Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the AMD conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will follow at that time. If anyone should require assistance during the conference, please press star then zero on your touchtone telephone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference to our host, Ms. Ruth Cotter. Ma'am, you may begin.
Thank you, operator. Thank you to everyone for joining us today. Participants on today's call are Rory Read, our former President and Chief Executive Officer, and Lisa Su, our newly appointed President and Chief Executive Officer. This is a live call. It will be replayed via webcast on amd.com. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements based on the environment as we currently see it. Those statements are based on current beliefs, assumptions, and expectations, speak only as of the current date. As such, they involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Please refer to the cautionary statements in today's press release for more information.
You'll also find detailed discussions about our risk factors in our filings with the SEC. In particular, AMD's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 28th, 2014. We will report our full third quarter 2014 results after markets close on Thursday, October 16th, 2014. We will hold a conference call for the financial community, which will also be webcast at that time. I'd like to remind everyone that the purpose of today's call is to discuss our leadership change. We will not be discussing our third quarter financial results or associated business or market environment items today. With that, I'd like to hand the call over to Rory. Rory?
Thank you, Ruth. When I started my journey at AMD more than three years ago, the company needed to strengthen and improve on a number of fronts. I came with a clear job to do. This included ensuring that we had the right strategy and business model to deliver consistent financial results and drive our leadership IP into new growth markets. We developed a three-step strategy to transform AMD. We successfully completed the first two steps. We are now in the third phase, transformation. Together, the team has realigned and reestablished our core goals to better serve our customers and position AMD for future success in a competitive industry. We have significantly bolstered our financial position and performance. By restructuring our debt and maintaining our cash position, we have also strengthened the balance sheet.
We have also set a decisive strategic course for the company based on diversifying into new markets, where our leadership graphics and ambidextrous compute IP provide a competitive advantage. I am proud to have led AMD through such an important chapter of its history and believe the company is in a strong position to win moving forward. One of my other clear mandates when I joined AMD was to help develop a successor who possessed the vision, the leadership skills, and semiconductor expertise required to keep AMD on the right track. The culmination of that process is what we're announcing today, the appointment of Lisa Su as AMD's new President and Chief Executive Officer. Lisa is a proven leader with a respected record of driving growth and transformation at AMD.
Since joining AMD, she has held key roles such as the head of all of AMD's business units and most recently as Chief Operating Officer. Now is the right time for her to take the reins and continue driving AMD forward. I have no doubt that Lisa is the right leader for what lies ahead during this important time for the company, where the emphasis will be on creating winning products across a broader set of markets. I will remain an advisor to Lisa and the company through the end of the year to ensure a seamless transition for all of our internal and external stakeholders. I want to thank all of you for your support and advice during the past three years. Particularly, I want to thank all of the colleagues at AMD for their commitment and focus.
It is because of their tireless efforts and dedication that AMD is positioned for future success. It has been a true honor and privilege to be part of the AMD team. With that, I'd like to hand the call over to AMD's President and Chief Executive Officer, Lisa Su. Lisa?
Thank you, Rory. Good afternoon to all those listening in today. On behalf of the board and all AMDers, let me begin by thanking Rory for his leadership, passion, and all that he has done during the last three years to build a stronger AMD. We have outlined a clear strategy, we have built a stronger business model, and we have improved our execution. Rory has made a significant difference in all of those, and we are a better company because of his leadership. On a personal note, I will always be thankful for his friendship and the role he played in bringing me to AMD. Thank you, Rory. Today is a very exciting day for me. It is truly a great honor for me to lead AMD at this important time in our transformation, and I'm thankful to Rory and our board of directors for this opportunity.
I joined AMD because I believed that it was one of the few companies in our industry with the technology assets, the talent, and the market position to really lead the industry forward. After almost three years here, I can say for sure my conviction has only grown stronger. At our core, we are a technology and a product company, and we've had a very strong heritage of innovation. The foundation of our success has always been grounded in delivering great products. From setting the industry standard for 64-bit x86 processing, to pushing the limits of visual computing, to creating the first APU. What does the transformation of AMD really mean to me? The transformation of AMD is really about taking all of those technology assets, that leadership IP, the products that we have, and really applying them to the most important and challenging applications of the future.
This is really how we create shareholder value and build a strong and sustainable business foundation. What we see in front of us is a really exciting industry. Over the next five years, there will be more than 50 billion interconnected devices that will need increased computing and visualization capabilities, and the majority of these will be either ARM or x86 based and will need very high-performance graphics capability. We have those unique capabilities to integrate compute performance, graphics leadership, SoC design, system and software knowledge to build great products for these next-generation applications. This is why I'm so excited about our opportunity going forward. My key priorities as I start this role will be centered on several themes. First and foremost, we are here to build great products. These are enabled through our investments in differentiated IP, coupled with our design, integration, and system capabilities.
Mark Papermaster and his team have really established good momentum in this area, and this will continue to be our highest priority for the company. We will also drive deeper and more strategic relationships with key market leaders. We have proven with the game console ramp that we can be a trusted supplier to key market makers. I truly believe that this model of co-development and deep partnerships will only become more important in the future, and we will expand our efforts in this area to be a better and stronger partner for our customers. Lastly, as we continue our transformation, we will simplify the company and sharpen our focus. An example of that simplification happened several months ago when we separated the AMD business into two business groups around the computing and graphics business and the enterprise, embedded, and semi-custom business.
This separation enables us to really optimize each business for the unique market conditions, customer requirements, and really product cadence. In the coming quarters, we will continue to simplify the business and speed our execution across the company. In closing, I'm extremely excited with this opportunity. I strongly believe that we have tremendous technology assets, great talent, and strong resolve to become a great company. We won't transform AMD overnight. It will surely take time. However, we do have a strong strategy and a clear path. The next few years will be very exciting for the industry and for AMD. I am very much looking forward to the journey. Thank you for joining us today. With that, let's turn the call back over to Ruth so we can open it up for Q&A.
Thank you, Lisa. Operator, we'd be happy for you to poll the audience for questions now, please.
Certainly. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question at this time, please press the star, then the one key on your touch tone telephone. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing the pound key. Again, to ask a question at this time, please press star, then one on your touch tone telephone. Our first question comes from Matthew Ramsay of Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you very much for taking my questions. Lisa, congratulations on your new role. I guess it's an interesting dichotomy that you guys have as a business right now during this transition period. The revenue is still, give or take, roughly 60% exposed to the PC space, while you're trying to invest in the five new focus areas. Maybe, Lisa, you could talk a little bit about, as you take over as leader of the company, if there's any change in the strategy of emphasis of R&D, then within the five growth areas that you guys have lined out, is there more or less focus on any of those growth areas or things that you're more excited about as you take over? Thanks.
Great, Matt. Thanks for your question and thanks for joining today. I am very excited about the opportunity we have in front of us. I think we've made strong progress over the past couple of years in building that foundation and improving our business model. I do think going forward, it is all about the technology and how we're able to accelerate the technology. Relative to the growth areas, we are very much along the path, as we've said, of diversifying our business. The PC business is an important one to us, but it's also extremely critical that we grow in the enterprise, embedded, and semi-custom space. When we look over the next couple of years, our investments will pivot to those new markets and continue to focus on developing the leadership IP to do that. Very much continuity for our strategy and also continuing to execute the technology.
Just as a follow-up, it was interesting that when you laid out your priorities as you took over, the first one was build great products. The third focus area that you mentioned was sharpened focus, and to me, that speaks to controlling operating costs of the business. Maybe you could talk about, and I know that Rory and his team have laid out some goals for keeping OpEx in that $420 million-$450 million range. As you take over and start to prioritize your investments for products, how do you see costs trending in the long term versus the targets that were set out there prior? Thanks.
Sure, Matt. We will talk more about some of the financial metrics as we go into the third quarter earnings call next week. I will say that the two items that you mentioned are very much linked. It is about the technology. It is about building differentiated and leadership IP. We also do very much focus on, and my focus will be on ensuring that both businesses are profitable. That's a key metric that we've laid out. It's a very important metric for us going forward. We'll continue to sharpen that as we go through the next couple of quarters and the next couple of years.
It's an interesting one, Matt. As you identified the point about great products, as the board and I looked at this succession plan, and we look at it every year and at every board meeting. We looked at Lisa and developed her over the past three years. As we move into the transformation phase, Matt, it really is about delivering the next set of leadership IP and then putting it into great products. Lisa is the right person to lead that transformation. She's got a deep semiconductor background. She's been in the industry forever. She's been here for the past three years running the business unit, driving as COO. This is the right person to take that next step, and it's really that right move at this time.
Thank you very much for taking my questions, Rory. Best of luck, and Lisa, congrats again.
Thanks so much, Matt.
Thanks, Matt.
Our next question comes from JoAnne Feeney of ABR Investment Strategy. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks, and again, congrats, Lisa, and best wishes, Rory. I just had a follow-up question on the roadmap side and the strategy you see going forward, Lisa. Obviously, in trying to control costs, one of the things will be most critically investments in future roadmaps. I'm wondering if you see perhaps, given the priorities for the company and shifting into embedded and perhaps Internet of Things, that the ARM-based roadmap might be a more productive way to go rather than to continue to try to invest to stay at the forefront of x86. Can you make any comments in that regard?
Sure, JoAnne. Thank you for your question and thanks for joining today. I will say that it is very much about choosing the right product investments. We're in an industry where you actually make a bet, and you'll see the results of it three, four, five years out. Relative to where our strategy is going and where my priorities are, I do very much believe that diversifying our business is critical. I think we have tremendous technology, and as we apply it over broader markets, that will be a strong business model for us to deliver. I do believe, though, x86 and ARM will absolutely coexist and be important as we go forward. From that standpoint, as much as we are investing in leading-edge ARM capability, we will also continue to invest in X86 for our core markets.
Okay, perhaps I missed this. Thank you for that answer, Lisa. Perhaps I missed this. Is anyone stepping into the role of COO at this point?
Yes, let me answer that. We are not replacing the COO role, That was really an opportunity for us to streamline some of the business operations, We will simplify the organization, My current COO reports will report to me as CEO.
Okay. That's good to hear. Last question, I'm wondering if we should read anything into this regarding progress on your semi-custom efforts for the back half of the year that you guys have talked about in the past.
Yes, JoAnne. We have made some comments about our plans for the semi-custom business. I will update that at our next earnings call.
Fair enough. Okay, thanks for taking my questions.
Thank you, JoAnne.
Our next question comes from David Wong of Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Lisa, you've said that the strategy is pretty much as has been laid out already. Are there any sort of changes in emphasis at all? Are there any activities that you might scale back on or reduce investment in? Conversely, are there any things that are going forward AMD is going to step up on and increase investment?
Thanks, David. Nice to talk to you always. On day one I will say that the strategy is sound, and we are very much going to focus on the diversification we talked about. I think you will see some adjustments as we go forward, and that's really in the realm of the technology priorities. As Rory talked about in our three-step turnaround, the first two phases were really about resetting and restructuring the company and getting a sounder financial foundation. I think the third stage is about the technology and making the right technology investments. We have a very strong team that we've recruited over the past couple of years. I'm very much looking forward to really focusing on those key technology bets as we go forward.
Great. Thanks.
Our next question comes from Ian Ing of MKM Partners. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thanks. Congratulations, Lisa. I think it's unfair to ask what products are going to change at this point, but as you reflect on the past 2 years, do you think there's any changes in terms of how you're evaluating the ongoing projects and investments, perhaps looking at the investment hurdles, time to market, evaluation criteria, anything that might change along those lines?
Thanks, Ian, for the question. I would say that, again, when we look at what we've been doing over the past couple of years, we are pretty proud of what we've done. It's a strong foundation that we've built. We've really started the diversification of the business. We are very much focused on ensuring that we're making the right technology bets going forward. I think it's a little bit early to say in terms of exactly what will change in the roadmap. I will say that we have some long-term investments that we've started with Mark Papermaster and the team that he's brought in, and those investments are absolutely critical around CPU cores, around leading edge graphics IP, around the integration capabilities that we have. Really what we're going to do is evaluate the highest impact products as we go forward.
Thanks. As a follow-up, do you have a sense of the relative investment levels available to you going forward and opportunities for acquisitions? Did you have any agreements with the board before you took the position along those lines?
I think we will talk more about the long-term financial performance as we go forward over the next couple of months and couple of quarters. I think the important thing is some of the fundamentals and basics that we've laid out are very critical, and it is about ensuring profitability and ensuring that we have a strong track record of improved performance going forward.
Great. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Vivek Arya from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hi. This is Shankar on behalf of Vivek. I just want to touch upon the micro server and the product strategy so far. In first half of 2014, the micro server grew, almost doubled. As you look at the second half and then 2015 and beyond, what would be the change in strategy that you would think about growing the business faster than what you have in the past?
Thanks, Shankar. Again, to talk a little bit about the micro server business, it is an area that we have been investing in, both on the chip side with our ARM-based servers as well as on the system side with our SeaMicro business. I think this is a new market, and it is a market that we believe will be very important as we go out over the next three or four years, but it does take some time for it to develop. You've seen some recent announcements around ARM from us and from some of our competitors as well as our partners. I think you'll see more of that over the next couple of quarters as these products come into production and the ecosystem is enabled.
Just as a follow-up, do we expect the significant revenue still come around 2016 timeframe, or do we expect 2015 to be a meaningful driver from these product launches?
Yeah, I'd really like to cover that as we go through more of the financial results when we go into the earnings conference call. I think here we wanted to focus more on the leadership change.
All right. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Ian King from Bloomberg News. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks very much for the opportunity here. I wonder if we could just address the issue of timing of this announcement, please. Rory, you don't seem like somebody who backs down from a challenge, going forward, AMD is going to continue to have operating challenges that are going to need to be addressed. Lisa, setting the direction for the company in terms of its product roadmap, why does that need the CEO role to do that? These are all kind of questions that I'm sort of fielding right now, and I wonder if you could address the why now aspect a little bit more detailed for us, please.
Yeah, no problem. Ian, I do love a challenge, I think we've had a very interesting challenge here in AMD. This is a 45-year-old company with a history of kind of mixed results. We embarked as a leadership team, Lisa, myself, Mark Papermaster. We put together a real team that was focused on changing and creating a different AMD. The part that I'm good at, I've already done that part, I've been working on that part, I think Lisa is uniquely positioned for the third phase. It is about product. When the board and I look at succession planning, that is a key component of my role. We hired Lisa, we developed Lisa, we saw her grow and be positioned and ready to take this to the next level.
I look at it as a natural move here at this time because that phase around transformation is about the next generation IP, the next generation cores, the leadership graphics, that's Lisa's background. She's a semiconductor professional. She loves this space. She knows this space. With Mark Papermaster, Jim Keller, the leaders that we've brought in across the team, Raja Koduri, they're going to take this to that next step. The board and I felt this was the right time, we felt this was the right place, Lisa is the right leader.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Richard Doherty of Envisioneering. Please go ahead.
Lisa, congratulations. It seems to me that AMD's processor cores market reach have grown more under you, Rory, and Mark in three years than the previous two decades.
Could you please share some color for your aspirations about how you envisage emerging markets, smart embedded, expanding your solutions catalog, and reach?
Rick, thank you. Thanks for the comments. I really am very excited about the opportunity we have in front of us. If you put it all together, I think over the next three to five years, there's going to be tremendous change in the semiconductor industry. We really have an opportunity to lead in this space, and what I'm most excited about is the fact that we do have all of this leadership IP and technology assets that we can bring into different markets. You know I'm very passionate about embedded. I continue to believe that that's a strong growth market for us, as well as our semi-custom and enterprise business, as well as ensuring that as the traditional PC business changes and morphs over the next couple of years, that we are similarly inspiring innovation in that area.
I think without a doubt, the technology is critical. The business model is critical. I think ensuring that we are returning strong shareholder value are all things that are very important to me.
Great. Thank you. Excelsior.
Thanks, Rick.
Our next question comes from Rick Merritt of EE Times. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking my question, and congratulations, Lisa. I wanted to follow up the why now question. Three years is a pretty short tenure for a CEO of a semiconductor company. I understand the rationale that Rory outlined, but it seems like we might be missing something. Was there a disagreement about what products are going to be rationalized or other moves ahead?
No, absolutely not. We have laid out this strategy over three years. We've aligned the management team. We've aligned with the board. This is a cohesive, united effort. We do it from the employees in terms of how we communicate it, make sure that every person across the company is driving to that singular goal through the management team, up through the board, across our executive team. We saw this, we analyzed the data. We saw Lisa take on the roles of the business units. We saw how our business was beginning to diversify and making good progress in semi-custom and across the portfolio. We saw other leaders on the team beginning to emerge and grow forward. This is a normal and natural time for this because Lisa's ready, and this is the right step in the transformation for her to lead forward.
Rick, if I could just add to that. Again, as Rory said, there were really no disagreements on anything at this point. Rory and I have been very aligned. He's been a great friend, a great mentor, and we've built this strategy together. I think it's all about this is a three-step transformation. It is one that will take some time. We've done the first two steps. There was a lot of focus on some of the financial metrics and some of the work that we did on debt profiling, all very important. I think the next couple of years, three to five years, we're going to do very interesting things, and they're more around the innovation and how we choose those technology bets. Very clearly, there are no disagreements on any of those decisions.
We all feel very good about this. We really do. We see this as the right time, the right place, and we're really making good progress. This is the next step. She's ready, and it's the right time.
Well, just to follow up, if I may, for Lisa Su. Can you give any more color on what you mean by further simplification? Does that mean layoffs? When you talk about core IP, certainly the 64-bit custom ARM core you're doing and not so sure are big. Are there other technical technology or IP aspects you can give some color on?
Sure, Rick Merritt. On my comment about further simplification. We really saw an opportunity to simplify how we go to market with customers. When we looked at our traditional PC business, the microprocessor side, and the traditional graphics business, we were approaching the same customers, the same large OEMs, the approach to the channel, I really saw an opportunity to simplify how we go to market. It used to be that that computing and graphics business was 95% of AMD. It was the company. As we're now diversifying into new markets, it's an opportunity for us to really optimize for the different product cadence and the different customer set and the different market dynamics. Simplification is really around getting the businesses to really focus on the markets and the customers and the right products.
It's also an opportunity for us to streamline our own business operations.
Any more color on the technology targets ahead?
Well, I think you mentioned a few that we have been investing in. The ARM products are quite important to us, as well as the x86 roadmap. I'm sure we'll be talking about that much more in the coming quarters.
All right. Thanks, and congrats again.
Thank you, Rick.
Our next question comes from Nathan Brookwood of Insight64. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thanks for taking my question, and let me echo the congratulations that the other callers have lauded on you, Lisa. I can't think of anybody who deserves it more. My question involves any replacements for you, not so much in your role as COO, you made that pretty clear. Basically, when you announced the reorg in June, you indicated you would be looking for somebody to head up the enterprise embedded and semi-custom business.
You've been in that role as an acting manager. Now that you're going to be CEO, I imagine the demands on your time will be even greater. Are you going to be stepping up the search for that? When should we expect to see a replacement for you in that role?
Thank you, Nathan, for the kind words. I really appreciate it, and really appreciate all the partnership with you and your team. I think relative to the leadership team, we have a strong leadership team in place. Certainly, the enterprise embedded in semi-custom business is very near and dear to my heart. It's something that I believe is a strong growth driver for the company. We have been actively talking to people about that role over the last several months, and you should see a person named shortly.
Very good. I'm sure you probably want to get that position filled as much as everybody else.
That's true
congratulations.
Thanks, Nathan.
Our next question comes from Christopher Rolland from FBR Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Congratulations, Lisa. We've always been huge fans of yours, and we're looking forward to some great things here. First, I guess, I'm curious on your financial philosophy, just personally here. How do you feel about leverage? Are you strongly geared to paying that down? Or are you thinking more about ongoing investments in the current business? Just broad-based here. Then do you think you're a little bit more top-line focused or a little bit more focused on margins? How do we think about your own personal philosophy for running a business?
Yes, Chris, thanks for the comments and thanks for the question. There will be a lot of time for us to spend on my personal financial philosophy, what we're trying to do with the company, where we'd like to take the company over the next couple of years. I really prefer to defer that to. We'll start with that conversation at our third-quarter earnings call, and then much more to come in the coming couple of quarters. For today, we'll focus on the leadership announcement, and look forward to talking to you more about where we take the company.
Okay. Sure. What do you view as the lowest hanging fruit for change at AMD? What are some of the perhaps easier fixes that you see out there over the next, call it one to two years?
Well, it's fair to say that I've been an active member of the leadership team for the last couple of years, we've been working on quite a few, I don't know if I would call them low-hanging fruit, but I would call them certainly opportunities. Look, on the serious note, I do believe that there's a lot of opportunity to improve this business. I think it does start with great technology and great products. I've talked about what we would like to do with more strategic customer relationships. I like that because it builds a much stickier business and a more predictable business. I also want to simplify the company. I think we have great people, great engineers, and we need to make it easier for us to speed the products to market and speed the go-to market as well.
We'll talk more about this as I talk about where we're going over the next couple of quarters. There's definitely opportunities. This is a multi-year transformation, but one where we have a clear view of where we need to go.
Great, congrats again.
Thanks, Chris.
Operator, we'd like to take two more callers, please.
Certainly. Our next question comes from John Pitzer from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good afternoon, guys. Thanks for letting me ask the question. Lisa Su, let me add my congratulations. Rory Read, best of luck on future endeavors. Hate to harp on this point, I'm getting asked a lot of questions by investors again, just on the timing of this announcement. You guys have earnings coming up in about eight days. It seems like you could have held off making this announcement until then. I'm just curious, not necessarily why now from sort of a bigger picture perspective, but why today and why not wait until after the earnings call or on the earnings call?
When the board and I worked on the succession plan, as I mentioned earlier, John Pitzer, we looked at it at the beginning of the year. We look at it in each board meeting. We've been working through that process as part of the natural evolution of the leadership structure. When we made the decision, we have a fiduciary responsibility to share that information, because it's material, we needed to do it. We made the decision this week, we decided to execute it and share it. That's the right thing to do.
That's helpful, Rory Read. Lisa Su, as a follow-up, you guys have spent a lot of time over the last couple of years talking about some of the architectural changes or architectural strategies of the company. I was hoping you could talk a little bit more on some of the manufacturing strategies, especially around new Moore's Law technologies, FinFET, foundry partners. How important will that be as CEO to kind of focus on over the next one to three years?
Thanks, John Pitzer. Well, clearly the technology is very important. I think the fact that we are fabless, we have two technology partners with GlobalFoundries and TSMC. It is very important for our leadership to be on leading-edge technology nodes. We are very much investing in the key IP to put on FinFET technology, we'll continue to do that. Overall, I would say our technology foundation is strong. As I said earlier, Mark Papermaster and his team have done a great job building that foundation. We will continue to invest and prioritize that as we go forward.
Thanks, guys.
Thanks, John.
Our final question comes from Betsy Van Hees from Wedbush Securities. Please go ahead.
Thanks so much for taking my call, and congratulations, Lisa, on the promotion. That's fantastic news. Rory, also, best of luck to you in your future endeavors. I really hate to do this as well, and I'm going to follow up on John's question. I think the problem that we're really struggling with here in terms of the timing of the announcement, and I understand the fiduciary responsibility, is that in the 8-K filing, both of you are determining your compensation packages. It seems as if such a huge decision being made, that this would have all been laid out, and I think that's what we're just really struggling with, is that it just seems sudden given the 8-K filing, and not having those compensation packages.
Then, of course, you do have earnings next week, and you could lay out everything for us in a nice, succinct package. I think that's just really what is really hitting investors and I'm getting pinged on and we're all getting pinged on. I know I'm the final question.
Yeah, no problem, Betsy. When you think about it and you think about the things that I bring to the table and the kind of work I've done in the past, the transformation, the cultural work, the execution, those are the parts of step 1 and 2. Step 3 is about products, semiconductors. We've been working on those. We hired really great people. We grew those people. They're ready to take that next step. We've worked on the succession plans from the day that we began to work on this. We talked about the opportunities, Lisa, the first day we met, and how we could grow the company, how we could work this together, and the opportunities for each of us to take on bigger and more important roles. I think that's where we're working through this.
This is well-planned, well understood, we worked through the natural succession process, I think it really makes sense.
I think that we all agree that it makes sense. There's no question. Lisa is a phenomenal individual, and you did an amazing job from an operational prospect. Look at AMD is back in the black. You've done a great job in that area. It definitely makes sense. As I said, I just think that we're just all struggling with the timing and the fact that the 8-K filing came out, and that the packages weren't negotiated, and that you do have earnings next week. I know that's just causing us the unease, I do think that we all clearly see this as an excellent transition plan that you guys had put in place, I just think it's this timing that we just continue to be struggling with.
We understand what you're saying, but I just think that's what we're all having a hard time with.
Yeah, no worries. Betsy, I really appreciate the warm comments and the work that we've done. I'm proud to have led AMD through this unique period and challenging period. I think we made a lot of progress. I think the strategy's spot on. I think we've identified and rebalanced the organization. We've really focused in terms of the balance sheet. I think we've clearly laid out how to execute and to create a different AMD with that diverse portfolio and leadership IP. If you look at it, this is Lisa's time, and this is the right time for her to lead this company forward.
Well, congratulations to both of you.
Thank you, Betsy.
Thanks, Betsy.
Thank you, operator. That concludes today's call. If you could wrap it up, we'd appreciate it, and we look forward to talking to everyone next week on the earnings call.
Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. Thank you for your attendance.