Semiconductor engineer, Dr Lisa Su, takes over from financial engineer as CEO of AMD

Dr Lisa Su takes over from Rory Read as president and CEO at Advanced Micro Devices

Lisa Su has been appointed the new CEO and president of semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices, replacing Rory Read who has spent the last three years at the helm of the company.

Su only joined AMD in January 2012 as senior vice president and general manager of global business units, having come from Freescale Semiconductor where she was in charge of networking and multimedia.

Prior to Freescale, which she joined in 2007, Su had spent 13 years at IBM, first in various engineering positions but later in a number of business roles. These include vice president of IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center. She has also worked at Texas Instruments.

It's not clear why the company decided to push Read aside in favour of Su, although with the PC market moribund and rival Intel enjoying a commanding and growing lead in servers, AMD has become increasingly reliant on sales of its products in games consoles.

AMD, however, put a positive spin on the transition.

"Leadership succession planning has been a joint effort between Rory and the board and we felt that Lisa's expertise and proven leadership in the global semiconductor industry make this an ideal time for her to lead the company," said Bruce Claflin, chairman of AMD's board of directors, adding that Read will stay at the company in an advisory position until the end of the year.

Under Read, AMD continued its transition from manufacturer to designer, with the company listing his achievements largely in terms of financial rather than technical terms.

"Since 2012, AMD has reduced operating expenditures by approximately 30 per cent and maintained cash at near an optimal level of $1bn. AMD also improved its balance sheet by re-profiling its debt with no significant debt coming due until 2019," claimed the company.