AMD CEO Lisa Su Tells MIT Grads to Run Toward Hard Problems

When Lisa Su walked into her first MIT engineering classes in 1986, she quickly realized being "pretty good at math" in Queens didn't mean much at one of the world's toughest schools. Two weeks into her freshman year, staring at impossibly hard problem sets, she discovered something more valuable than being the smartest person in the room: the confidence that even when you don't know the answer yet, you can figure it out.

That lesson carried Su all the way to the CEO's office at AMD. Speaking to MIT's Class of 2026 at their commencement ceremony, the chip industry pioneer shared the single piece of advice that shaped her career: run toward the hardest problems.

Su fell in love with semiconductors during her first undergraduate research project, learning to build devices on tiny wafers in a clean room. Most experiments failed, so the team adjusted and tried again. For the first time, she wasn't just learning about technology in a classroom but discovering something new alongside a team.

After earning her PhD at MIT, Su joined IBM at 25, wondering how she could possibly make a difference at a company with hundreds of thousands of employees. A mentor gave her advice she never forgot: engineering doesn't care how old you are, only whether your ideas work.

Twelve years ago, Su put that philosophy to the ultimate test. When offered the chance to lead AMD as CEO, some mentors warned her the struggling company was too risky. But Su saw her dream job: the chance to work on bleeding edge technology that really mattered.

Why This Inspires

Su's message flips conventional career wisdom on its head. Instead of seeking easy wins or safe bets, she built her success by deliberately choosing the challenges that scared her most. At MIT, hard problem sets taught her she could think deeper than she imagined. At IBM, impossible projects proved her ideas could work regardless of her age. At AMD, rescuing a troubled company showed her what she'd been training for all along.

The throughline in Su's journey isn't genius or luck. It's the willingness to attempt things that might not work, adjust when experiments fail, and keep building until something clicks. That's the real meaning behind MIT's motto "mens et manus" (mind and hand): thinking deeply matters, but so does testing ideas in the real world.

Her path from a 17-year-old immigrant kid in a dorm room to leading one of the world's most important tech companies proves that the hardest problems don't just teach you what you're capable of. They reveal capacities you didn't know you had.

For thousands of graduates facing an uncertain future, Su offered something better than empty encouragement: a proven strategy for growth that starts with a single choice to run toward what scares you most.