AMD and Qualcomm CEOs on Supply Chain, Microsoft and Amazon on Q4 Devices
Lisa Su of AMD, Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm, Astro of Amazon
This past week was a West Coast whirlwind, which I think was partly a self-administered endurance test. In L.A. on Monday, I interviewed AMD CEO Lisa Su alongside Kara Swisher at the Code Conference. That night I drove down to San Diego so that I could interview Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Loop Capital CEO Jim Reynolds and Earvin “Magic” Johnson at Qualcomm’s smart cities event on Tuesday morning. I did Working Lunch from there, then drove back to Los Angeles. CNBC TechCheck was live from Code Wednesday, then I flew to Seattle. Wednesday evening I taped with Amazon SVP Dave Limp at Amazon headquarters, getting the first in-person introduction to the Astro robot. Thursday I was live at Microsoft headquarters with Corporate Vice President Yusuf Mehdi talking through the Surface lineup. Then I flew to San Francisco and did TechCheck from there live on Friday. I’m happy to report that I survived, and everything worked out.
Is M&A Coming for Chips? AMD CEO Lisa Su on Working Lunch
How will competitive pressures play out in the semiconductor industry? Meet AMD CEO Lisa Su in last week's edition of Working Lunch, on CNBC's Power Lunch:
China, Supply Chain and Smart Cities: Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon
Economic and political tensions between the U.S. and China have fractured supply chains and threaten to upend technology ecosystems. As Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon cast his company’s vision for smart cities, I asked him about the forces at play:
Above, a fun moment with Loop Capital's Jim Reynolds, Ignite Cities' George Burciaga, Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon, and Earvin "Magic" Johnson after the CNBC interview and before we chatted on stage.
Meet Amazon Astro, the Company’s First Home Robot
Of Amazon’s holiday announcements, the most attention-grabbing is Astro, the $1,000 robot with Alexa built in. It’s available to order for people who apply. Reviewers, for the most part, aren’t sure what to make of it. Does anyone really need a home robot? I spent time with Dave Limp, the executive in charge of consumer devices and services at Amazon, who walked me through how it works:
Microsoft’s Surface Strategy Expands
About nine years ago, Microsoft announced the first Surface PC. Since then, the devices have become a stable presence at the high end of the Windows computing market, demonstrating what’s possible with Microsoft software. I talked to Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president at Microsoft, about the technology and the strategy:
Amazon's Consumer Electronics Ambitions Reach A New Level
I didn't just get a robot demo from Amazon's Dave Limp; I also talked to him about the company's consumer electronics strategy, privacy, and its approach to supply chains in a challenging year:
Check out The Black Experience in America: The Course, an online educational resource I researched, designed and built. A free PDF download is available to bring the material to kids, and the online interactive experience is made for adults.
