AMD’s Lisa Su on AI Chips & Shaun White’s Snow League 11/12/25

Summary

Squawk Pod Summary: AMD’s Lisa Su on AI Chips & Shaun White’s Snow League

Date: November 12, 2025
Hosts: Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, Andrew Ross Sorkin
Key Guests: Lisa Su (AMD CEO), Shaun White (Olympic gold medalist, entrepreneur)

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Overview

This episode of Squawk Pod features two high-profile interviews:

1. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, discusses the company’s surge in market value, its strategy in the booming AI chip sector, and the evolution of the semiconductor market.
2. Shaun White, Olympic snowboarder, introduces his new venture, the Snow League, aiming to professionalize and elevate snowboarding and freeskiing, focusing on athlete empowerment and storytelling.

Alongside these, the hosts debate hot topics in business, government, and market influence, including the Trump administration’s reported plans to curb the power of proxy firms and fund managers.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Proxy Firms and Shareholder Voting Power

Segment Start: 04:01

• The Trump administration is reportedly considering measures to reduce the influence of proxy advisory firms (e.g., ISS, Glass Lewis) and index fund giants (Vanguard, BlackRock).
• Debate on default voting rights:
  • Andrew Ross Sorkin: “Do you want the management to have the power or do you want ostensibly…Vanguard and these other funds…representing the interests of the shareholders?” [05:33]
  • Becky Quick objects to the default system: “It shouldn’t be an opt out, it should be an opt in. If I choose to give you my vote, then I’m going to do that.” [07:37]
  • Joe Kernen: Expresses concern over fund managers imposing personal agendas: “Do not be voting your own ridiculous notions with my stuff. You’re not king.” [12:04]
• The hosts agree voting choices could be clearer and highlighted the complexity for average investors who hold diversified funds.

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2. AMD CEO Lisa Su on AI, Chips, and Global Leadership

Interview Start: 15:44

AMD’s Growth and AI Opportunity

• Becky Quick highlights AMD’s dramatic growth under Lisa Su (market cap from $2B to over $380B).
• Lisa Su explains:
  • The AI market opportunity is “massive,” projecting a trillion-dollar total addressable market by 2030.
  • “We're really excited about what we have. It's a product portfolio, it's a set of partnerships, but it's also a vision for…where computing is going in the future.” [17:03]
  • Productivity gains are now visible: “The signals in the market right now say that we're still at the very beginning of the technology, but you're starting to see significant productivity.” [18:42; see earlier reference at 01:17]
  • Capex is rising among hyperscalers as ROI is coming into view.
• Su addresses skepticism on the scale of risk:
  • “I don't think it's a big gamble. I think it's the right gamble.” [20:31]
  • On OpenAI’s path: “We see a incredible opportunity in front of us.” [22:31]

Competing with Nvidia & Data Center Growth

• AMD is planning to grow its AI data center business rapidly (80% per year, aiming for >10% market share).
• Lisa Su:
  • “This is an amazing market with tremendous growth. And whenever you have a market…on a steep growth curve, it really favors innovation and it favors partnership.” [23:50]
  • AMD focuses on a strong tech roadmap and key partnerships (OpenAI, Oracle, Meta); different workloads require different solutions.

AMD’s Turnaround vs. Intel

• Joe Kernen: Notes AMD’s rise from “an also-ran” to a tech leader.
• Su: “When you’re at inflection points in technology, you have to make the right strategic bets.” [26:12]
• AMD’s commitment to high-performance computing and sustained strategic investment has led to explosive growth (1% to ~40% of CPU market share).

AI Chip Lifespan, Depreciation, and Adoption

• Sorkin inquires about the rapid pace of chip innovation and depreciation schedules.
• Su:
  • Chips have layered adoption: bleeding edge for foundational models, current-gen for mainstream use.
  • “AI is for everyone. Like everyone should get a piece of AI.” [29:16, also 12:55]
  • Useful life is extending: “You can definitely use these assets…five, six years and some would say even beyond for…workhorse applications.” [31:13]

The Global Semiconductor Race & U.S. Industrial Policy

• The Trump administration’s and prior Biden CHIPS Act’s support is deemed “very helpful…engaging industry.” [33:26]
• Su advocates for U.S. leadership in both chip design and manufacturing: “We lead in design today, but we must have manufacturing in the United States. And even if it's a little bit more expensive, that's totally fine.” [34:13]
• Export controls: Necessary for national security, but must be implemented thoughtfully.
• On partnerships and competition:
  • “Our industry is such that we compete and then we also partner…You need to bring the best of the best together.” [37:08]

Moore’s Law, Innovation, & Tech Limits

• Moore’s Law is slowing but new approaches (e.g., 3D stacking, “chiplets”) are driving innovation.
• Lisa Su: “When you have smart people and you focus them on a problem, they can do amazing things.” [39:07]
• “Chiplets”: Layering chips vertically, once seen as radical, now essential tech.

Memorable Quote:

• “The world does find a way. When there is a need…engineers find a way to make sure they can.” – Lisa Su [39:29]

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3. Shaun White and the Snow League: Pro Sports for Snowboarding

Interview Start: 42:35

League Concept and Rationale

• Joe Kernen: If there’s a pickleball league, why not a snow league? [43:24]
• Shaun White:
  • There’s a huge winter sports participant base (over 130 million globally, exceeding golf).
  • “After the Olympics, there's just nothing there for [top athletes]. . . So I felt it was my time and place to bring this about and I'm so excited for it.” [43:54]

Storytelling and Athlete Support

• Focused on year-round engagement and athlete narratives:
  • “Where’s the next Shaun White? I’m like, they’re there already. We’re just not telling their story. So for me, it’s all about elevating the athletes… Because it’s been deemed action sports for the longest time. But it is sports plus the rest.” [45:29]
• The league’s mission:
  • Raising prize purses (“the highest prize…ever in the sport,” $50,000 per event winner)
  • Equal pay for men and women
  • Minimum appearance payments for all competitors

Business Model and Ambitions

• Streaming and media rights are critical:
  • Partnership with NBC and Peacock leverages Olympic synergy and “paddock club” experiences (luxury fan zones).
  • Major sponsors include Tiffany’s (trophies), Marriott, and noted sports investment groups.
• Expansion: Targeting 10-15 events in 2–3 years, including potential indoor, global events.
• Focus is on sustainability and not selling out early: “You don’t want to sell too early…I think these private equity guys would like to get in at a low price.” – Joe Kernen [51:35]

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Notable Quotes & Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:17 | Lisa Su | “The signals in the market right now say that we're still at the very beginning of the technology…” | | 12:55 | Lisa Su | “AI is for everyone. Like everyone should get a piece of AI.” | | 07:37 | Becky Quick | “It shouldn’t be an opt out, it should be an opt in. If I choose to give you my vote then I’m going to do that.” | | 12:04 | Joe Kernen | “Do not be voting your own ridiculous notions with my stuff. You’re not king.” | | 29:16 | Lisa Su | “What I'd like people to think about is AI is for everyone. Like everyone should get a piece of AI.” | | 39:07 | Lisa Su | “When you have smart people and you focus them on a problem, they can do amazing things.” | | 43:54 | Shaun White | “After the Olympics, there's just nothing there for them… I felt it was my time and place to bring this about.” | | 45:29 | Shaun White | “Where’s the next Shaun White? I’m like, they’re there already. We’re just not telling their story.” | | 47:29 | Shaun White | “We have the highest prize purse that has ever been in the sport.” |

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Proxy Firms & Voting Power: 04:01 – 13:06
• Lisa Su/AMD AI & Chip Strategy: 15:44 – 40:49
• Shaun White & Snow League Interview: 42:35 – 52:20

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Summary Takeaways

• AMD is betting big on AI, pursuing partnerships, and committed to both design and manufacturing leadership in the U.S. Lisa Su sees massive ongoing opportunity and enduring demand, with AMD poised to capture greater market share against rivals like Nvidia and Intel.
• The global semiconductor supply chain, export controls, and industrial policy remain hot-button issues as tech, security, and national advantage become intertwined.
• Shaun White’s Snow League is designed to fill the void in pro snow sports outside the Olympics, providing athletes with higher pay, visibility, and opportunities. A key differentiator is its commitment to storytelling and building a connected season—with robust backing from media and sponsors.
• Proxy voting influence remains a lively debate, intersecting investor rights, corporate governance, and the evolving role of fund managers.

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This summary preserves the dynamic, candid tone of the episode’s hosts and guests, and distills the essential ideas and quotes for those seeking an in-depth yet accessible overview of Squawk Pod’s November 12, 2025 episode.

Transcript

[Shaun White]

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[Becky Quick]

Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk pod, Lisa Su, CEO of chipmaker AMD on the promise of artificial intelligence for her $380 billion company.

[Lisa Su]

The signals in the market right now say that we're still at the very beginning of the technology, but you're starting to see significant productivity and for how.

[Becky Quick]

We live, where we work, what we buy, the chips we need to power AI.

[Lisa Su]

I don't think it's a big gamble. I think it's the right gamble and the flying tomato.

[Becky Quick]

Olympic gold medalist Shaun White on the new opportunity in snowboarding.

[Shaun White]

Where's the next Shaun White? I'm like, they're there already. We're just not telling their story.

[Becky Quick]

From the half punk hype to big.

[Shaun White]

Business, it's been deemed action sports for the longest time. But it is sports plus the rest.

[Becky Quick]

Of today's news that got us squawking. Like the Trump administration reportedly weighing curbs on powerful proxy firms and index fund managers.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Most people do not have the ability, time, resources, energy or effort to look.

[Becky Quick]

Through those votes got us really squawking.

[Joe Kernen]

I'm buying American Business.

[Becky Quick]

It is Wednesday, November 12, 2025. Squawk Pod begins right now.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Stand Becky by in 3, 2, 1. Q please.

[Becky Quick]

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We're live from the NASDAQ MarketSite in times Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernan and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Good morning. Things are here.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Meantime, the government and airlines warning that disruptions have cropped up during the shutdown could end up continuing even after things reopen in D.C. the FAA now instituting that instituted flight cuts in order to keep things safe, as you know, at U.S. airports. During a press conference in Chicago's O' Hare Airport, transportation Secretary Sean Duffy saying that easing those restrictions will depend on air traffic controllers coming back to work. And he warned of further chaos if the government doesn't reopen.

[Joe Kernen]

Big disruption thus far.

[Shaun White]

Massively more disruption as we come into the weekend. If the government doesn't open it is, it is going to radically slow down. So, so the House has to do its work.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And FlightAway are saying that about 1200 flights have been canceled so far. That's just today. Yesterday There were but 1900 cancellations. Airlines are supposed to be cutting about 6% of their schedules.

[Joe Kernen]

Reports say finance industry executives have been invited to dinner with President Trump at the White House tonight. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, NASDAQ CEO Adena Friedman are said to have been inv. And among the other potential guests reported by Bloomberg, in this case, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

The Trump administration reportedly now looking at steps he could take to reduce the influence of proxy advisory firms like ISS and Glass Lewis and index fund managers including Vanguard and BlackRock. The Wall Street Journal reporting that one option could be a broad ban on shareholder recommendations. Another could target recommendations on companies that have hired the proxy firms to do consulting work. That's a, that's a conflict that we've talked about on this broadcast that other CEOs have talked about as well. Additionally, the report says the Trump administration is looking at forcing index fund managers to vote on proposals in the way their clients vote. I think that's a little more problematic. My own opinion there. Proxy firms have faced heavy criticism from corporate leaders, including Elon Musk, who called them terrorists. Jamie Dimon has made some comments over the years just about the influence and some of the conflicts. One of them being this idea that, you know, if you're playing on, on both sides. The idea though, I don't know where you guys land on this. To me, the idea of either preventing them from making recommendations, I mean there is a First Amendment you should be able to do to do that. I have no problem with that. I think getting rid of some of the conflict part of this is important. But also the idea of taking away the vote from a BlackRock or a Vanguard or somebody else and just saying it's up to the individuals who are trading or own the shares. So it's interesting that you say that the default, what happens then I think could be wrong.

[Joe Kernen]

They just go with the company.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Most people unfortunately don't vote at all. And so what you are, what effectively you're doing by default is giving you talk about who's got the power. You're giving this a, this is a trade off. Who do you want to have the power? Do you want the management to have the power or do you want ostensibly, ostensibly Vanguard and these other funds should be representing the interests of the shareholders. That is, that is at least ostensibly what they should be doing, which is different to some degree than what the managers necessarily are doing. And it's not always aligned.

[Lisa Su]

I just don't like that.

[Becky Quick]

I don't like giving them my power to.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Well, no, no, but just to be clear, Vanguard, BlackRock, all of these funds, if you want to vote yourself, you have every right to vote yourself. You can go on and vote now.

[Joe Kernen]

Almost everybody said most people don't.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Almost everybody's giving you the right. It's not that they're taking your vote from you, but most people are. It's just that most people are not.

[Becky Quick]

I just don't want them speaking on my behalf.

[Joe Kernen]

No. And it goes back.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Well, then that's. If you're saying then you don't want anyone to speak on your half and you don't want to vote.

[Becky Quick]

No.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Then what you're saying is you want the management.

[Becky Quick]

But I don't want them to. If I choose not to vote, that doesn't mean I'm giving you my vote.

[Joe Kernen]

Right. And the late, great Charlie Munger even said, who made Larry Fink king? And there was a time when he, at WEF or somewhere, he said we need to force behavior about this happened to be about climate change and whatever you believe about climate change. Okay, but he was voting.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I get it.

[Joe Kernen]

For activists forcing fossil fuel companies to do stuff based on Larry Fink's ideas about. I hear. And his own personal woke ideas about climate, which he's totally backed off of.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I'm hearing you. My question to you, though, I think.

[Joe Kernen]

That was just egregious, ridiculous.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Okay, My question to you is a different one though. If you're saying that you don't, you don't want to vote.

[Becky Quick]

No, I'm not saying I don't want to vote. There are times when I do vote, by the way, I have money in all of these places too. There are times when I do vote. But if I choose not to vote, I. It doesn't mean that I'm giving you my vote.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But I think then there's a question which is I would think that you should be able to give the vote to the firm or not. And that should be an option, but.

[Becky Quick]

It shouldn't be an opt out, it should be an opt in. If I choose to give you my vote and I'm going to do that.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And the question is whether you think.

[Becky Quick]

You have to give that vote to anybody.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I appreciate that. The question is whether you think that Most Americans whose 401 plan is effectively being managed by these funds and the reason you're, by the way, the reason you're having a target dated fund, for.

[Becky Quick]

Example, which I would never invest in.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Okay, that's. But there's a lot of people that have target dated funds or have S and P funds in their 401k plans or other things that are being managed. And the reason you're using them is these, these are the firms that you're hiring to do this now.

[Becky Quick]

These are the firms my company are hiring. So that's my choices in my 401k.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Well, and that's the question. And the question is whether they give you. If you get the choice, you can use the choice. If you don't use the choice, whether the firm should be able to have.

[Becky Quick]

That choice, but it should be an opt in, not an opt out.

[Joe Kernen]

And if you, if you decide, I like this company, I want to own it, I like what management's doing. I'm long their stock. What's the problem with defaulting to doing, you know, to where the company has more influence than some outside proxy firm that might have all these ridiculous notions? I think the conflict, I mean, think about CEO.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Let's get rid of the conflict piece. Okay, let's start with like, are you.

[Joe Kernen]

Talking about CEO compensation that you don't want that rubber stamped? Or are the corporations always doing something bad, trying to put some.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

No, the question is no. But the question is who is arguably going to have more of your interests? The management. This is the trade off.

[Joe Kernen]

If it's going to have your interest aligned with. If they're aligned with the shares going up like you are, then they'll have.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

The question is who's looking out for you? Is it going to be the management or would you like to have somebody else do that?

[Joe Kernen]

You put your money into that stock for a reason because you like the management, you like what they're doing.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But most of the people, people are not putting their money in each individual stock. So here's I Just want to lay one issue out so everyone's on the same page. The reason why people don't vote and the reason why this is an issue is most of most people have money in their, you know, an s and P500 fund. So there's 500 companies in that fund. Each of those, each of those companies has a proxy, has a proxy vote every year that could have a dozen or 20 different elections that have to be made. Most people do not have the ability, time, resources, energy, or effort to look through those votes. So the question is, if you're saying that you just don't just blindly say whatever management says is great, go with God.

[Becky Quick]

No, no, no.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

That's one view.

[Becky Quick]

But it's not whatever the proxy owners say.

[Joe Kernen]

Right. I would defer to them before your friends in the proxy.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I'm not talking about the proxy guys, I'm black. Or I'm saying that ostensibly what you're trying to do is the reason people hire people to manage their money to do things for them is because they are spending money and resources to try to look at each individual issue. Arguably for you. Now, again, you take the conflict piece out.

[Joe Kernen]

Index funds.

[Becky Quick]

But the reason I invest in The S&P 500 is not index funds. I don't want to pay somebody a lot of money to manage that stuff.

[Joe Kernen]

And I certainly don't want.

[Becky Quick]

Look, there may be times when I would agree with the proxy firms on some of these things. There would be times I would agree with management, but I would like. If I'm not.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But I'm not taking your vote away.

[Becky Quick]

No, but I'm not blindly giving it to them either. If I opt into that, fine. But they should not. The default should not be that they get my vote if I don't take it.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And so how. But how would you like that to work? Because what's going to happen under your scenario is people will have a 401k plan when they're first enrolled in the plan 25 years ago. If you're starting somewhere, they're going to have a checkbox that's going to say, would you like me to do it or would you not like me to do it? Some people will just check it blindly. Some people won't check it blindly.

[Becky Quick]

And that's the thing with opt in. You're going to get a much smaller percentage of people who are doing that. And I think that's okay.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And you think that's okay. Yeah, because then even if they never vote again and never touch it, but.

[Becky Quick]

Again, it's like who do you put your blind trust in? Do you put your blind faith and trust in the head of the proxy?

[Joe Kernen]

Your default is it seems to be that the corporation's trying to put something over on you and you need some.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But I can I ask you a question? But if you had a contract, if you had a contract of any sort, I assume you would have a lawyer look at it for you. Maybe you wouldn't. But the reason you'd have the lawyer look at it for you is because ostensibly they work for you, right? And ostensibly they are trying to look out for your best interest because the, the people that you're buying the product from hopefully do. By the way, like I think when I buy a pair of sneakers, I hope that they have my interest at lies.

[Joe Kernen]

That's how you see an index. You see an index fund manager. In that light, I don't at all put the stocks in there. That's what makes the market put the stocks, make the fees low and I'll take my chances. I'll handle it. Do not be voting your own ridiculous notions with my stuff. You're not king. There was a no King's Day. Don't forget that.

[Becky Quick]

And Joe Marched.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Yeah, but you recognize who you're making the king, then the CEO Bingo in the board. Bingo.

[Joe Kernen]

I trust that's why I'm buying their stock.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Okay.

[Joe Kernen]

Okay.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And you're. But you're not. But okay, I'm buying.

[Joe Kernen]

I'm buying this. I'm buying American Business.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Cheese will be next.

[Becky Quick]

Next on Squawk Pod. Lisa Su, CEO of chipmaker amd, had a big message for Wall street and consumers.

[Lisa Su]

AI is for everyone. Like everyone should get a piece of AI.

[Becky Quick]

The full conversation with Lisa Su is right after this break.

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[Becky Quick]

Welcome back to Squawk Pod.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

You're watching Squawk on CNBC. I'm Andras Sorkin along with Joe Kernan and Becky Quick on a Wednesday morning hump day, the end of the shutdown could be closed. The House expected to vote on the continuing resolution later today to reopen the government. You're looking at a beautiful live shot right now of the capital as the sun comes up. Let's hope it comes up and maybe a deal gets made against that backdrop.

[Joe Kernen]

It's almost like it comes up every day no matter what. Thank God. Checking the sun will come up. Sun Also Rises and the sun will come up tomorrow.

[Becky Quick]

Tomorrow Sun Also Rises AMD hosting an analyst day yesterday. It's the first time in three years the chip maker says that revenue growth will expand 35% a year over the next three to five years. And the company's AI data center is expected to grow at 80% a year and potentially hit tens of billions of dollars in sales by 2027. Joining us right now is the AMD CEO, Lisa Su. A note on this. AMD stock up phenomenally. You can see, since she took over. 7589. 589%. Lisa, I think when you took over, this was a $2 billion market cap. I think today it's above $386 billion. Congratulations.

[Lisa Su]

Thank you.

[Joe Kernen]

Who's counting?

[Lisa Su]

Well, it's great to be here with you guys this morning. Thanks for having me.

[Becky Quick]

It's great to see you too. Last week you had earnings that came out that beat all expectations, and yet the stock actually declined. I think people were waiting to see what you said at the investor day. They liked what they heard, especially when it came to the revenue. The annualized growth that you're expecting, 35%. I think most people were looking for closer to. Predictions are hard though, especially about the future. And I guess the big question is, what makes you so confident?

[Lisa Su]

Well, you know, first of all, it was a great day yesterday. It's always nice to sometimes take a step back from just, you know, what's happening on a quarterly basis to really talk about long term strategy. And it has been, you know, as you said, it's been three years since we've hosted an analyst day. But what we thought is like there's been so much that's changed in the market just over the last, you know, 12, 18, 24 months that we kind of needed to kind of just take a step back and talk about the company as a whole. And frankly, I mean, we're in just an amazing cycle for technology and specifically around AI. So, you know, back to, you know, the major points, I mean, the market is accelerating at a pace that we just did not understand until, you know, over the last few years. I think we started a couple of years ago, we thought, you know, the AI accelerator TAM might be $300 billion. And that sounded like a really big number. And then each year we took it up. And now when we take a step back, you know, we see this massive opportunity, you know, really over a trillion dollar overall market as we get through 2030. And it's a place where everybody needs technology. You know, think about it as you can think about computing equating to intelligence. And if you can get more intelligence, why wouldn't you want more computing? And that's kind of the market that we're in. And so, you know, from that standpoint, you know, we're really excited about what we have. It's a product portfolio, it's a set of partnerships, but it's also a vision for, you know, where computing is going in the future.

[Becky Quick]

What makes you so sure of that demand? What do you see that makes you think not only that this demand is going to be big, but that it's real and that it's not going to disappear?

[Lisa Su]

Well, you know, Becky, we spend a lot of time in the ecosystem and, you know, being in this industry for as long as I've been in this industry over 30 years, I think you see a lot of cycles and you see, you know, a lot of technologies take off. The key is what people are saying as they're actually utilizing the technology. So we work with all of the largest hyperscalers in the world, all of the largest enterprises, and if you looked at, you know, sort of the trend trajectory over the last couple of years, I think people started with tremendous excitement. You know, ChatGPT came on board, everyone was like, wow, you know, this is pretty good. And then enterprises started using it, and frankly, the early enterprise usage was a little bit slow. I mean, people were kind of just trying to figure out what to do. But if I tell you what we've seen in the last 12 months, we've seen every one of our largest customers say we can see the inflection point now, Lisa, like, we can see, you know, demand is accelerating because people are now starting to get real productivity out of the use cases. And, you know, we have all of the largest hyperscalers in the world saying they're investing more in capex because they can see the return on the other side of it. So it is something that we always are looking for the signals in the market, but the signals in the market right now say that we're still, still at the very beginning of the technology, but you're starting to see significant productivity.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Really think that they can see the returns on the other side, or do you think there's a little bit of a big gamble going on, which is to say that there's a bunch of them will tell you quite openly, look, I'd much prefer to be ahead than behind, meaning ahead than behind. I'm worried that if I don't invest enough now, I won't have enough capacity later. But I can't necessarily fully math out how it's going to work out on the other end either.

[Lisa Su]

I don't think it's a big gamble. I think it's the right gamble. And the way I would say it is, we can also definitely see that more computing and more investments equate to a faster pace of innovation. I think that's definitely there. I think you can also see all of the, all of the pointers to, you know, more productivity and more capability now. Exactly. Timing of roi, if you're talking about, you know, is it, you know, 12 months or 24 months, I think that's where it becomes a little fuzzier. But I would say that, look, our largest customers are extremely disciplined companies and, you know, they have the balance sheets to invest.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And I give an example, the one that everybody talks about is open air.

[Lisa Su]

Yeah.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

So OpenAI in 2028 is expecting to lose $74 billion, by the way, they have $13 billion in revenue right now. I believe that's the number. They believe that between somehow between 2028 and 2030, that they will all of a sudden become a profitable business. So they have to make a swing from a $74 billion loss. Something magical has to happen in the course of 24 months. So the question I would ask you is somebody who, by the way, has to think of them to some degree as a customer slash creditor of sorts, how you think about that math?

[Lisa Su]

Yeah. So I would take a step back and say when you look at the entirety of what the AI sort of technology companies are, you have the largest hyperscalers, you have, you know, I call it the AI native leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, others, and what the underlying foundation is the same. They all need computing. Now, relative to your, your comment about OpenAI, I think OpenAI is a phenomenal company.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I mean, I do too. I use it every, every second. I love, I love the business, I love what they're trying to do. I just don't. I'm trying to understand the math.

[Lisa Su]

Let's start with the vision and then we'll come to the math. When you look at the math, the, the vision will say you need more computing. That today computing is a limiting factor in how much people can adopt AI. And you can see that in a number of different places. And so, yes, you have to invest ahead of the curve so that you can get the entire user base on there. But if you just take a look at the growth in users, and not just at OpenAI, but across the entire ecosystem, we're seeing that growth. And we're seeing that growth because there is true productivity coming at the other end of it. And you know, from that standpoint, you know, I Think we are all, like I said, we're disciplined business people, but we see a incredible opportunity in front of us. And absolutely, if one has the capability to address that with a fantastic balance sheet, you would absolutely do that.

[Becky Quick]

Let's talk about your plans for AI data centers. You are scaling pretty rapidly. You see the growth there in terms of revenue being greater than 80% percent over the next several years and potentially getting to have more than a 10% market share in that business over the next few years. To do that, you're going to have to go through in video because there are, by some estimates they have more than 90% of the market share right now. What's your plan for doing that?

[Lisa Su]

Well, I would say once again, this is an amazing market with tremendous growth. And whenever you have a market that is, let's go call it early in the cycle and also on a steep growth curve, it really favors innovation and it favors partnership. You know, from our standpoint technology roadmap, we're super excited about the new products that we're bringing out. We have, you know, our Mi350 series currently in production. We have a big step up with new rack scale architectures coming next year. What we also have is a really strong, strong set of partnerships. You know, OpenAI, we have partnerships, Oracle, Metta, all of the large hyperscalers. And the key in this type of market, Becky, is that everybody wants to have sort of multiple solutions. And frankly, there's no one solution that fits all. You can see with different workloads, you're going to want to have the best technology for each one. And we do believe we will have a significant piece of this market. I think between large hyperscalers, enterprises as well as sovereign nation states that are out there building large data center installations, I think we are an excellent option. And we've talked about some of the key partnerships to do that.

[Joe Kernen]

Mind boggling, what I've seen with amd. We spoke just briefly about Jerry, one of the co founders, Jerry Sanders, who I knew for a while. He started this in 1969, I think he was at Fairchild. Every employee got stock, stock options when he started. And you told me I didn't, haven't kept up. He's. He's still alive still. Maybe he might be watching. He's 89 years old. I think the reason I bring this up, Lisa, I watched AMD challenge Intel for years and years and I had the. I have to rethink everything because I thought of it as an also RAM back then and it always seemed to be Almost a. It seemed to be copying or cloning a lot of things that intel did. The chart doesn't even work on. And this is only. What is that? That's only 10 years for intel versus AMD. Something happened somewhere. Can you, can you tell me where? Intel missed something or AMD capitalized or capital. I mean, obviously. But what is it? I don't know. Did things change in the business? What caused intel to lose its preeminence?

[Lisa Su]

Well, first of all, Joe, as I said, we love Jerry. I hope Jerry's watching. He absolutely founded a fantastic company and I'm honored to be a CEO. Look, I've been CEO for 11 years. A little bit over 11 years. And as I said, you know, what you find in technology is when you're at inflection points in technology, you have to make the right strategic bets. You have to decide, hey, I know where it's going to go and I'm going to invest in those places. And, you know, that's what we've done. I think, you know, we had a vision that high performance computing was going to be the most important thing and that's what we were going to invest in. And with that, you know, we, we systematically gained confidence. You know, Becky, back to your earlier question. When I started, I think we had 1% of the CPU market and you know, today we're probably about 40% and I think we have a path to be, you know, over 50% or number one in the market. And that, that came from, you know, just a true belief of where the technology is going and how do we partner with the largest companies out there.

[Becky Quick]

I am not anybody to question your ability to do it, but it is really hard, I'm told, to come up with this rack scale infrastructure. And obviously you care about putting your customers first, you care about building trust with them. You're not going to do anything that would put that at risk. But even in video stumbled when they brought out the Blackwell chips, which is their third iteration of that architecture. So what are you doing? How, how, how can you be so confident? What are you doing to make sure that this pulls off without a hitch?

[Lisa Su]

Well, Becky, I can say that our track record is we've built an execution machine and we are very confident in our ability to bring out new products. One of the things that, you know, when you look at the past five years, we've invested over $100 billion, both organically and inorganically in the company. So organically really built up our engineering capability, hardware, software, systems, Inorganically, we've done $60 billion of acquisitions with the idea of let's bring in the talent required to ensure that we can really pay off these big bets. You know, the key in technology is you have to make the right decisions. And I think we've made many right decisions. We recently acquired a company called ZT Systems that specializes in data center rack scale solutions. And they have been absolutely key to our roadmap going forward. In addition to a number of other hardware and software acquisitions over the last few years.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Lisa, big question in the industry is how to think about the depreciating value of these chips. So you're talking about sort of this fascinating, fabulous new technology and changing, you know, increasing and making that technology better every single year as so many people are building these data centers. The fundamental question is how long do these chips actually work? Or when I say work are meaningful if you have to upgrade them, given how quickly things are moving ever every call it two or three years or four years or whatnot and what happens to them afterwards?

[Lisa Su]

Yeah, absolutely. I think what we've actually seen is, I think this was something that people were wondering, is it like the next chip is so much better that I have to rip out our current gear and put in new gear? What we're finding is that's just not the case. We're finding that as AI workloads expand. Right, Think about it this way. You have the most advanced foundational models that need the latest and greatest and will take the newest chip as soon as it comes out. And then you have a whole bunch of other AI companies that are out there that are just servicing, let's call it regular demand, medium sized models, maybe even small models like large enterprises may do quite a bit of fine tuning on their models. So they don't need the latest and greatest. What they want is something that is very reliable, very steady, has shown through the entire capability. And so they'll use, let's call it the current technology. And what we're finding is there is a large set of use cases like we only always talk about the bleeding edge. And what I'd like people to think about is AI is for everyone. Like everyone should get a piece of AI. And that means in the cloud, that means you may use, you know, the current generation technology. And by the way, I'd love you to be using AI in your PCs because I think that will also be one of.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I totally get the big question is are we building railroad tracks that are going to be here for a very long time? We're going to have to replace the tracks every five years, 10 years. I mean, look, this phone, which is the iPhone 17. I actually just found an old iPhone 2. You can't use the iPhone 2.

[Lisa Su]

That's right.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

You can't use really the iPhone 10. You probably maybe the iPhone 12. So this is, this is the fundamental question in terms of all of the money that's going into this space and how those chips, I agree with you, they use in some way somehow. But how, again, this goes to the sort of, the math of all of this.

[Lisa Su]

I think the math of people who are thinking, hey, is four years too long? I think are now beginning to see you can definitely use these assets, you know, five, six years and some would say even beyond for, let's call it more of the workhorse applications. And that's what, you know, kind of makes the growth rates what it is. Because for the absolute bleeding edge new technology, you're going to build big new data centers and they're going to be different form factors, but the rest of the assets will continue to be used.

[Becky Quick]

And you, you need a five year depreciation schedule in order for that to really pay off. That's about back to Andrew's earlier question. Just going back to some of the deals that we've seen. From the outside, it looks like this crazy whirlwind where anybody and everybody in the industry, both when it comes to technology and energy, are meeting all the time. We just have Mike Wirth here talking about how he's talking to somebody we don't know who, about building out an AI data center in Texas. Is it like that from the inside? Is it this crazy whirlwind of you got to meet with everybody all the time?

[Lisa Su]

It is a whirlwind. I will say it is a whirlwind. And as, as we look across the ecosystem, I think one thing has changed. We've gone beyond, you know, as a silicon company, we used to talk to our customers and our customers, customers. Like we would talk to the hyperscalers, we would talk to end users like the enterprises, you know, the mics of the world. I think what's becoming clearer is now we need the entire value chain that includes, includes the people who are building the data centers, the people who are providing the power, and the people who are also providing the financing. Andrew, to your point about, all of these things are important for us to put together. It is a broad ecosystem. And the way I think about it is that's actually the way it should be because we need all of the pieces to accelerate for us to really put on all of this, compute in the. As fast as possible.

[Joe Kernen]

Are we. Is the Trump administration using industrial policy in terms of intel, in terms of the Biden administration, in terms of the CHIPS Act? Are those good things? Is there a way to do it that makes sense, or you just do what you're doing and.

[Lisa Su]

Well, I think it's a fact of life that semiconductors are now essential to every country. They're essential to. To the United States. I think, you know, the Trump administration has actually been very, very helpful in terms of engaging industry. You know, a bunch of my peers, myself, we spend a lot of time there just ensuring that there's a very clear understanding of how semiconductors. You know, the US Wants to lead in semiconductors, and we absolutely want to be able to enable that. I think we lead today. We want to extend that. But it is a case where, yes, I think it's such a critical asset that it's a fact of life, that we need to make sure that we're very, very much.

[Joe Kernen]

Do you want to design them or do we want to make them?

[Lisa Su]

We want to do both.

[Joe Kernen]

Even if it's cheaper somewhere else?

[Lisa Su]

Yes, yes, we lead in design today, but we must have manufacturing in the United States. And even if it's a little bit more expensive, that's totally fine. Because, you know, if you think about the value that we're adding to the economy, you absolutely want to have.

[Joe Kernen]

How about the CHiPs Act? Was that done? Is that the way to do it? Or how was it administered? Say something bad. No.

[Lisa Su]

Say something bad.

[Joe Kernen]

No.

[Lisa Su]

Well, what I will say is that it's. It's really important for the US to continue to serve the entire world. So I think we all believe in this notion of we want the world using US Semiconductors and US Technology, the US Stack. And so that's a. That's a key imperative.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

So do you think it's a mistake, then, for this administration to end the prior administration to try to put limits on chips that are being exported?

[Lisa Su]

I don't think it's a mistake. I think export controls are also make a lot of sense, given national security. I think how you implement is, you know, the devil's in the details. And that's where, you know, we want to be very involved in sort of the, the regulations and how they come out. But given how important semiconductors are, I think export controls are, again, a factor.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

I just had a separate question, which I didn't get to earlier. Mossesan yesterday dumped his entire stake in Nvidia effectively $6 billion worth, $5.8 billion worth, to use that money to commit to open AI. And I'm so curious what your reaction to that is or was.

[Lisa Su]

I don't know, Andrew, that I have a particular reaction to it. I mean, I have a lot of respect for Masa son. I think he makes, he makes his decisions. You know, I, look, I view this as the ecosystem is in a place where people are making bets and people are deciding what bets they want to make and whether you know, which part of the stack you want to make the bets. You know, from our standpoint, we're certainly at the foundational silicon level, but we invest in a number of AI companies as well, because we want access to that.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But I just wonder whether he's saying to himself that the chip piece of this has run its course and that he thinks clearly the next stage of value is in a large language model like open AI. That, I mean, that seems from the outside, that seems to be what he's saying without saying it aloud.

[Lisa Su]

Well, I would say being someone on the chip side, I think the chip, the, the chip trade or the chip industry is doing very.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

He got out in 2019 and that was a mistake for him to get out too. So we'll see.

[Lisa Su]

We'll see.

[Becky Quick]

Lisa, let me ask you about intel and Nvidia, because I know you don't like particularly being compared to either one of them, but now the two of them are have a partnership themselves. And from a competitive standpoint, what does that mean to you? How do you change at all if there's anything you would change in terms of how you face either one of those companies?

[Lisa Su]

Well, I think, Becky, our industry is such that we compete and then we also partner. Like we actually have a partnership with intel as well on the x86 ecosystem. You know, our chips run interoperably with intel chips, in some cases with Nvidia chips. It's a complex ecosystem. You know, my main goal is to ensure that we have the right partnerships. And partnership is actually very core to our principles. You know, I'm a big believer in there's no one company that has all of the right solutions. You actually need to bring the best of the best together. So I like to say when we create partnerships, it's how do we do one plus one is greater than three. And we find we have lots of partnerships in the ecosystem to ensure that we, you know, our operate well to really deliver everything that you need for the complexity of AI, like AI is the most exciting, but it's Also the most complex thing that we are bringing out there. And so you should expect that they're going to be partnerships with people who compete in some areas, but who also partner in other areas.

[Becky Quick]

I think you have something in common with Condoleezza Rice. She started out wanting to be a concert pianist, and I think that was your first choice.

[Lisa Su]

I wasn't good enough. She's much better being.

[Becky Quick]

No, she said she wasn't good enough either. So Secretary of State was her second choice. I think we are lucky to have this be your second choice. We're lucky that you weren't better at it.

[Joe Kernen]

Lisa, I had one more theoretical question. So I used to work, like, I don't have enough to worry about, but I used to worry about Moore's Law and physical constraints and that the party's going to end. It almost became moot, didn't it? Because we're everything sort of attached. Do we need Moore's Law to continue? Would it help if we could go on forever or. And is it ending?

[Lisa Su]

We all love Moore's Law. Moore's Law is, in its traditional sense, slowing down, but we've added many more laws on top of that. And the idea is, when you have smart people and you focus them on a problem, they can do amazing things around.

[Joe Kernen]

Getting around physics is hard, but they got around it in an elegant way.

[Lisa Su]

To get to the next level of physics, right? That's. That's what happens. You say, hey, I'm constrained. I mean, people used to say, like, there's no reason to keep investing in semiconductors. Semiconductors are going to be a mature industry. You know, it's going to kind of just grow at a slow pace. And then what did you find? You found. You know, I came in, and all of a sudden the foundation is semiconductors. Like, everybody needs semiconductors. And so the world does find a way. When there is a need, whether it's computing or it's power or it's other things, you know, engineers find a way to make sure they can.

[Joe Kernen]

Malthus never made any. I don't think he ever won a bet, did he? When they tried to close the patent office in 1880, because nothing new was going to come around, I guess that was. We learned that wasn't a very good idea either. I can't believe it's going to continue without. So you can't really explain it, I guess, to me. Probably would take a while. How do you get around Moore's Law?

[Lisa Su]

Well, I'll give you one quick idea. If it gives you any comfort.

[Joe Kernen]

So we might not understand it, but.

[Lisa Su]

We used to do everything in two dimensionals and when we said, hey, we ran out of space, we decided we're going to put things on top of each other and we call that chiplets. That's an example of one of the innovations where, you know, people were like, hey, that can't be done. Well, guess what? It can be done.

[Joe Kernen]

Not an ice cream.

[Becky Quick]

By the way, part of the reason that they took on intel.

[Lisa Su]

Oh, that's right.

[Joe Kernen]

Chip.

[Lisa Su]

Let's.

[Shaun White]

That's a chip which people used to.

[Lisa Su]

Say, hey, you're gluing chips together. It's like, no, we are showing you how you're supposed to build chips in the future so that you can really get around some of these constraints. So there are lots of examples like this.

[Becky Quick]

Lisa, I want to thank you very much for joining us today. Lisa Su of amd and we appreciate your time.

[Lisa Su]

Thank you so much.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

It's great to see you.

[Joe Kernen]

Thanks.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

A lot of fun.

[Joe Kernen]

Thank you. Please come back.

[Becky Quick]

Next on Squawk Pot.

[Joe Kernen]

If you can have a pickleball league, you can have a snow league.

[Becky Quick]

Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Shaun White, now an entrepreneur bringing his sport to new audiences with the Snow League.

[Shaun White]

Traditionally the competitions don't really provide any type of compensation. I mean, they don't even pay to the bottom. So we're really trying to elevate. We have the highest prize person that has ever been in the sport.

[Audie Cornish]

Hey friends, this is Audie Cornish, host of CNN this Morning and the Assignment. And guess what? Every story you care about, every angle you want unpacked is now streaming on cnn. That means you can catch my show or other CNN programming whenever you want on your favorite device. And a subscription also gets you access to exclusive video series and unlimited article articles. So subscribe to [e-mail] Subscription.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

This episode.

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Is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information packed daily market Preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and [e-mail] MarketUpdatePodcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.

[Becky Quick]

You're listening to Squawk Pod from CNBC with Joe, Becky and Andrew.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Stand by Joe.

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His mic.

[Joe Kernen]

Q. The professional snowboarding and free skiing so called snow league has just secured more funding in its inaugural season. Join us now is one of the Snow League's founders, three time Olympic. U.S. olympic gold medalist Shaun White. Great to see you. We've been talking.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Very excited to have you here.

[Joe Kernen]

How. How someone gets. Becomes you. And you, you admitted it was. You didn't think it through on the trampoline. You were doing, you were doing things that the normal people would say, no, I'm not going to do that. But you decided to. To go ahead.

[Shaun White]

Even more surprising, my parents were like, that's okay.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Hold on. But how old were you? How old were you when you started on the trampoline?

[Shaun White]

Gosh, I was probably like four or five.

[Joe Kernen]

Four.

[Shaun White]

Yeah. Jumping around. Then I got sponsored. First sponsor, I was seven. For snowboarding.

[Joe Kernen]

Before you realize you shouldn't be doing it. Before the fear takes over, I guess. Here's my thought on this. Sports. I mean, what can you say about sports in the world today? It's expanding everywhere. And I thought, you know what, if you can have a pickleball league, you can have a snow league.

[Shaun White]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Kernen]

Hey, I mean, I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

[Shaun White]

We see it.

[Joe Kernen]

How come it hasn't? Because every, every four years, we're riveted.

[Shaun White]

Yeah.

[Joe Kernen]

Why don't we think that it would work in between Olympics?

[Shaun White]

No, it's incredible to see. I mean, look at the Olympics. It's not just an athlete going. I mean, I was the athlete of the Winter Games and there are others, you know, Chloe Kim, we have these amazingly talented athletes going in after the Olympics. There's just nothing there for them. And you look at any traditional sport, there's tour, you know, football, baseball, soccer, UFC, F1. So it's a shame that we don't have that in the sport of free skiing and snowboarding. So I felt it was my time and place to bring this about and I'm so excited for it. And when you really look at the landscape, it's incredible.

[Joe Kernen]

Right.

[Shaun White]

You have what, maybe 66 something million participants in golf. There's 130 something million participants in winter sport with a higher household income than golf. Golf. So you have this massive audience and you want to reach them in between Olympic seasons. And so, yeah, the Snow League's founded and really excited about it.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

How much of it is about telling the story of the particular athletes? Because it's one, you know, it's one thing I find myself like, I love just watching you or watching some of the, you know, either Olympic stuff or X Games or people doing crazy things.

[Shaun White]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But it's like if I flip onto it, I can stay there for a long time.

[Shaun White]

Yeah. But I.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

But I haven't found myself saying, okay, next Sunday, I need to go watch to see where they are in, you know, in the season.

[Shaun White]

Right.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And that, I assume, takes a different.

[Shaun White]

You don't have a season, really.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Right. Because that takes a different kind of dedication.

[Shaun White]

Where do you find.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

So how much of it is about just creating the season unto itself.

[Schwab Trading Ad]

Yeah.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And then how much is about creating a narrative around these different athletes so that I want to see every Sunday or whatever it is?

[Shaun White]

Yeah. No.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

What's happening?

[Shaun White]

It's a great question, because for me, I get the question all the time. It's, where's the next John White? You know, where's this next person in the sport? I'm like, they're there already. We're just not telling their story. So for me, it's all about elevating the athletes, bringing them to this new place and really putting it on a pedestal. Because it's been deemed action sports for the longest time. But it is. I mean, just because we're not kicking or throwing a ball, I mean, these athletes are risking so much to be out there, flying down the mountain, the half pipes, 22ft tall, doing multiple flips. I mean, it's impressive to watch. So I think really pulling back the curtain and showing the lives of these athletes and the struggles it takes to get to this place. I mean, I was lucky that my story was really told, but now I have the chance to kind of bring these athletes up, tell their stories and put them on that pedestal stall.

[Joe Kernen]

What's it take to get started? I know you got. There was a funding round, 15 million.

[Shaun White]

We just.

[Joe Kernen]

What would you need to. How much more do you need to get fully ready to go?

[Shaun White]

Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, we're thrilled to have just closed this first round. Excuse me, second round. And we're moving. But look, we've. We're supported by these massive sports backers, private equity, and you have a relationship with NBA and yeah, NBC became our brother Winter Olympics.

[Joe Kernen]

Obviously, I don't know for how that was a great deal when we secured that for we. I say.

[Shaun White]

But Steve Burke.

[Joe Kernen]

Yeah, Steve Burke and Peacock.

[Shaun White]

Yeah, of course. It's been amazing. We have 3-59-Capital that came in, Wise Ventures, Bitcraft, Left Lane, these amazing people supporting us on this vision that I have, you know, this goal, this league. So it's been incredible to have them support us. And really, after one event, we're heading into an Olympic year. It's just everything spinning and landing on winter sports. So it's just a perfect.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

How much do you need to get in terms of sponsorship for the league versus sponsorship for the athletes themselves? And how does that divide even work?

[Shaun White]

Yeah, well, it kind of trickles down in a way. So traditionally the competitions don't really provide any type of compensation. I mean, they don't even pay to the bottom. So we're really trying to elevate. We have the highest price person who's ever been in the sport. And what we're doing is equal pay for men and women, things that weren't happening, you know.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

So if you, if you win a tournament, what do you get?

[Shaun White]

Yeah, right now it's $50,000 for the first place, spread out over the season, multiple events, and then we crown a winner at the end. But we're hoping to grow that dramatically as the season goes on. But most events, they don't even pay down to 10th place. They don't. If you show up at our event and compete, you will be getting the check for participation. And it's amazing.

[Becky Quick]

I'm guessing that streaming is what makes this all possible. The idea that there are broadcasters, there are streamers who are desperate for content and they're willing to pay for it.

[Shaun White]

Yeah.

[Becky Quick]

What was the decision to go with NBC and with Peacock? How many bidders did you have? I mean, that's where the action is right now.

[Shaun White]

It is. I mean, look, I mentioned the Olympics coming our way. I'm a big fan of NBC. It was something where it just felt right, you know, and they've been super supportive. And other leagues before us have joined NBC and had this amazing trajectory. The pll, the Pickleball league. Excuse me, the Professional Lacrosse League. And so we're really just kind of like learning from these other leagues, kind of using F1 as our sort of North Star, you know, this high end sort of experience where normally you go to Aspen and you get the Swiss businessman that comes through, you get the Kardashians. These people, they want that experience of Aspen. And snowboarding events for the longest time have had this kind of grungy culture wrapped around them, which is fine. It's kind of where we came from, this rebellious place. But we're really trying to elevate this now. We've kind of had this paddock club style, three story glass structure at the bottom. We're serving hot sake and sushi and people, you're watching this incredible event and there's musical performances, all this stuff wrapped around it. But to touch on what you said, it's a mixture of things we're really, we're bringing in some amazing sponsors. I mean, we have Tiffany's making our trophies, we have Marriott, these massive brands coming in to support. And then we're raising, obviously, on the side to make sure we can extend the events because we want to get up to 10 to 15 events within the next three, to do two, three years.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

The athletes either, I assume, do they make money doing this? It costs them. I mean, a lot of golfers who are on the tour, it ultimately costs them to be on the Tour. It's really only the tippy top that are really making a nice living doing this.

[Shaun White]

Yeah, well, that's the thing. I felt so fortunate in my career. I'm like, how can we change this? How can we make it better? So you'll see some athletes have posted on social and things like that how much it actually cost them to get to these events. And taking first or second place didn't even cover their travel to get down there. So we're really trying to elevate and really pay the athletes well. And through success with the league and more stops and the growth, I think we're really going to change the lives of the athletes, which is amazing, and make a, you know, synergy for the season.

[Joe Kernen]

Right.

[Shaun White]

I was 16, I had this undefeated season, won every competition I entered, got to the end of the year, and they're like, the interview. I'll never forget amazing accomplishments, Sean. Like, no one's ever done that. But how does it feel to not be the world champion? I'm like, what exactly? What did I not do to earn that title? So you really see a fragmented season. And again, like any traditional sport, we want just like a common place to show up, watch these athletes.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

And I feel like I just saw you skiing indoors. Is that true?

[Shaun White]

I was, yeah, in Jersey.

[Joe Kernen]

Right? Jersey.

[Shaun White]

All places.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Could you ever. Could you ever pull this off as an indoor situation? We're talking about it in the middle of the summer in Dubai or something.

[Shaun White]

We're talking about it. Look, it's a really, truly global series. So we're talking with New Zealand, South America and Chile, these places. And yeah, we would love to do something indoors. It's definitely going to be more challenging to build something like that because you need the ceiling height, you need the weight, all that.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

Is there any facility in the world right now that can do that?

[Shaun White]

They're building a few right now that. That could probably handle it. So, yeah, stay tuned. But it's exciting more to talk about.

[Joe Kernen]

But it gets complicated, Sean, and that is how much this is worth with the offers that you get. You got a great offer, but the federation itself didn't like the offer or something. It was a $400 million media rights offer. I think you got to think it through exactly how to approach this in terms of ownership and everything else. Right. And I don't know, I'll show you this as you lean, but we got a wrap right now, unfortunately. But it's a longer conversation because it's worth a lot. You don't want to sell too early, I think, because these private equity guys would like to get in at a low price. Yeah.

[Shaun White]

It's exciting times, though. Exciting times.

[Joe Kernen]

Thanks.

[Shaun White]

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[Becky Quick]

We appreciate it.

And that is Squawk Pod for today. This Wednesday. Thank you for listening. Squawk Box is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Tune in weekday mornings on CNBC at 6 Eastern. Get the best of our TV show right into your ears when you follow Squawk Pod wherever you get your podcasts. Have a great Wednesday. We'll meet you right back here tomorrow.

[Andrew Ross Sorkin]

We are clear. Thanks guys.

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