AMD boosts CEO Lisa Su’s paycheck to $33M — still below Nvidia’s Huang

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has granted its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lisa Su, a significant compensation boost for the upcoming fiscal year. The semiconductor company disclosed on Wednesday that Su will receive an equity award with a target value of $33 million, alongside a raise in her base salary to $1.32 million, up from $1.26 million last year.

The announcement was part of AMD's annual executive compensation filing, detailing salary and incentive structures for its leadership team. According to the filing, Su earned total compensation of $31 million in 2024, which included $21.7 million in stock awards and $6.2 million in other incentive-based awards.

Among AMD's top executives, Su is the only one with a base salary exceeding $1 million. Her equity award also stands out as the largest, reflecting her central role in steering AMD through an increasingly competitive semiconductor landscape. Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster is second in line, receiving a $10 million target-value equity award and a base salary of $870,000.

All five executives named in the filing will see their base salaries increase by 3% to 5% for the fiscal year. Su's $33 million equity award is scheduled to convert on August 15 into a combination of performance-based and time-based stock options: 75% of the grant will consist of performance-based restricted stock units (RSUs), while the remaining 25% will be issued as time-based stock options.

The compensation changes underscore AMD's confidence in Su's leadership as the company continues to invest in advanced chip designs and competes with industry giants such as Intel and Nvidia.

However, even with the new pay package, Su’s compensation remains notably lower than that of her main industry rival, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. For fiscal year 2025, Nvidia disclosed that Huang’s total compensation reached nearly $49.9 million, up from $34.2 million the previous year. Huang’s pay package includes a $1.5 million base salary, a target cash bonus of $3 million, and a substantial equity award valued as high as $27.5 million, depending on performance. The jump in Huang’s compensation reflects Nvidia’s record-breaking financial performance in 2025, including $130.5 billion in revenue, $86.8 billion in operating income, and a three-year shareholder return of 384%.

Huang's package highlights Nvidia's dominant position in the AI chip sector and its status as one of the most valuable tech companies globally.