By Kate Yuan

(JW Insights) Sep 7 -- The CEO of AMD Lisa Su says the company will continue to invest in China because they think it’s an important market, MarketWatch reported on September 5.

Addressing concerns about the potential implications of geopolitical tensions and bans on the sale of some AI technology to China, Su said China could contribute some 20% to 25% of the company’s revenue.

Lisa Su offered an optimistic assessment of the AI trend during a session at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference in San Francisco on September 5.

“First, second, and third priority are around AI, AI, AI,” she said. “Over the last thirty days, what we’ve seen is a continued acceleration of engagements” for AI in the data center. The market is “skyrocketing,” she added.

“Even since our last earnings call, over the past 30 days, what we’ve seen is a continued acceleration of those engagements, and a number of those engagements have turned into customer commitments, which we’re really excited about,” Su said, adding that she saw “a very strong second half of the year for our data-center business.”

In AMD’s most recent earnings report, in early August, data-center numbers declined from a year ago, but the company didn’t have comparable AI chip sales in its results.

Su’s latest positive commentary is noteworthy. A month ago during an earnings call on August 1 she said AI customer engagements had increased by more than seven times in the last quarter. A further improvement in interest would be a sign the market hasn’t topped out yet.

She reiterated her expectation the market for AI accelerators in data centers will reach $150 billion by 2027. And she confirmed AMD’s upcoming MI300 AI accelerator was on track to launch during the fourth quarter, said the MarketWatch report.