Look long and hard at AMD's financials circa 2015[1]...for the sake of anticipated TL;DR, here are a few summary highlights:
- -27.5% YoY revenue decline
- -6.3% YoY gross margin decline
- -$481M operating loss
- $230M short-term debt
- $388M non-cancelable operating lease commitments
- $538M unconditional purchase commitments
- $2.032B long-term debt (!)
- -$412M stockholders' deficit (!!)
Seriously, look long and hard at those numbers, and when you think you understand what they might mean, consider them again and again until the feeling of insurmountable adversity sinks in and you're on your knees begging public equity markets for an ounce of capital and a pinch of courtesy faith...on the promise of meaningful risk-adjusted ROIC to be delivered in just a few years.
> But Nvidia gpu datacenter growth isn't new. And AMd were asleep
...which is why this remark comes off as sheer arrogance (no disrespect).
Su and the rest of AMD leadership certainly weren't asleep. The difference here is while you're busy scouting speculative waters defended by competition with deep battle pockets and an even deeper technical moat, Su was simply preoccupied bringing a zombie company back to life and building up enough health to slay a weaker giant.
Personally, I was already beyond impressed with one miracle delivered.
[1] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2488/000000248816000...