AMD takes hybrid approach to engineering the cloud’s future
“The
bulk
of
computations
happen
from
our
large
data
centers
in
the
US
—
one
in
Atlanta
and
the
rest
sprinkled
around
the
world,”
he
says,
adding
that
54%
of
AMD’s
server
fleet
is
less
than
two
years
old.
“We
are
very
current.
“The
bulk
of
computations
happen
from
our
large
data
centers
in
the
US
—
one
in
Atlanta
and
the
rest
sprinkled
around
the
world,”
he
says,
adding
that
54%
of
AMD’s
server
fleet
is
less
than
two
years
old.
“We
are
very
current.
That
enables
not
only
very
efficient
computing
but
that’s
a
sweet
spot
for
sustainability
as
well.”
The
value
of
AI
As
for
business,
the
semiconductor
industry
has
been
on
a
roller
coaster
ride
of
supply
and
demand
over
the
past
decade.
Most
recently,
the
pandemic
slowed
the
supply
of
materials,
which
in
turn
slowed
the
manufacturing
process
and
led
to
a
significant
chip
shortage.
That
shortage
has
abated
as
of
late
(except
in
automotive
industry)
as
possible
recession
has
slowed
demand
for
consumer
devices,
PCs,
and
servers,
Ranjan
says.
But
what
has
kept
demand
strong
for
companies
such
as
AMD,
Intel,
and
Nvidia
is
the
ongoing
growth
of
cloud
hypervisors
and,
more
recently,
increasing
desire
for
machine
learning
models
and
platforms
such
as
ChatGPT.
Ranjan’s
designers
are
also
big
consumers
of
AI
and
those
tools
are
steadily
becoming
integrated
into
AMD’s
design
process.
In
addition
to
highly
specialized
EDA
tools
from
Cadence,
Synopsis,
and
Siemens,
the
semiconductor
workflow
requires
source
code
management
systems
and
increasingly,
AI.
“We
are
trying
to
supplement
that
environment
with
new
AI
technologies
and
tools
that
are
available,”
he
says.
“They
are
in
different
stages
of
deployment
and
some
are
developed
internally
and
some
partner
with
different
AI
vendors.”
Rising
to
the
occasion
While
Ranjan’s
relationship
with
the
cloud
may
be
atypical,
his
core
job
is
the
same
as
CIOs
at
all
enterprises,
he
says:
aligning
IT
investment
with
the
business
needs
and
goals
of
the
organization
at
large.
To
do
so,
Ranjan
believes
CIOs
needs
to
be
a
half
step
ahead
of
the
business
side
in
order
to
scale
and
support
the
company’s
evolving
directives
and
to
provide
the
infrastructure
needed
by
the
various
constituencies
of
their
companies,
both
business
and
technical.
It’s
a
balancing
act,
but
the
role
of
the
CIO
in
the
C-suite
has
evolved
in
step
with
the
industry’s
overall
digital
transformation.
The
IT
department
is
not
just
a
cost
center
anymore;
quite
the
contrary,
he
says.
“The
dream
is
that
you
create
value
for
your
company
and
you
are
aligned
with
your
company’s
business,”
Ranjan
says.
“The
first
thing
I
look
for
is
whether
the
solutions
that
I’m
creating
are
100%
aligned
with
the
changing
business
needs
of
the
company.
I
aspire
to
be
in
that
mode
on
a
daily
basis.”
About Author
