Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) CEO Lisa Su has rejected Silicon Valley's escalating million-dollar AI talent war, highlighting mission alignment and workplace impact over staggering salaries.
AMD Prioritizes Mission Over Mega Pay
Su said that AMD will not match Meta Platforms, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg's reported $100 million compensation offers aimed at poaching top AI talent.
In an interview with Wired, which was published earlier this week, Su said, "I think competition for talent is fierce. I am a believer, though, that money is important, but frankly, it's not necessarily the most important thing when you're attracting talent."
Instead, Su wants potential hires to be motivated by AMD's growth trajectory and the chance to shape the future of technology.
"From a recruitment standpoint, it's always like, ‘Do you want to be part of our mission?'… It's the ride of, ‘Look, if you want to come do important technology, make an impact, you're not just a cog in the wheel, but you're actually someone who's going to drive the future of our road map, then you want to be at AMD,'" she added.
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Lisa Su Puts Fairness And Culture Over Eye-Popping Salaries
The AMD CEO also highlighted fairness to existing employees as a key reason for avoiding massive pay packages for new hires.
"It's not really about one person in our world. It's really about great people… We have some incredible people," Su said. The focus, she noted, is fostering an environment where employees feel valued rather than simply compensated.
Dario Amodei Says His Employees Wouldn't Even Talk To Zuckerberg
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei echoed Su's sentiment, telling the Big Technology Podcast in July, "I think that what they are doing is trying to buy something that cannot be bought, and that is alignment with the mission… We are not willing to compromise our compensation principles, our principles of fairness, to respond individually to these offers."
The startup’s chief insisted that most of the company's employees are rejecting the offer and "wouldn't even speak" to Zuckerberg.
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Nvidia And Alphabet CEOs Also Stress Mission And Efficiency
Other Silicon Valley leaders, including Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang and Alphabet CEO (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Sundar Pichai, have downplayed the importance of executive-level compensation in attracting AI talent.
Huang said that the efficiency of small, well-funded teams, while Pichai said Alphabet remains strong in retaining top AI researchers.
AI Talent Wars Heat Up In Silicon Valley
Zuckerberg has reportedly recruited at least seven employees from rival AI companies, including OpenAI, using these nine-figure packages.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is also reportedly aggressively targeting Meta AI engineers with multimillion-dollar signing bonuses to bolster its AI divisions, including Microsoft AI and CoreAI.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives previously called the surge in AI hiring and compensation "a watershed moment for technology," with combined spending expected to reach $240 billion through 2026.
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