Barron's representatives recently had an opportunity to interview Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD, where they delved into topics that were not fully addressed during the quarterly reporting conference. One of the main discussions revolved around the notion of the "death of Moore's Law," a statement made by a competitor, which was challenged by Lisa Su. She emphasized that while the effect of this principle has indeed slowed down, AMD is actively working on maintaining advancements in speed and energy efficiency.
Moore's Law, an empirical principle formulated by Gordon Moore, one of Intel's founders, speaks to the semiconductor industry's ability to roughly double transistor density every two years. Historically, this has led to increased performance, reduced power consumption, and lowered production costs for semiconductor components.
Lisa Su points out that the slowdown in Moore's Law is partially attributed to the rising prices of processed silicon wafers with each new stage of lithography. As each new generation emerges, the cost reduction of chips becomes less pronounced, performance gains are not as significant, and power consumption improvements are more limited. However, AMD remains undeterred and is actively engaged in the development of three-nanometer products while exploring the potential of two-nanometer process technology.
To overcome the challenges posed by the slowing pace of Moore's Law, AMD plans to employ chiplets, three-dimensional layouts, and software optimization. Additionally, there are undisclosed innovations being pursued by the company. Lisa Su emphasized that despite current difficulties in the server segment, demand for high-performance computing will eventually rebound. She expects improvements to occur in the second half of this year. In the graphics segment, AMD is content with the positioning of the RDNA 3 architecture. The company views its presence in the game console and discrete graphics card markets, as well as its hybrid processors with integrated graphics, as significant advantages.
