Artificial intelligence has transformed the semiconductor industry over the past three years, creating new competitive dynamics and reshaping skill requirements. AMD, the American technology company, attributes its transformation from perceived underdog to major AI and semiconductor competitor largely to its approach to talent development.
“From being perceived as the underdog in the high-tech semiconductor and AI space, we have rapidly climbed the ranks to compete with the top players in the industry,” says Fathima Farouk, head of human resources business partnering for India and Asia-Pacific at AMD. The company credits this transformation to its approach to nurturing leadership talent, alongside its expanding business footprint and market performance.
Planning years ahead
Rather than waiting for market forces to dictate investment, AMD takes a proactive approach to leadership development. The company treats talent development as foundational, using structured talent-management exercises and organisational HR planning processes to consistently evaluate and nurture leadership potential.
Unlike traditional performance-management systems focused on achievement checklists, AMD emphasises evaluating leadership capabilities among its top talent. The chipmaker seeks leaders who combine deep engineering expertise with strong leadership skills.
Once high-potential leaders are identified, AMD nurtures them through personalised coaching sessions with external experts, curated training programmes, and enrolment in courses at global management institutes. This development begins three to four years before roles become available, ensuring a ready talent pipeline.
“This deep integration of HR with core business objectives is what sets our leadership development apart. It’s not reactive, but deeply intentional and forward thinking,” says Farouk.
AMD’s HR team maintains complete visibility into business strategy, engineering priorities, potential technology disruptions, and growth plans. This insight allows HR professionals to anticipate needs and build capabilities in advance, creating what Farouk calls “ready-made” leaders equipped for complex projects.
Differentiated pathways
The company has crafted distinct development paths for early-career employees and high-potential mid-career professionals. For young professionals, AMD focuses on flexibility and accessibility, recognising their preference for mobile and online learning.
The firm offers a mix of classroom programmes, gamified online modules, and certifications. This approach allows early-career talent to integrate learning into daily routines whilst exploring different business aspects through rotational assignments and interdisciplinary projects.
AMD’s learning ecosystem provides exposure to semiconductor technology, AI fundamentals, and practical engineering skills, creating a foundation for future leadership tracks.
For high-potential employees, the development journey becomes more customised and intensive. The focus shifts to individualised career conversations, leadership coaching, and mentorship, beginning with strategic discussions about long-term career goals and whether they can be fulfilled within AMD.
The development programmes blend technical upskilling with leadership skill building, including external courses from management institutes and coaching driven by psychometric and 360-degree assessments. Mentorship pairs emerging leaders with seasoned executives, offering insights from real-world experiences including failures and lessons learned.
Employee empowerment
AMD’s learning philosophy centres on empowerment, personalisation, and future readiness. One defining aspect is the freedom the company offers employees to direct their own learning journeys, reflected in its Higher Education Support Policy.
This policy embodies trust and freedom—employees select programmes with guidance to ensure business alignment. AMD provides access to multiple online learning platforms, from technical courses to management and leadership development.
“Whether employees want to upskill in AI, dive deeper into semiconductors, or explore advanced gaming technologies, AMD supports their ambition through full or partial funding. The focus is not on mandating a curriculum but on offering the flexibility to pursue meaningful, work-relevant learning opportunities,” explains Farouk.
Additionally, the company partners with global coaching organisations to offer personalised executive coaching through an employee-driven coach-selection process, providing bespoke developmental support over several months.
Addressing skill gaps
AMD reframes skill gaps as continuous upskilling opportunities. The company develops talent and technology roadmaps simultaneously, with leadership identifying talent availability and readiness globally, particularly focusing on India’s technology talent ecosystem.
Local managers actively assess project readiness and training needs, triggering targeted upskilling initiatives including specialised technical training, soft-skills development, or cross-functional experiences.
“If a manager recognises that their team lacks exposure to a specific technical standard, programming language, or AI application, they raise the flag, and targeted learning interventions are initiated,” says Farouk.
The firm maintains an extensive internal knowledge repository featuring technical presentations by engineers and researchers on cutting-edge topics. These recorded sessions enable employees to deepen expertise on demand, built around the company’s business problems and product requirements.
Measuring success
AMD’s framework operates on transparency and responsiveness through systematic feedback loops. The company embeds development conversations into performance-management cycles, with employees articulating annual goals and managers aligning these with business needs.
Post-training surveys capture employee satisfaction and enhancement suggestions, with feedback shared with leadership to ensure accountability and continuous refinement.
One programme AMD highlights is its International Women in Leadership (iWILL) initiative, which focuses on helping women engineers build confidence and chart leadership paths. “This is not just a development programme—it’s a cultural intervention,” notes Farouk.
Women participants show greater career clarity, increased confidence, and tangible upskilling progress. According to AMD, promotion rates among women engineers have improved whilst attrition rates have dropped to near zero, except for personal life choices.
Building on internal success, the company has extended the programme beyond its walls, partnering with engineering colleges in Bengaluru and Hyderabad to mentor 200-300 first- and second-year women engineering students.
“Partnering with engineering colleges in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, we are now mentoring over 200–300 first- and second-year women engineering students, giving them exposure to AMD’s technologies and inspiring them to think beyond getting a job—to envisioning leadership journeys in core engineering domains,” says Farouk.
A competitive advantage
AMD’s approach illustrates how technology companies are attempting to turn talent development into strategic advantage during rapid industry transformation. By embedding leadership development within business planning, differentiating learning journeys, and empowering employees with personalised support, the company has created what it describes as a resilient and future-ready workforce.
Whether this model can be replicated across different organisational cultures and industries remains to be seen. However, AMD’s experience suggests that in rapidly evolving technology sectors, investment in human capital development may be as crucial as technological innovation for maintaining competitive position.