As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang steps down from his leadership role, his longtime rival, AMD CEO Lisa Su, is enjoying one of the biggest years of her career. Yahoo Finance has named Su its 2026 CEO of the Year, recognizing her leadership in expanding AMD’s artificial intelligence business, delivering strong financial results and strengthening its position in the global semiconductor industry.
The timing creates a striking contrast between two of the most influential executives in the AI chip industry. Nvidia announced on November 12 that Huang was stepping down as CEO and director, with Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress taking over as interim CEO. Meanwhile, Su has continued to strengthen AMD’s position as Nvidia’s most formidable challenger in the AI infrastructure market.
A Breakout Year for AMD
Su joined AMD in 2012, when the chipmaker was struggling financially. After becoming CEO in 2014, she led a sweeping turnaround that transformed AMD into a major competitor in high-performance computing and AI processors.
In 2026, that transformation has delivered particularly impressive results for investors. AMD shares have surged approximately 158% year to date, significantly outperforming Nvidia, which has fallen about 7%, and Broadcom, which is down less than 1%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have gained approximately 11% and 10%, respectively, over the same period.
AMD's market capitalization crossed the $1 trillion threshold for the first time in late September. It has since retreated to around $906 billion amid broader selling pressure in technology stocks.
Major AI Acquisition Expands AMD’s Ambitions
One of Su's biggest strategic moves this year was AMD's $8.2 billion acquisition of World Labs, an AI startup focused on developing software for three-dimensional environments.
Founded in 2024 by prominent AI researcher Fei-Fei Li, World Labs brings expertise in so-called spatial intelligence, an emerging area of AI development.
Li will join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting directly to Su. The appointment highlights the importance AMD places on expanding beyond traditional chip development and strengthening its broader AI technology capabilities.
Data Center Business Drives Record Results
AMD also delivered a strong third-quarter earnings report, beating Wall Street expectations on both revenue and earnings.
Revenue jumped 45% year over year to a record $13.38 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of approximately $13.06 billion. Adjusted earnings per share increased 74% to $2.09, above the consensus forecast of $1.94.
The company's Data Center division was the biggest growth driver. Revenue surged 97% to a record $8.5 billion, supported by strong demand for EPYC server processors and the production ramp-up of Instinct MI450 AI accelerators.
AMD expects its Data Center business to grow 50% sequentially in the fourth quarter. Looking further ahead, Su projected that total revenue would increase more than 80% in 2027, with server revenue doubling and data center AI revenue more than doubling.
The company has also introduced its next-generation AI hardware, including Instinct MI450 GPUs and sixth-generation EPYC Venice CPUs.
These products will power AMD's Helios rack-scale AI systems, which integrate GPUs, CPUs, networking and software into a single platform for training and running large AI models.
Microsoft said it began deploying Helios systems across its Azure AI services in the second half of 2026.
Anthropic Partnership Challenges Nvidia
AMD has also secured a major partnership with Anthropic, further expanding its challenge to Nvidia in the AI infrastructure market.
Anthropic plans to deploy up to 2 gigawatts of AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs in Helios systems beginning in the first half of 2027. The agreement could eventually generate tens of billions of dollars in business for AMD.
As part of the deal, AMD also committed to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic, one of the chipmaker's largest strategic investments.
The agreement follows AMD's partnership with Meta, which could eventually give the social media company an ownership stake of up to 10% in AMD.
Together, these deals demonstrate how Su is pursuing a broader strategy that combines chip development, strategic investments and partnerships with major AI companies to build AMD's presence across the AI ecosystem.
Su Remains Bullish on Long-Term AI Demand
Despite recent volatility in technology stocks, Su remains confident that demand for computing power will continue to expand as AI adoption accelerates.
Speaking at Yahoo Finance Invest, she said she joined AMD because she wanted to work at a company operating at the forefront of technology and believed technological innovation could deliver significant benefits to the economy and society.
Su also argued that computing power is increasingly becoming synonymous with intelligence, allowing businesses to solve more problems and accelerate growth.
She acknowledged that markets can sometimes become overly focused on short-term developments, but said she remains convinced that AI and superintelligence will become increasingly essential across nearly every aspect of business and everyday life.
Huang's departure adds a new dimension to the competition between the two chipmakers. He has been central to Nvidia's rise into one of the world's most valuable companies and to the development of its AI computing ecosystem. His exit raises questions about how Nvidia will maintain its technological momentum and leadership during a management transition.
Su, meanwhile, enters 2027 with strong earnings momentum, major customer partnerships and an expanding AI product portfolio.
Yahoo Finance's CEO of the Year recognition reflects not only AMD's impressive financial performance but also the transformation Su has led over more than a decade.
With global demand for AI computing continuing to grow, the competition between AMD and Nvidia is far from over. Whether Su can further narrow the gap with Nvidia may become one of the semiconductor industry's biggest stories in 2027.