Cover Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD, has helped the company not only regain its competitive edge but also emerge as a leader in semiconductor innovation. (Photo: AMD)
Lisa Su, the CEO of AMD, has helped the company not only regain its competitive edge but also emerge as a leader in semiconductor innovation. (Photo: AMD)
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Their commitment to cutting-edge technology has solidified their position as key players in the AI race
Taiwan has established itself as a global hub for technological innovation, particularly in supercomputing and artificial intelligence (AI). Its leadership is anchored by a highly skilled workforce, cutting-edge infrastructure and substantial government investment in research and development, with a proposed budget of US$4.99 billion for technology development in 2025.
Three companies, guided by visionary leaders from Asia’s Most Influential, are pivotal in advancing AI in Taiwan and the rest of the world: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), helmed by Lisa Su, develops high-performance GPUs essential for complex AI workloads. Nvidia, co-founded by Taiwan-born Jensen Huang, drives AI innovation with its groundbreaking GPUs that power AI training, gaming and data centres. And Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), founded by Morris Chang, produces the world’s most advanced chips, including those used by Nvidia and AMD. Together, these companies form a tech ecosystem that has become the cornerstone of hardware development, enabling breakthroughs in AI robotics, autonomous vehicles and other transformative industries.
At CES 2025, one of the most important tech events in the world, these industry giants are setting new benchmarks in AI computing with the unveiling of next-generation GPUs poised to usher in the next wave of AI advancements. With global demand for AI technologies surging, these tech trailblazers remain at the forefront, driving innovations that will shape the future.
Also read: 9 powerful quotes from successful leaders to kickstart 2025
Morris Chang, founder, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
Above Morris Chang, founder, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
Morris Chang, founder, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
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After being passed over for a promotion as the top executive in Texas Instruments, Morris Chang returned to Taiwan to modernise its tech industry. In 1987, he founded TSMC and then grew the Hsinchu-based company into the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer. Today, TSMC produces cutting-edge chips for industry leaders such as Nvidia, AMD, Apple and many others.
Under the leadership of Chang and new CEO CC Wei, TSMC experienced a 5.7-per cent surge in its stock price during the first week of 2025, reflecting the growing global demand for AI chips. The company continues to expand its capabilities with strategic investments in advanced manufacturing facilities. Notable projects include a chip fabrication plant in Arizona, US, a semiconductor wafer facility in Dresden, Germany, and a chip fabrication plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Further strengthening its footprint in Japan, TSMC plans to establish another factory this year, aiming to commence operations by 2027.
Lisa Su, CEO, AMD
Above Lisa Su, CEO, AMD
Lisa Su, CEO, AMD
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Known for her exceptional leadership and technical expertise, Lisa Su has been instrumental in propelling AMD to global prominence, especially in high-performance computing and AI. Taking the helm in 2014, the CEO inherited a struggling company and then orchestrated a remarkable turnaround, which has helped AMD not only regain its competitive edge but also emerge as a leader in semiconductor innovation. The company’s EPYC server processors and Radeon GPUs are now widely recognised for their ability to accelerate AI workloads, from data centres to machine learning applications.
At CES 2025, AMD unveiled its new Ryzen AI Max Series processors that promise increased power and performance for AI PCs, along with more Ryzen processors for gaming and everyday productivity. The company stated that the next generation of AI-enabled processors will expand AI capabilities to even more devices everywhere, delivering the power of a workstation to thin and light laptops.
Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO, Nvidia
Above Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO, Nvidia
Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO, Nvidia
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In his keynote speech at CES 2025, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang illustrated how “AI has been advancing at an incredible pace”, tracing its evolution from perception AI (understanding images, words, sounds) to generative AI and agentic AI (perceiving and reasoning), and then physical AI.
Later in his 90-minute presentation, he unveiled Nvidia’s Cosmos platform, which advances physical AI by providing models and data processing pipelines for robots, self-driving vehicles and vision AI. Cosmos, in short, enables systems to perceive, reason, plan and act in the physical world, which will help companies train these technologies.
Huang also introduced Project Digits, a personal AI supercomputer powered by the Grace Blackwell Superchip, bringing high-performance AI capabilities to developer desktops (it offers a petaflop of AI computing performance for prototyping, fine-tuning and running large AI models). “AI will be mainstream in every application for every industry. With Project Digits, the Grace Blackwell Superchip comes to millions of developers,” said Huang. “Placing an AI supercomputer on the desks of every data scientist, AI researcher and student empowers them to engage and shape the age of AI.”
Tatler Asia’s Most Influential is the definitive list of people shaping our world today. Asia’s Most Influential brings together the region's most innovative changemakers, industry titans and thought leaders who are driving positive impact in Asia and beyond. View the full list here.
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