The semiconductor industry experienced significant fluctuations in 2023, and the market changes also affected the compensation of the chip industry's titans. As the proxy statements of major companies are released, the compensation of Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su, and NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has gradually become clear.

The compensation of executives has always been a focus of external attention. Let's take a look at how much money the "ceiling" of eight chip industry workers has earned.

01

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon: Annual income of $23.49 million

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon took office as the fourth CEO in Qualcomm's history in 2021, the 36th year of the company's establishment.

Like the third CEO, Amon is also a corporate leader who grew from an engineer and is also the second non-family CEO in Qualcomm's history. Amon holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and an honorary doctorate from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo, Brazil.

According to the filing information submitted by Qualcomm to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for Qualcomm's 2024 Annual Shareholders' Meeting, Amon's base salary increased by 17% to $1.35 million. In addition, Amon received $21.1 million in stock awards, $540,000 in non-equity incentive plan compensation, and $490,000 in other compensation, totaling a compensation of $23.49 million.

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Looking at the financial report data, Qualcomm's performance last year did not soar. In the fiscal year of 2023, Qualcomm's total revenue was $35.82 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 19%, and net profit was $7.232 billion, a plunge of 44%, of which QCT (chip business) mobile chip business revenue decreased by 22% year-on-year.

However, Qualcomm stated: "This is the first pay raise for Mr. Amon since he became CEO, and it was decided after considering the company's record financial performance in the fiscal year of 2022 under his leadership."In the fiscal year of 2023, the average compensation (median) of Qualcomm employees was $105,548, and CEO Cristiano Amon's compensation was approximately 223 times the average compensation of a Qualcomm employee. According to Qualcomm's previously filed records, the average compensation (median) of the company's employees in the fiscal year of 2022 was $102,934, and the CEO pay ratio was 46:1.

02

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger: Annual income of $16.86 million

Pat Gelsinger also started serving as the 8th CEO of Intel in 2021.

Gelsinger was an engineer under then-Intel President Andy Grove more than 30 years ago and later became Intel's CTO before leaving. Upon his return in 2021, he was referred to by many as a symbol of Intel's renewed focus on technology.

In his first year back at Intel, Pat Gelsinger's annual salary was $179 million, which included a "substantial new employee equity award," specifically $140.43 million. At the time, Intel stated that the company strives to provide compensation commensurate with Mr. Gelsinger's capabilities and experience, reflecting the significant challenges faced in leading Intel's transformation.

Subsequently, Gelsinger's total compensation in 2022 was $1.61 million. This year's total compensation has increased by 45% compared to last year, reaching $16.86 million.

Specifically: the parts that decreased were the base salary and "all other compensation," while the stock award portion increased. The base salary dropped from $1.3 million in 2022 to $1.07 million; "all other compensation" decreased from $497,100 to $362,900.

However, the value of the stock awards he received increased from $8.87 million to $12.43 million, and his non-equity incentive plan compensation (including cash performance bonuses) jumped from $945,900 to $2.89 million. He also received $112,000 in deferred compensation to reflect the change in the value of the pension he did not receive last year.AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su: Annual Income of $30.35 Million

In 2014, Dr. Lisa Su became the first female CEO in AMD's history and led the company to turn around from losses to profits.

According to the proxy statement released by AMD, Dr. Lisa Su's total compensation for 2023 was $30.35 million, slightly higher than the $30.22 million in 2022. In comparison, Dr. Su's compensation is 80% higher than that of Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Specifically, her base salary is $1.2 million, she has $21.85 million in stock awards, $5.84 million in option awards, $1.43 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, and $28,711 in all other compensation. Other compensation includes $14,850 contributed to a 401(k) plan (equivalent to a corporate pension in the United States), $2.412 paid for life insurance, and $11,449 for "other" compensation, which is the cost of "spouse travel on company aircraft" for business trips.

Among Dr. Su's assets, about three-quarters are AMD stocks, totaling approximately 4 million shares, with a total value of about $700 million. Since January, AMD's stock price has been setting records, first hitting a 52-week high, then breaking the historical record of $164.46 set in November 2021, and finally reaching a peak of $184.92.

As AMD's stock price breaks through the $170 mark, Dr. Su's net worth has now increased to over $1 billion, making her the 26th female billionaire in the United States.

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan: Annual Income of $161.8 Million

The helmsman of Broadcom is Hock Tan, a Malaysian Chinese born in 1953. Known as the "King of Semiconductor Mergers and Acquisitions," Broadcom was acquired by him.

Documents filed by Broadcom with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 26 show that Broadcom CEO Hock Tan's annual income more than doubled in 2023, reaching $161.8 million. In 2022, Hock Tan's annual income was still at $60.6 million.Specifically, Hock Tan's base salary is a small fraction of his total compensation, amounting to only $1.2 million. The largest share is $160.5 million, which includes stock awards, with the remainder referred to as "all other compensation," related to the company's travel budget. With the $160.5 million stock incentive, Hock Tan's compensation is 510 times the median salary of Broadcom employees.

Looking at the entire year of 2023, Broadcom's revenue was $35.82 billion, a year-over-year increase of 8%, the lowest growth rate since 2020; net profit was $14.082 billion, a year-over-year increase of 22.6%.

How did Broadcom's other executives perform? Its Chief Financial Officer, Kirsten Spears, received $15.24 million, Chief Legal Officer Mark D. Brazeal received $15.49 million, and President of the Semiconductor Group Charlie B. Kawwas received $49.68 million.

05

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra: Annual income of $25.3 million

Sanjay Mehrotra is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Micron Technology. He joined Micron in May 2017, after previously being the CEO of SanDisk.

In February of last year, Micron approved a reduction in base salaries for some executives for the fiscal year 2023, effective immediately, and stated that this was one of the important measures to reduce the company's costs and operating expenses.

Among Micron's seven core executives, Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra's base salary was reduced by 20%, one Senior Vice President's by 10%, and the remaining five Executive Vice Presidents' by 15%, with the base salaries of other executive-level employees also being adjusted downward.

Documents filed by Micron with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that the company also suspended the issuance of all bonuses for the seven core executives for the fiscal year 2023, thus their target cash compensation for the fiscal year 2023 would be reduced by 53% to 75%.

However, Sanjay Mehrotra's compensation is not solely composed of base salary. His base salary for 2022 was $1.41 million (approximately RMB 9.6551 million), with no bonus, and a stock award of $23.5 million. During the period, his total compensation reached as high as $28.841 million.According to Micron's current filings with the SEC, in 2023, Sanjay Mehrotra's total compensation was $25.3 million, which indeed saw a decrease.

The average (median) compensation of Micron's employees and the CEO pay ratio for the fiscal year 2023 was 463 to 1.

06

Texas Instruments CEO Haviv Ilan: Annual income of $16.2 million

Texas Instruments (TI) CEO is Haviv Ilan, who took office in April 2023 and has served for 2.33 years.

Ilan followed the previous TI CEO, Rich Templeton, as an executive, having worked his way up through the company over several decades. Texas Instruments refers to this process as a "carefully orchestrated succession." Ilan became a Senior Vice President in 2014 and then Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2020.

Haviv Ilan's total annual compensation is $16.2 million, consisting of 6.8% salary and 93.2% bonuses, including company stocks and options. He directly owns 0.002% of the company's shares, valued at 2.62 million euros. The average tenure of the management team and the board of directors is 6.3 years and 9.7 years, respectively.

07

TSMC CEO C.C. Wei: Annual income of NT$643 million

C.C. Wei's career began in the technology research and development department at Texas Instruments, where he successively held positions as Senior Manager of Logic and SRAM Technology Development at STMicroelectronics, and Senior Vice President at Chartered Semiconductor in Singapore.In 1998, he joined TSMC. In 2012, he served as co-Chief Operating Officer of TSMC alongside Mark Liu. Since 2018, he has been the President of TSMC.

In 2022, Wei Zhejia's compensation increased by NT$243 million to NT$643 million. His salary accounted for 2.2%, bonuses for 97.8%, including company stocks and options. He directly holds 0.027% of the company's shares, valued at $172.16 million. The median compensation for TSMC's global employees is NT$2.33 million, and Wei Zhejia's is 275 times that amount.

It is worth noting that on December 20th last year, TSMC announced that Chairman Mark Liu would retire after next year's shareholders' meeting, and nominated the current CEO and Vice Chairman, Wei Zhejia, to succeed him. The final result will be determined by the board of directors' vote in June next year.

NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang: Annual income of $21.356 million

It is currently unknown what the total compensation for NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang will be in 2023, as NVIDIA has not yet released the complete data for the last fiscal year.

In 2022, Huang received $21.356 million, a 10% decrease from the previous year. NVIDIA stated that due to not meeting performance targets, the top executive did not receive the full bonus. The company's revenue over 12 months was on par with 2022, at $26.974 billion, with a net profit of $4.368 billion, compared to $9.75 billion in 2022.

Despite a 10% reduction in annual salary, Huang's income is still 94 times the median compensation of $229,078 for NVIDIA's global employees.

Historically, most of Huang's income has been in the form of stock awards. In the fiscal year of 2023, Huang received NVIDIA stocks valued at $19.7 million, higher than the $18.7 million from the previous year.

As the biggest winner of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, NVIDIA's stock price has soared, with an astonishing increase of 239% last year and a rise of 83% this year. NVIDIA's current market value has surpassed that of Google's parent company Alphabet and Amazon, and it has just replaced Tesla as the preferred stock for retail investors.Judging from this, it can be expected that Jen-Hsun Huang's total compensation should see a significant increase.