OpenAI has reportedly offered $1.5 million bonuses for every employee over two years, including new hires, as the artificial intelligence giant battles Meta Platforms Inc. META and other tech titans in a talent war.<\/p>\n
Tech Executive Reveals Bonus Strategy<\/p>\n
Yuchen Jin, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Hyperbolic and former OctoAI executive, disclosed the compensation move on X Thursday. \u201cMy OpenAI friends are so hyped rn \u2013 not because it\u2019s the night before GPT-5, but because Sam just announced $1.5M bonus for every employee over 2 years,\u201d Jin wrote.<\/p>\n
Jin, whose previous company OctoAI was acquired by Nvidia Corp. NVDA, added that \u201c78% of Nvidia employees are millionaires. At OpenAI, it\u2019s 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n
OpenAI did not immediately respond to\u00a0Benzinga<\/a>‘s request for comment.<\/p>\n Meta\u2019s Aggressive Recruitment Drives Market Response<\/p>\n The bonus announcement comes as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg\u2018s \u201cmafioso\u201d style poaching tactics have intensified Silicon Valley\u2019s AI talent competition<\/a>. Meta has reportedly offered compensation packages reaching $20 million annually to lure researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG.<\/p>\n OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously welcomed Meta\u2019s challenge with a \u201cbring it on\u201d response during a podcast interview. Meta\u2019s newly formed Superintelligence Labs has successfully recruited seven OpenAI researchers and Apple Inc.\u2018s AAPL former Foundation Models head, Ruoming Pang.<\/p>\n See Also: Apple, Nvidia Supplier TSMC Surges Nearly 5% In Overnight Trade As Taipei Says Chip Giant \u2018Exempt\u2019 From Trump\u2019s 100% Chip Tariffs<\/a><\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s Valuation Surge Supports Retention Strategy<\/p>\n The retention bonuses coincide with OpenAI\u2019s pursuit of a secondary stock sale<\/a> that could value the company at $500 billion, representing a 67% jump from its current $300 billion valuation. The company recently raised $8.3 billion as part of a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp. SFTBY.<\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s revenue has surged to $13 billion annually from $10 billion in June, with projections exceeding $20 billion by year-end. The company now serves 700 million weekly ChatGPT users and has grown paid business subscribers to five million.<\/p>\n Broader AI Infrastructure Investment Wave<\/p>\n The talent war occurs amid a $250 billion AI infrastructure spending surge through 2025-26. Meta plans to spend nearly $100 billion by 2026, while Alphabet raised its 2025 capital expenditure target to $85 billion. Microsoft Corp. MSFT is on track to exceed $100 billion in annual AI spending<\/a>.<\/p>\n