision Forks
AMD Was Never Bankrupt. The Comeback Was Quieter, Harder, and More Instructive Than the Legend.
The legend says AMD rose from the dead. The truth is grimmer and more useful: three straight years of nine-figure losses ($403M, $660M, $497M), a debt clock ticking toward 2019, and a turnaround that hinged on getting one chip roadmap right before the money ran out.
8 min