Artificial intelligence holds the power to enhance productivity and drive innovation, says Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). 

Reflecting on her three-decade career in the semiconductor industry, Su described AI as the “most impactful and high-potential technology” she has encountered. 

“AI is this technology that can make all of us more productive, all of our companies more productive, make all of our discoveries more capable. It’s an opportunity for us to take computing to the next level,” Su stated. 

“I think we are just at the very beginning of what AI is capable of. It allows us to solve some of the most important problems in the world, and help us find the next discoveries, whether you’re talking about medicine, climate, or science. AI is the next logical step,” she added.

Su, who was recognised in TIME’s ‘Most Influential People in AI 2024’, was speaking at a closed event at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru on Thursday. 

She disclosed that roughly 8,000 of the chipmaker’s 27,000 global employees are engineers based in India, making up 25% of its total workforce.

Su highlighted how AI has evolved from an expert-only field to a technology accessible to all, due to the advent of GenAI and large language models like ChatGPT in the last two years. 

“We have taken what was now expert technology, and we’ve moved AI to something where everybody can touch and feel it..because when you’re able to use natural language to unlock computing capability, that all of a sudden changes who can use it,” she explained.

A direct competitor to NVIDIA, AMD is a semiconductor giant known for its high-performance computer processors and graphics technologies.

Addressing AMD’s strategy, Su further underscored the importance of versatility in computing solutions.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the future of compute. You’re going to need to use the right compute for the right application. For example, a lot of conversation is around sorting the largest GPUs and accelerators for the cloud, along with running the training and inferencing on the largest language model. But we do expect that they’re going to be models of all sizes,” she said. 

AMD is focusing on an end-to-end AI strategy that spans cloud, edge, and client devices, she added. “We believe everyone should have their own AI PC that allows you to run your models locally and operate on your data.”

Su also spoke about how the chipmaker is focusing heavily on collaboration through open-source initiatives. “Our strategy is that the world needs an open-source software environment. It shouldn’t matter whether it’s AMD or NVIDIA as the hardware layer—you want to build on top of that with software and underneath abstraction. We’re investing significantly in all of the tools, compilers, and abstraction layers that will allow us to build an open-source ecosystem,” she noted.

Growth Sense Venture Fund on Thursday said it has got approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as a Category-1 Angel Fund for investments into early stage startups.

A Category-1 AIF means that the fund primarily invests in sectors that are considered to be socially or economically beneficial by the government such as social ventures, small and medium enterprises.

The fund has a corpus of Rs 100 crore and is sector agnostic, which helps the company broaden its scope of its investment.

Growth Sense, the investment manager for the fund, has made over 88 investments to date with six startups showing over 100% IRR (internal rate of return). IRR is a metric that is used to calculate the profitability of an investment.

“Receiving SEBI approval marks an exciting milestone for Growth Sense Venture Fund. This fund allows us to channel investor capital into startups that are not only poised for growth but are delivering real value to the Indian economy. Our team is dedicated to supporting India’s most promising startups with capital, mentorship, and strategic resources,” said Sanjay Sarda, Co-founder of Growth Sense.

The fund aims to provide startups with access to partnerships, guidance, and operational support and focuses on high-potential ventures.

The firm’s current portfolio includes, edtech startup Klassroom, hostel booking platform Homversity, and pet service aggregator platform Petmojo, among others.

Additionally, the Growth Sense ecosystem includes associate companies such as founder-investor marketplace Growth91, technology solution provider Growth Metaverse, branding and digital marketing service provider Growth Alpha, legal and regulatory service provider Growth Compliances and cybersecurity product INVIdata.

The firm’s fund is open for investment and allows individuals with a certain level of net worth and corporations to contribute.

Honasa Consumer, the parent company behind Mamaearth has lost its unicorn status as shares fell about 29% across sessions since its close last week.

Shares closed at Rs 237.70 apiece tanking the company’s total market cap to Rs 7,721 crore or roughly $902 million. It had filed for IPO at a valuation of Rs 10,500 crore in November 2023.

The company which listed on domestic bourses on November 7, 2023 is now trading about 27% below its IPO issue price of Rs 324.

In an exchange filing today, the company clarified the scope of its leftover inventory with distributors amid media reports of credit backlogs and unsold stock with distributors.

Honasa clarified that its distribution value chain carried a total inventory of Rs 40.69 crore, against the quoted figure of Rs 300 crore of near-expiry inventory by the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation.

The dominos effect started a week ago when the beauty and personal care retailer announced its second-quarter earnings.

Shares closed at Rs 371.55 apiece on Thursday, November 14 just before the company released the earnings report.

The Varun Alagh-led company clocked a loss-making quarter after its previous green P&Ls. It posted a loss of loss of Rs 18.71 crore in the July-September 2024 quarter from a profit of Rs 29.78 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous year. 

It has been clocking slower revenue growth across quarters. The company reported a 19% rise in its operating revenue in Q1FY25 and 21% YoY growth in Q4 FY24. Its latest quarter witnessed a de-growth of 7% to Rs 461.82 crore.