Over the past three years, artificial intelligence has transformed the semiconductor industry, creating new competitive dynamics and restructuring skills requirements. AMD, an American technology company, attributes the transformation from perceived vulnerable to key AI and semiconductor competitors to its approach to talent development.
“As we are perceived as a vulnerable person in the high-tech semiconductor and AI space, we have quickly climbed the ranks to compete with the top players in the industry,” said Fathima Farouk, Head of Asia-Pacific HR Business at AMD. The company has been praised for its transformation for its approach to developing leadership talent, along with expanding business footprint and market performance.
Planning a few years from now
Rather than waiting for market forces to decide on investment, AMD has taken a proactive approach to leadership development. The company treats talent development as a foundation and uses structured talent management exercises and the organization's HR planning process to consistently assess and nurture leadership potential.
Unlike traditional performance management systems focusing on achievement checklists, AMD emphasizes evaluating leadership capabilities among top talent. Chipmakers are looking for leaders who combine deep engineering expertise with strong leadership skills.
Once high potential leaders are identified, AMD develops them through personalized coaching sessions with external experts, curated training programs, and enrollment in courses at global administrative institutions. This development begins three to four years before the roles become available and ensures a ready-made talent pipeline.
“The deep integration of this HR with core business goals is what sets leadership development apart. It's a deep, intentional, positive way of thinking, not responsive,” says Farouk.
AMD's HR team maintains full visibility into business strategy, engineering priorities, potential technology disruptions, and growth plans. This insight allows HR experts to predict needs, build functionality ahead of time, and create what Farouk calls “off-the-fly” leaders for complex projects.
Differentiation pathway
The company has created a clear development path for early career employees and high potential mid-career professionals. For young professionals, AMD is aware that it focuses on flexibility and accessibility and prefers mobile and online learning.
The company offers a combination of classroom programs, gaming online modules, and certifications. This approach allows early career talent to integrate learning into everyday life, exploring different aspects of business through rotational tasks and interdisciplinary projects.
AMD's learning ecosystem provides exposure to semiconductor technology, AI fundamentals, and practical engineering skills, creating the foundation for future leadership tracks.
For high potential employees, the development journey becomes more customized and intensive. The focus will begin with a strategic discussion of whether long-term career goals and whether they can be met within AMD as they move to individual career conversations, leadership coaching, and mentorship.
The development programme combines leadership skills building with technical skills, including external courses from the management institution and coaching due to psychometrics and 360-degree assessments. Mentorship Pairs Emerging Leaders pairs with veteran executives provide insights from real-world experiences, including failures and lessons learned.
Employee empowerment
AMD's learning philosophy focuses on empowerment, personalization and preparation for the future. One critical aspect is the freedom that the company offers employees to direct their own learning journeys, reflected in the Higher Education Support Policy.
This policy embodies trust and freedom. Employees choose programs with guidance to ensure business alignment. AMD offers access to multiple online learning platforms, from technical courses to management and leadership development.
“Whether employees want to expand their skills with AI, delve deep into semiconductors and explore advanced gaming technology, AMD supports their ambitions through full or partial funding.
Additionally, the company partners with a global coaching organization to provide personalized executive coaching through an employee-driven coach selection process, providing custom development support for months.
Addressing skills gaps
AMD reframes skills gaps as an opportunity for continuous upskills. The company simultaneously develops a talent and technology roadmap, with leadership identifying the availability and preparation of talent worldwide, with a focus on the Indian tech talent ecosystem.
Local managers will actively assess project preparation and training needs and trigger targeted upskill initiatives that include professional technical training, soft skills development, and cross-functional experience.
“If managers recognize that their teams do not have exposure to a particular technical standard, programming language, or AI applications, they launch flags and targeted learning interventions,” says Farouk.
The company maintains an extensive internal knowledge repository featuring technical presentations by engineers and researchers on cutting-edge topics. These recorded sessions allow employees to deepen their expertise on demand, built around the company's business issues and product requirements.
Measuring success
The AMD framework works based on transparency and responsiveness through a systematic feedback loop. The company incorporates development conversations into the performance management cycle, with employees clarifying annual goals and managers tailoring these to business needs.
Post-training research is shared with leadership to capture employee satisfaction and enhancement suggestions and ensure accountability and continued improvement.
One of the highlights of AMD is the International Women's Leadership (IWILL) initiative, focusing on helping women engineers build confidence and chart leadership paths. “This is not just a development program, it's a cultural intervention,” Fallouk notes.
Female participants demonstrate greater career clarity, increased confidence, and improved tangible proficiency. According to AMD, promotion rates for female engineers have improved, but with the exception of individual life choices, the rate of attrition is close to zero.
Based on internal success, the company expanded its program beyond its barriers and partnered with engineering colleges in Bengaluru and Hyderabad to mentor 200-300 first and second year female engineering students.
“In partnership with engineering colleges in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, we are currently coaching over 200-300 female engineering students, encouraging people to not only get jobs and imagine a leadership journey in the core engineering domain,” Farouk says.
Competitive advantage
AMD's approach shows that technology companies are trying to turn talent development into a strategic advantage during rapid industry transformation. By embedding leadership development into business plans, distinguishing learning journeys, and enhancing personalized support for employees, the company has created what it describes as a resilient, future-ready workforce.
It remains to be seen whether this model can be replicated in the cultures and industries of various organizations. However, AMD's experience suggests that in rapidly evolving technical fields, investment in human capital development may be as important as technological innovations to remain competitive.
