AMD chief says AI not replacing employees, but changing who to hire

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Artificial intelligence (AI) hasn't slowed down hiring at the US chip firm AMD, but candidates who have fully embraced the technology are now given precedence, CEO Lisa Su told CNBC Television Tuesday.

“I would say that we’re actually not hiring fewer people," Su said. “Frankly, we’re growing very significantly as a company, so we actually are hiring lots of people, but we’re hiring different people. We’re hiring people who are AI forward.”

Su's remarks follow Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari's assertion that AI is slowing hiring at large corporations. He stated that he anticipates the labor market's low hiring and firing rates to persist.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, AMD employed about 28,000 people worldwide as of December 2024.

"I would say that AI is augmenting our capabilities," Su said. "It's merely increasing our productivity, not replacing people."

AMD develops graphics processing unit (GPU) chips that train models and run big AI workloads, putting the company squarely at the center of the AI revolution. It competes directly with Nvidia, which currently holds over 90% of the AI processor market share, according to estimates.

AI surged into the mainstream three years ago with the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot, raising fears about job security and the future of the labor market.