As a child growing up in Mexico, I became aware of the importance of education. Today, I realize that perhaps no force can have a greater impact on promoting education than technology.

For the past 30 years, the focus of the technology industry has been to create faster, more powerful, and more efficient systems. Now our industry is at a crossroads, and the potential to truly empower people’s lives on a global scale has arrived. In an increasingly connected world, our ability to effect positive change will no longer be just a result of new technology but instead will depend on our capacity to place technology into the hands of a far greater percentage of the world's citizens.

At AMD, we have set a bold and far-reaching goal: to empower 50 percent of the world's population with affordable access to the Internet by 2015. While some may think it’s an impossible endeavor, I feel that our goals are not only attainable but perhaps the most important transformational event we will experience in our lifetime.

We’ve already gotten underway. Groups such as ITAFE (Internet Access For Everyone), a collaboration of 12 companies and institutions, remain committed to the accelerated proliferation of information access. Its members have identified and documented the conditions needed for any Internet adoption effort to successfully take root. From basic infrastructure requirements to financing, ITAFE provides the tools to build an ecosystem of public and private partners that can create the proper environment for empowering high-growth markets worldwide. Through research and project execution, they have found that making a profit and making the world a better place do not have to be mutually exclusive goals.

The 50x15 Initiative is more than just about doing good for the world. It is designed to have a sustaining effect, to help enable economic opportunities and reinvestment in high-growth markets. We’ve already seen success, but we still have work to do. 50x15 and its partners have built — and continue to build — upon incentives and strategies that work. It’s not just goodwill. It’s good business.

Looking Forward to the Future,
Hector de J. Ruiz
Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, AMD