- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady talks to AMD’s Lisa Su and Enrique Lores of HP.
- The big story: Trump takes Putin’s side, again; Gaza ceasefire crumbles.
- The markets: Mostly up.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. AMD’s Lisa Su and Enrique Lores of HP met more than a dozen years ago, before either was CEO of their respective companies. When I had an opportunity to talk to them together this past weekend during the F1 United States Grand Prix in Austin, I asked what qualities they first saw in each other that stood out and cemented their partnership. Lores pointed to Su’s clarity of vision while Su told me that she appreciated Lores’s willingness to take a bold bet on a then-struggling semiconductor company with a ho-hum product line that was losing ground to competitors like Intel and Nvidia.
“We had used AMD only for the low end of our consumer business and we jointly saw an opportunity to use their technology in more premium products for commercial customers,” said Lores, who notes that he became convinced after seeing what was in the pipeline. “We both had to convince our CEOs that this made sense and develop the economics to show that it made sense.”
As CEOs, they went on to transform their companies and double down on their collaboration, with AMD now supplying the high-performance chips at the heart of HP’s AI-driven PCs, laptops, and workstations. Under Su, AMD has become a powerhouse in the AI revolution and a case study in reinvention. Lores, meanwhile, has been transforming HP from a hardware business to what he calls an “experience solutions company” that brings AI capabilities from the cloud to the device.
The challenge for HP these days is getting customers and software companies to buy into the value proposition at a time when a lot of enterprise dollars continue to flow into investing in large language models. While Lores has revived HP’s fortunes since becoming CEO in 2019 and continues to grow PC sales, concerns about tariffs and weakness in the printing business have cut 15% from the stock price this year. AMD stock has almost doubled.
But that doesn’t change the strength of a partnership that both say is built on mutual trust, as well as bottom-line results, as they co-develop new technologies and a new AI architecture for the workplace. Said Lores: “When you have a friend, you trust your friend, and when you are doing new things, it’s important to have that level of confidence. When you go through problems, which also happens, it’s also good to try to have trust in the other side.”
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top news
Trump urged Zelensky to surrender to Russia
The president urged the Ukrainian president to give up the Donbas to Putin or be destroyed. “Trump appeared to have adopted many of Putin’s talking points verbatim, even when they contradicted his own recent statements about Russia’s weaknesses,” the FT reports.
Gaza ceasefire broken by both sides
Hamas fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli positions and Israel responded with air strikes. "We knew this was brewing. And the longer these guys are allowed to attack each other, the more they're going to attack each other," a White House official told Axios.
Trump softens on China
Dow futures rose on Sunday after President Donald Trump softened his tone on the trade war between the U.S. and China during an interview with Fox News on Sunday. “I’m not looking to destroy China,” Trump said.
China GDP grows 4.8% in Q3
That’s down from 5.2% in Q2 and is regarded as relatively weak for China.
Must-read: The FT’s history of China’s rare earth industry
If you want to understand why China feels no need to back down in the face of Trump’s tariff threats and how China ended up in control of the world’s supply of rare earths, begin here.
Study shows how quickly ‘AI psychosis’ can take hold
For some users, AI is a helpful assistant; for others, a companion. But for a few unlucky people, chatbots powered by the technology have become a gaslighting, delusional menace. Steven Adler published an analysis showing that ChatGPT repeatedly and falsely reinforced one man’s delusions and psychological distress.
S&P Global report finds more loss than expected at companies
A new report from S&P Global of 9,000 companies found that they will lose at least $1.2 trillion more this year than they expected before the year began. The increased loss is attributed to tariffs and other factors including energy prices and growing capital expenditure, according to the firm.
How the CEO of Macy’s wants to turn the retailer around
Macy’s CEO Tony Spring is trying to bring the retailer back to life after years of poor performance by returning the focus to customer service and visually appealing layouts. “It’s not rocket science,” Spring told Fortune, “it’s back to the standards of retail.”
The Louvre was robbed
The museum is closed while police investigate. The robbers struck in broad daylight while the museum was open and targeted a specific number of antique jewels. France is agog.
The markets
S&P 500 futures were up 0.34% this morning. The index closed up 0.53% in its last session. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.54% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.36% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 3.37%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.53%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 1.76%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.47% before the end of the session. Bitcoin was up to $111.1K.
Around the watercooler
CEO coach to the Fortune 500: The best leaders have developed a surprising talent—they know how to be ‘actively’ lazy by Bill Hoogterp
Even the author of ‘Trumponomics’ admits ‘tariffs are taxes—and taxes are bad’ by Eva Roytburg
Mercedes F1 team CEO Toto Wolff’s experience with two Gen Z drivers made him realize the workplace stereotypes are ‘a bit unfair’ by Sasha Rogelberg
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
