Gustavo Arenas

Q&A with Gustavo Arenas, Corporate Vice President, High Growth Markets, AMD at the World Economic Forum on Africa

Government is not the answer to every problem, but when it comes to technology access, it is the single most important factor everywhere in the world. AMD’s Gustavo Arenas sat down with leaders of the World Economic Forum at the organization’s South African Summit meeting in late May to share his thoughts about the important role governments around the world must play in putting technology into the hands of people in high-growth markets and how competition and innovation are the critical catalysts for success.

Expanding IT infrastructure and reducing network costs would help African business efficiency and enable African governments. How can governments encourage business investment in order to expand Africa’s IT infrastructure?

Information Technology companies, like AMD and our customers and partners, increasingly see Africa as a place where we want to do business. So half the battle is already won. We want to be here and African leaders want us here. The next step is for governments across the continent to work with the private sector and public organizations to enact policies that serve to nurture a healthy business environment where fair and open competition prevails. Fortunately, we’re seeing this kind of thinking blossom here. It manifests in initiatives such as NEPAD (New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development), where multiple African governments, non-profit organizations, the global IT industry and many other world bodies and organizations have come together to develop programs and initiatives that seek to solve an array of socio-economic problems by empowering and enabling people to take control of their own lives. This is sustainable and it’s wonderful to see.

We should also, collectively, examine aid programs and look for ways to redirect some of those resources toward cultivating the right conditions for long-term success. This includes developing the most competitive aspects of the full range of business sectors, not just IT. It also should include a commitment to R&D investment, as well as investment in education and training (including health education), manufacturing, natural resource development and other factors that are fundamental to future prosperity. Aid goes a long way toward solving a lot of problems, but much of it is understandably directed at emergency relief efforts. It’s difficult to think beyond that, but it’s vital that we make room for aid to also drive long-term growth opportunities as well.

Finally, competition is key. AMD continues to be an advocate for fair and open competition everywhere around the world. It also informs our 50x15 initiative, which seeks to connect 50 percent of the world’s population to the Internet by the year 2015. The only way we can reach this goal is by working together with global partners from all public and private sectors of society to develop innovative new ideas and technologies. If history teaches us anything, it’s that true innovation is borne from competition. Ford’s introduction of assembly line manufacturing is perhaps the most recognized example of this, but it is by no means the only one. AMD’s joint announcement with Microsoft on May 22 is an equally powerful example. Together, AMD and Microsoft are developing new technology designed to allow people in high-growth markets around the world to own a fully featured PC under a pay-as-you-go business model, similar to the way most people around the world use cell phones. This is the ultimate win-win situation, as the population in emerging markets will be able to obtain a full-featured, low-power PC in a very affordable way.