The Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) announces the recipient of the 2023 Dr. Lisa Su Woman of Innovation Award. This award will be presented at the Women in Semiconductor Hardware, WISH, Conference on October 12, 2023.
The 2023 Dr. Lisa Su Woman of Innovation Award recognizes an industry veteran who has dedicated her career to making exceptional contributions to drive the development, innovation, growth, and long-term opportunities for the semiconductor industry. GSA WLI will proudly present the Woman of Innovation award to Rani Borkar, Corporate Vice President for Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure at Microsoft.
“Rani Borkar’s distinction as the first-ever recipient of the Dr. Lisa Su Woman of Innovation award perfectly embodies the award’s core values, highlighting her outstanding leadership and contributions to our industry,” said Jodi Shelton, GSA CEO. I have had the privilege to work with Rani over the last several years and she has contributed much to the leadership of the GSA and to the GSA’s Women’s Leadership Initiative. Rani commands respect from her peers both inside Microsoft and in tech ecosystem for her exceptional leadership, technical prowess, and commitment to innovation as well as advocating for women within the industry and beyond.
Rani Borkar is the Corporate Vice President for Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure at Microsoft. In her role, Borkar leads the core organizations responsible for planning, architecting, developing, and deploying the hardware and infrastructure for Microsoft’s leading cloud computing platform.
Over the last 35 years, Borkar has established herself as a pioneer in the semiconductor industry, a technology executive, product visionary, and trusted leader. Borkar’s leadership has intersected the most seminal platform shifts in the evolution of modern computing: the rise of the PC, the introduction of consumer mobile, the arrival of multi-core processors, and the proliferation of digital transformation via cloud, AI, and quantum computing.
During her career at Intel, Borkar led silicon product development strategy for microprocessors that drove evolutionary shifts for the semiconductor industry, including the highly successful Intel Xeon, Atom, Core, Pentium, and Celeron product families. Managing large, complex, and diverse global engineering organizations, Borkar’s leadership enabled technological innovation in servers, PCs, mobile phones, tablets, and the Internet of Things that drove major product shifts and transformed consumer behavior.
As the head of Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure at Microsoft, Borkar is responsible for the vision, strategy, and architecture of silicon and systems development, cloud supply chain as well as global capacity deployment for Microsoft’s cloud data center infrastructure. Her organization develops technologies that empower the world to innovate and drive end-to-
end business value for Azure’s products and solutions, and today serves more than 95% of the Fortune 500. Leading with the philosophy of “mission first, people always,” Borkar has inspired and transformed organizations by building close-knit communities. To produce great technology, Borkar believes in the power of combining technology assets and engineering talent with the values of collaboration, innovation, and risk-taking, thereby empowering teams to innovate and move the industry forward.
Leading with the philosophy of “mission first, people always,” Borkar has inspired and transformed organizations by building close-knit communities. To produce great technology, Borkar believes in the power of combining technology assets and engineering talent with the values of collaboration, innovation, and risk-taking, thereby empowering teams to innovate and move the industry forward.
Borkar is actively involved in the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), where she serves on its board of directors and on the GSA Women’s Leadership Council. She is also on the board of directors of Applied Materials. Borkar previously served as a Trustee and as Chair of the Board of Trustees at Oregon State University to help guide the state’s effort to advance economic development and innovation.
Borkar earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree—both in physics—from the University of Mumbai, India. She went on to earn a second master’s degree in electrical engineering from the Oregon Graduate Institute. Borkar also holds an Executive Program in Leadership (LEAD) certificate from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
“I am humbled and honored to receive the Dr. Lisa Su Award and to be recognized for all that it represents – the dedication, talent, and accomplishments that women have had and continue to have in an industry that drives incredible innovation to change the world for the better,” said Borkar. “When we value and recognize the power of workplace diversity, we change what’s possible for generations to come, inspire technical women to lead, and build supportive communities that will collectively fuel semiconductor growth,” said Rani Borkar.
WISH takes place October 12, 2023 at the Hayes Mansion in San Jose, CA. This year we are proud to mention that the award’s namesake Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO of AMD will be present at the conference to present the award and participate in a fireside chat.
Although WISH is part of GSA’s Women’s Leadership Initiative, it is our hope that all people, regardless of gender, will join us to hear our amazing speakers, celebrate the award nominees and recipients and be a part of this incredible event.
