- Lisa Su, CEO of $284 billion semiconductor giant AMD, won’t be matching Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million compensation packages in the great AI talent war. The tech leader reasons that money isn’t the most important thing in attracting great workers; ensuring they’re “not just a cog in the wheel” is far more alluring in her eyes. Her philosophy echoes that of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who also refused to counter the eye-popping pay, reasoning it would be unfair and money can’t buy loyalty.
AI is set to become a $4.8 trillion industry by 2033—so the competition to snag the best talent is heating up, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attempting to poach rival staffers with $100 million pay packages. But some tech execs leading billion-dollar businesses are pushing back on wooing employees with golden handcuffs.
“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,” Lisa Su, CEO of $284 billion semiconductor giant AMD, recently told Wired. “I think it’s important to be in the zip code [of those numbers], but then it’s super important to have people who really believe in the mission of what you’re trying to do.”
Instead, she wants future hires at AMD to be wooed by the thought of being part of the company’s meteoric rise and making an impact on the future of technology.
“From a recruitment standpoint, it’s always like, ‘Do you want to be part of our mission?’ Because the ride is really what we’re trying to attract people to. 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.’”
Plus, it’s not as if AMD staffers are underpaid: “I think people have done relatively well here, because the stock’s done okay,” Su added.
At the end of the day, the 55-year-old CEO says dishing out $100 million salaries to new staff would be unfair to existing workers with lower pay packages, still putting in hard work.
“It’s not really about one person in our world,” Su reasoned. “I mean, it’s really about great people, don’t get me wrong—we have some incredible people.”
Fortune reached out to AMD for comment.
Zuckerberg’s $100 million pay package is ‘trying to buy something that cannot be bought’
Su isn’t the only Silicon Valley chief executive refusing to match Zuckerberg’s eye-popping pay packages. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also isn’t willing to shell out $100 million in poaching retaliation. And the two leaders agree on one thing: Their companies care about fostering innovation above all else—and that drive can’t be bought with nine-figure salaries.
“I think that what they are doing is trying to buy something that cannot be bought, and that is alignment with the mission. I think there are selection effects here,” Amodei recently revealed on the Big Technology Podcast. “Are they getting the people who are most enthusiastic, who are most mission aligned, who are most excited?”
The Meta CEO has managed to poach at least seven staffers from rival AI companies, including OpenAI, with its $100 million offer. But Anthropic’s leader is adamant that most of his employees are actually turning it down, and “wouldn’t even talk” to Zuckerberg.
Echoing AMD’s CEO that it would be unfair to pay or treat staffers differently in the AI talent war, Amodei thinks it could stifle innovation. In fact, he believes fighting fire with fire by offering the same sky-high compensation would actually “destroy” company culture.
“We are not willing to compromise our compensation principles, our principles of fairness, to respond individually to these offers,” Amodei said. “The way things work at Anthropic is there’s a series of levels. One candidate comes in, they get assigned a level, and we don’t negotiate that level, because we think it’s unfair. We want to have a systematic way.”
The Anthropic leader said Meta, and by extension Zuckerberg, are trying to buy employees who will be devoted to driving their AI models to new heights. But he may be hard-pressed to find such loyalty; Anthropic has a 80% retention rate for employees hired over the past two years, while Meta is trailing behind at 64%.
