AMD CEO Rejects $100M AI Hiring Offers Citing Mission Focus

AMD CEO Lisa Su has publicly rejected Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's strategy of offering extremely large pay packages, reportedly up to $100 million, to attract top AI talent. Su emphasized that while competitive salaries are important, they are not the most critical factor in hiring decisions; instead, alignment with the company's mission and the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on technology are paramount. She also highlighted fairness to existing employees as a reason for avoiding disproportionate compensation for new hires. This stance aligns with that of other industry leaders like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who have expressed concerns that lavish signing bonuses may undermine company culture and fail to buy genuine mission alignment. The intense competition for AI talent has led companies such as Meta and Microsoft to aggressively recruit candidates, including those already committed elsewhere, but some top executives argue that such monetary incentives cannot replace shared vision and commitment. Overall, the debate underscores a growing tension in the tech industry between monetary incentives and cultural or mission-driven recruitment strategies.