AMD CEO Lisa Su Opens Up About Her Family Connection to Nvidia’s Jensen Huang

AMD CEO Lisa Su recently spoke about her family connection to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, shedding light on their distant relationship and how their paths have intersected in the tech world. Despite being related, Su revealed that she and Huang had never met until their careers were well-established.

A Family Connection Revealed

In a December 5 interview with Bloomberg, Lisa Su shared her perspective on her relationship with Jensen Huang. “We’re actually quite distant; we didn’t grow up together,” Su explained. “We first met at a semiconductor industry event. In fact, we didn’t have the chance to meet until we were already far along in our careers.”

This distant familial tie first came to light during a CTA Consumer Technology Association event in 2020 when Su confirmed their connection. The relationship was further substantiated in late 2023 when genealogist Jean Wu released administrative documents in Taiwan showing that Huang is Su’s uncle on her maternal side. Nvidia later confirmed the relationship to CNN.

Early Life and Separate Journeys

Although both Su and Huang were born in Taiwan, their childhoods and professional paths diverged significantly.

– Jensen Huang: Born in Taipei in 1963, Huang moved to Thailand before settling in Washington State at the age of 9. He later attended Oregon State University and became a pioneering figure in the semiconductor industry by founding Nvidia in 1993.

– Lisa Su: Born in Tainan in 1969, Su relocated to New York with her family at the age of 3. She pursued her studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), eventually rising to the position of CEO at AMD in 2014.

“I have a big family in Taiwan and often go back to visit my relatives,” Su told Bloomberg. She described her parents’ large families—her father with nine siblings and her mother with six—and noted the many cousins, aunts, and uncles spread across generations. However, Su and Huang never crossed paths at family gatherings.

The Rivalry in the AI Chip Market

Despite their familial bond, Lisa Su and Jensen Huang find themselves at the helm of competing companies in the high-stakes race for AI dominance. Nvidia, led by Huang, is the industry leader in AI chips, holding a substantial market share for GPUs used in training artificial intelligence models. However, under Su’s leadership, AMD has emerged as a formidable challenger.

In October 2023, AMD unveiled the Instinct MI325X graphics processor, designed for AI training data centers. This product directly competes with Nvidia’s flagship H200 chip. The MI325X is distinguished by its advanced architecture, including a higher capacity of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which makes it particularly attractive to cloud providers seeking to run large-scale models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 on fewer processing nodes.

Industry experts believe the MI325X could serve as a competitive alternative to Nvidia’s offerings. CNBC reported that AMD’s advancements might pressure Nvidia’s dominance if developers and cloud computing giants adopt AMD’s solutions.

A Shared Legacy in Semiconductor Innovation

While Su and Huang compete in the AI chip market, their careers highlight a shared legacy of innovation and leadership in the semiconductor industry.

– Jensen Huang’s Vision: Nvidia initially focused on GPUs for gaming but later expanded its scope to include AI, autonomous vehicles, and data centers. Nvidia’s technological breakthroughs have solidified its position as a leader in AI hardware, with a market valuation exceeding $3.5 trillion as of 2024.

– Lisa Su’s Leadership: Since taking the reins at AMD, Su has transformed the company into a significant player in the semiconductor space. AMD’s focus on innovation and cost-efficiency has allowed it to challenge established leaders like Nvidia and Intel.

Their rivalry underscores the dynamic nature of the tech industry, where innovation and competition drive progress.

Final Thoughts: Family Ties Amid Fierce Competition

The distant uncle-niece relationship between Lisa Su and Jensen Huang is a fascinating footnote in the story of two leaders shaping the future of technology. Despite their shared heritage, Su and Huang’s professional paths have largely been independent, with both achieving extraordinary success in their respective roles.

Their competition in the AI chip market exemplifies the relentless pursuit of innovation that defines the tech industry. As AMD continues to challenge Nvidia’s dominance, the rivalry between Su and Huang promises to drive advancements in artificial intelligence and semiconductor technology for years to come.