AMD CEO Lisa Su: ‘The racial divide has to be addressed’

Lisa Su, CEO of chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, said in an online talk yesterday that the events of the past week have been “extraordinarily disturbing” and that the racial divide and social inequity in the U.S. have to be addressed.

The remarks show that a Fortune 500 CEO and a leader of the tech industry believes that the unrest is highlighting a longstanding problem, that American society has to change, and that there’s an opportunity to do so now. She made the comments as part of an online conversation with Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, which puts on the CES tech trade show every year in Las Vegas. After Shapiro asked her what she thought of the past week’s events — which began with the death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis and spread across the country in the form of protests and riots — Su replied with candor.