AMD vs Hitachi: Founders, CEOs and History
AMD was founded in 1969 by Jerry Sanders, Edwin Turney and is led by Lisa Su. Hitachi was founded in 1910 by Namihei Odaira and is led by Toshiaki Tokunaga.
Company facts
Founders
AMD
Jerry Sanders
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was founded in May 1969 by Jerry Sanders, a charismatic, flamboyant electrical engineer, along with seven of his colleagues from Fairchild Semiconductor (the well-known incubator of Silicon Valley that also birthed Intel).
Edwin Turney
Edwin Turney helped establish the operating foundation behind AMD's early logic-device business. While Sanders became the public face, Turney's contribution was making sure the company could earn trust through production reliability and execution.
Hitachi
Namihei Odaira
Hitachi possesses a historic, foundational founding story, rooted in the industrialization of early 20th-century Japan and driven by a nationalist obsession with technological independence.
CEOs and their tenures
AMD
- Jerry Sanders1969–2002
CEO
Sanders, born in Chicago in 1936, worked at Douglas Aircraft and Motorola before joining Fairchild Semiconductor in 1961, where he rose to head worldwide sales and marketing.
Source - Hector Ruiz2002–2008
CEO
Ruiz grew up in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and as a teenager crossed the US border daily to attend high school in Eagle Pass, Texas, graduating valedictorian only three years after learning English.
Source - Dirk Meyer2008–2011
CEO
Meyer, a University of Illinois computer-engineering graduate with an MBA from Boston University, co-architected the Alpha 21064 and 21264 microprocessors at Digital Equipment Corporation before joining AMD in 1996, where he personally led development of the o…
Source - Rory Read2011–2014
CEO
Read spent 23 years at IBM in global leadership roles before becoming president and COO of Lenovo, and holds an information-sciences degree from Hartwick College.
Source - Lisa Su2014–present
CEO
Born in Taiwan and raised in the United States, Su earned bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from MIT and worked at Texas Instruments, IBM and Freescale Semiconductor before joining AMD in 2012 as senior vice president of glob…
Source
Hitachi
- Toshiaki Higashihara2016–2022
Former President and Chief Executive Officer
Shifted Hitachi from a sprawling conglomerate toward infrastructure and digital businesses.
Source - Keiji Kojima2022–2025
Executive Chairman (CEO 2022-2025)
Finished much of the portfolio cleanup and handed over a more focused group to Tokunaga.
Source - Toshiaki Tokunaga2025–present
President and Chief Executive Officer
Brings an energy and rail background to the top job as Hitachi Energy and Hitachi Rail drive more of the group's growth.
Source
Timeline: AMD and Hitachi side by side
1910Hitachi
Founding and First Induction Motor
Namihei Odaira establishes the machinery repair shop that becomes Hitachi, and develops Japan's first 5-horsepower induction motor, establishing the foundation for the company's dominance in electrical engineering.
1932Hitachi
Expansion into Railway Technology
Hitachi begins manufacturing electric locomotives and rail signaling systems, establishing a deep, institutionalized relationship with the Japanese national railway network that would evolve into the modern Hitachi Rail division.
1959Hitachi
Entry into Computing and Electronics
Hitachi develops its first electronic computer, the HITAC, marking the company's strategic entry into the information technology sector and laying the groundwork for its future digital systems business.
1969AMD
Advanced Micro Devices Founded
Jerry Sanders and seven colleagues from Fairchild Semiconductor founded AMD on May 1, 1969, and broke ground that year on the 915 DeGuigne building in Sunnyvale, California, which remained the headquarters for more than 47 years.
1975AMD
Entry Into Microprocessors
AMD entered the microprocessor market in 1975, moving beyond the logic devices it started with. The decision put it into direct competition with Intel and made x86 compatibility the center of its business for the next four decades.
1999AMD
Athlon Breakthrough
Athlon launched in 1999 and matched or beat Intel on desktop performance. In March 2000 AMD announced the first 1 GHz x86 processor, days ahead of Intel, which changed how enthusiasts and PC makers judged the company.
2005AMD
Antitrust Lawsuit Against Intel
AMD sued Intel in 2005, alleging rebates and exclusionary practices that limited its access to PC makers.
2006AMD
ATI Technologies Acquired
AMD acquired ATI Technologies in 2006 for about $5.4B to add graphics and chipsets. The debt-funded deal strained the balance sheet just as Intel shipped Core 2, but ATI became the basis for Radeon graphics, console APUs, and later Instinct accelerators.
2009AMD
Fabless Pivot Through GlobalFoundries
AMD moved its manufacturing operations into GlobalFoundries in 2009 and stopped owning fabs. The change removed billions of annual capital spending and let AMD buy leading-edge capacity, but it also tied the product roadmap to outside foundries.
2011AMD
Bulldozer Architecture Failure
Bulldozer traded single-thread performance for core count at a time when most software depended on per-core speed. Reviews were poor, PC maker confidence fell, and server share collapsed, which is what forced the clean-sheet Zen project.
2014AMD
Lisa Su Becomes CEO
AMD's board appointed Lisa Su president and CEO on October 8, 2014, succeeding Rory Read. She narrowed the company around high-performance computing and put the engineering budget behind the Zen CPU core rather than spreading it across incremental projects.
2016Hitachi
Toshiaki Higashihara becomes CEO
Toshiaki Higashihara became CEO of Hitachi in 2016. Shifted Hitachi from a sprawling conglomerate toward infrastructure and digital businesses.
2017AMD
Ryzen, EPYC, and Chiplets Rebuild AMD
Zen reached the market in 2017 as Ryzen for desktops and EPYC for servers. Chiplet packaging over Infinity Fabric let AMD build high core-count parts from smaller dies, improving usable yield and giving it a cost structure Intel's monolithic designs could not…
2020Hitachi
Acquisition of ABB's Power Grids Business
Hitachi executes the $11 billion acquisition of ABB's Power Grids business, renaming it Hitachi Energy and instantly establishing the company as the global leader in HVDC transmission and grid infrastructure.
2021Hitachi
Acquisition of GlobalLogic
The company acquires the global digital engineering firm GlobalLogic for $9.6 billion, instantly establishing Hitachi as a top-tier provider of advanced software and product design services for the automotive and telecommunications sectors.
2022AMD
Xilinx Acquisition
AMD completed the Xilinx acquisition in February 2022. The all-stock deal was announced in October 2020 at about $35B and was worth roughly $49B at close.
2022Hitachi
Hitachi Construction Machinery Stake Sale
Hitachi sold a controlling stake in Hitachi Construction Machinery to Itochu and Japan Industrial Partners, part of its exit from cyclical listed subsidiaries.
2024Hitachi
Acquired Thales Ground Transportation Systems
Hitachi acquired Thales Ground Transportation Systems. Hitachi Rail completed its ~$1.88 billion (EUR 1.66 billion) acquisition of Thales's Ground Transportation Systems business, its rail signalling division, expanding Hitachi Rail to 51 countries and shiftin…
2025AMD
ZT Systems Acquired and Its Factories Sold
AMD closed the ZT Systems purchase on March 31, 2025, paying $3.2B in cash plus 8.3 million shares for rack-scale AI systems design.
2025AMD
OpenAI Agrees to Deploy 6 Gigawatts of AMD GPUs
On October 6, 2025 AMD and OpenAI announced a multi-year agreement covering 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs, starting with a 1 gigawatt Instinct MI450 deployment in the second half of 2026.
2025AMD
Record $34.6B Revenue
AMD reported FY2025 revenue of $34.6B, up 34%, with net income of $4.3B and a 50% gross margin.
2025Hitachi
Toshiaki Tokunaga Becomes CEO
Toshiaki Tokunaga became President and CEO on April 1, 2025, succeeding Keiji Kojima, who became Executive Chairman.
2026AMD
Meta Agrees to Deploy Up to 6 Gigawatts of AMD GPUs
On February 24, 2026 AMD and Meta announced a multi-year agreement for up to 6 gigawatts of Instinct GPUs.
2026Hitachi
Record Results and Home Appliance Sale
Hitachi reported record FY2025 profit in April 2026 and agreed to sell 80.1% of its home appliance business to Nojima for about $737 million (¥110 billion).
Acquisitions
AMD
- ZT Systems2025$4.9B
- Silo AI2024$665M
- Xilinx2022$49B
- Pensando Systems2022$1.9B
- ATI Technologies2006$5.4B
Hitachi
- Thales Ground Transportation Systems2024Undisclosed
- GlobalLogic2021Undisclosed
- ABB Power Grids2020Undisclosed
Questions about AMD vs Hitachi
Who is the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and Hitachi, Ltd.?
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is led by Lisa Su and Hitachi, Ltd. is led by Toshiaki Tokunaga. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. founded vs Hitachi, Ltd.?
Hitachi, Ltd. was founded in 1910 — 59 years before Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., which was founded in 1969. Hitachi, Ltd.'s longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger Advanced Micro Devices, Inc..
How many employees does Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. have compared to Hitachi, Ltd.?
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. employs approximately 31,000 people, while Hitachi, Ltd. employs approximately 287,901. Hitachi, Ltd. has the larger workforce at 287,901 employees, compared to Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'s 31,000. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and Hitachi, Ltd. headquartered?
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is headquartered in United States and Hitachi, Ltd. is headquartered in Japan. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. and Hitachi, Ltd.?
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. was founded by Jerry Sanders, Edwin Turney. Hitachi, Ltd. was founded by Namihei Odaira.
Which company has a longer operating history — Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or Hitachi, Ltd.?
Hitachi, Ltd. has been operating for approximately 116 years, making it the more established of the two companies. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. has been in operation for around 57 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the AMD vs Hitachi overview