In the digital torrent, there is a force that is reshaping the world at an unprecedented speed - that is the deep integration of artificial intelligence and data center technology. In this cutting-edge field, there is a female leader who, with her extraordinary strategic vision and excellent execution ability, leads the global technology giant Intel to forge ahead in this blue ocean, and she is Sandra Rivera, the general manager of Intel's data center and AI business.
"Data is the new oil, and AI is the combustion engine." This view put forward by Sandra Rivera vividly depicts her understanding of today's technological landscape. She firmly believes that as big data becomes the new fuel driving the global economic development like oil, AI is precisely that powerful engine that converts the energy of data into the driving force of productivity and social progress.
"The data center is the nervous system of modern society. They carry the information flow of the world and drive the pulse of the digital economy." Sandra Rivera said so, revealing between the lines her profound understanding of the key position of the data center in the future social development. Under her leadership, Intel's data center business focuses on building a more powerful, flexible and efficient computing foundation for global enterprises.
Since Ms. Rivera took over Intel's data center business, she has implemented a series of major strategic reforms and technological innovations. For example, she led the launch of the new-generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor, which integrates advanced AI acceleration functions and greatly improves the efficiency of the data center in processing massive data and complex algorithms. According to official data, compared to the previous-generation product, the performance of the new processor has increased by up to 46% in specific workloads, and the performance in both AI training and inference has been significantly improved, which undoubtedly consolidates Intel's leading position in the global data center market.
Not only that, Rivera also actively promotes the construction of green data centers. She firmly believes that "the future of the data center lies not only in the improvement of computing power, but also in sustainable development and environmental protection and energy conservation". Therefore, under her leadership, Intel has increased the research and development efforts on server chips and cooling technologies with higher energy efficiency ratios, striving to reduce energy consumption and achieve low-carbon operation while ensuring strong computing power.
Under Rivera's leadership, the growth trend of Intel's data center business is gratifying. In recent years, the business revenue has repeatedly reached new highs and the market share has steadily increased, which also confirms the effectiveness of Rivera's leadership ability and strategic vision. She insists that the data center is not only a testing ground for technological innovation, but also a carrier of social responsibility, and should be committed to creating a new computing model that can not only promote technological progress but also take into account environmental friendliness.
"In the arena of AI, what we face is not only technical problems, but also how to accurately predict and quickly adapt to the ever-changing market needs." Sandra Rivera so expounded her leadership philosophy in Intel's AI business. In her opinion, behind any innovation there are inevitable challenges, and the key lies in how to face the problem directly and find out practical and feasible solutions.
Facing the increasingly fierce market competition and the rapidly iterative AI technology, at the very beginning of Rivera taking charge of Intel's AI business, she immediately realized that it was necessary to break the existing framework and accelerate the pace of innovation in products and services. Under her leadership, Intel launched hardware and software solutions specifically optimized for AI, such as the Intel® Nervana™ neural network processor and the OpenVINO™ toolkit, to meet the complex and changeable demands of AI application scenarios.
However, the process was not all smooth sailing. When attempting to apply AI technology to various industry scenarios, Rivera encountered challenges in aspects such as compatibility, efficiency, and the matching degree of customer demands. Facing these problems, she resolutely implemented the "customer-centered" strategy, and by deeply understanding the pain points of various industries, guided the team and partners to jointly overcome difficulties. For example, in the field of medical imaging diagnosis, Intel closely cooperated with multiple medical institutions to specifically optimize the AI algorithm and hardware architecture, greatly improving the accuracy and efficiency of the AI-assisted diagnosis system.
At the same time, Rivera deeply knows that talent is the core driving force for promoting innovation. She vigorously promoted the internal talent cultivation plan and widely recruited top experts in the global AI field to join, creating an elite team that is not only proficient in technology but also has the ability to collaborate across fields. According to statistics, under her leadership, the scale of Intel's AI R & D team and R & D investment have increased year by year, which has laid a solid foundation for Intel's leading advantage in the AI track.
When referring to the issues of AI ethics and sustainable development, Rivera said, "We should not only focus on the development of AI technology, but also ensure that it complies with ethical norms and serves the long-term interests of human society." To this end, under her advocacy, Intel actively participated in formulating global AI ethical standards and implemented them in its own business, striving to adhere to social conscience and the principle of sustainable development while promoting technological innovation.
"In the technology industry, the real power comes from diversity and inclusiveness, because this inspires different ideological collisions and innovative sparks." Sandra Rivera's famous saying reveals her profound insights in promoting gender equality and diversity. She deeply knows that only by breaking the traditional gender barrier and advocating and implementing multi-inclusion can the talent potential be maximally released and the continuous innovation and development of the entire industry be driven.
Under Rivera's leadership, Intel has achieved tangible results in gender equality and diversity practices. The company actively responded to the call of UN Women and set an ambitious goal of "achieving gender equality in the global management layer by 2020." As of the latest statistics, the proportion of female leadership in Intel has significantly increased, breaking the inherent impression of male dominance in the previous technology industry. Rivera not only personally participated in many projects that support the career development of women but also initiated and promoted a series of policies and plans aimed at attracting, retaining, and developing female talents, including providing training, mentoring, and promotion opportunities, as well as establishing communities that support female engineers and leaders.
Rivera also particularly emphasized the importance of a diverse background for promoting the fairness and inclusiveness of AI. She pointed out that if the designers and developers of AI lack diversity, then AI products and services may inadvertently copy and amplify the biases in real society. Therefore, she promoted Intel to pay attention to diversity in the recruitment, training, and project implementation processes, and to solve the issues of fairness and inclusiveness in the AI field by funding research projects and holding seminars.
In specific cases, Intel established the "AI for Good" project, encouraging employees from different backgrounds to participate together to ensure that the research and application of AI technology reflect a wide range of social values and inclusiveness. At the same time, Rivera also strongly supported activities such as "Women in Technology" to pave the way for women's career development in the technology field, so that more voices and ideas can be fully expressed and realized in technological innovation.
To sum up, Sandra Rivera, with her profound strategic insights, strong execution ability, and adherence to social responsibility, has successfully led Intel's data center and AI business to embark on a new journey. Her story is not only a wonderful chapter of the transformation and innovation of a technology giant but also a vivid example of how a new era technology leader combines cutting-edge technology with social values to achieve a greater scope and deeper impact. Under Rivera's leadership, Intel is moving firmly towards the goal of building a new era of intelligent computing.
