Sagi Paz, head of AMD Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.

Sagi Paz has built AMD’s venture unit from the ground up, creating an investment arm that has made more than 30 investments and deployed hundreds of millions of dollars since 2022.

Paz came to AMD in 2022, after the company acquired Xilinx, a US semiconductor manufacturer, where he headed the corporate venture unit. Historically, AMD had done very little venture investing, which meant Paz had to start AMD Ventures from scratch.

Last year was a busy year for the CVC team, with 15 investments and more than $300m deployed. This year, the team continues to accelerate and is on pace to exceed 2024 numbers. The team’s investment focus is AI, mostly in foundational software and infrastructure companies, with a smaller portion of around 20% going into AI hardware companies.

Its portfolio companies include AI startups that have raised billions of dollars in fundraising rounds. Recent investments include: Cohere, a genAI large language model (LLM) developer, which raised $500m in a series D round in July 2024; xAI, another LLM, which raised $6bn series C in December 2024; and Hugging Face, a leading AI platform for developers.

“In an area where you have a lot of uncertainty, more opinions are key for making the right decisions.”

This year, Paz plans to invest more in sectors where AI can drive innovation, such as in life sciences and humanoid robotics. AMD Ventures invests in all stages, from early-stage all the way to pre-IPO.

“Most of our investments are in software companies where it is straightforward for us to drive mutual value,” says Paz. “We focus on companies that are aligned with AMD’s vision and can benefit from strengthening their engagement with AMD.”

Paz leads a small team that he plans to grow this year. He aims to create a collaborative work environment in which all team members evaluate investment opportunities. “It is really important to hear different perspectives. I want to make sure that everyone gets as much exposure as possible and can chime in on where we should invest,” says Paz. “In an area where you have a lot of uncertainty, more opinions are key for making the right decisions.”


The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry. 

These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession. 

See the full 2025 Powerlist here.