Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says he pays employees 'as much as possible'

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Tuesday that employees should be compensated as generously as possible, weighing in on corporate bonus structures.

Speaking at a media roundtable at the Grand Hilai Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan, Huang was asked about the recent controversy over Samsung Electronics' bonus system. While noting he was "not an expert in that area," he said, "I think people should be paid as much as possible."

Emphasizing that his answer came from someone outside the field of labor relations, Huang added, "Ask my employees — I actually do that." The remark drew applause from the audience.

He stopped short of drawing comparisons with other companies, however, saying, "That's what I do."

Nvidia weights its compensation heavily toward stock-based awards such as restricted stock units (RSUs) rather than cash bonuses.

The structure ties individual rewards to long-term performance and share price appreciation, meaning employees benefit directly as the company grows — an arrangement that also encourages retention and long-term tenure.

According to Fortune, Nvidia distributed an average of roughly $150,000 worth of RSUs per employee last year.

Huang's own pay fell nearly 30 percent this year even as Nvidia's sales surged.

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Huang received total compensation of $36,343,830 (about 55.16 billion won) for fiscal year 2026 (February last year through January this year) — down roughly 27 percent from $49,866,251 (about 75.57 billion won) the previous year.

His base salary of $1,497,627 was largely unchanged from the prior year.

Base salary accounts for just 4 percent of Huang's total compensation, with the bulk coming from performance-based pay.

Stock-based awards newly granted in the fiscal year totaled $24,800,511 (about 37.63 billion won), a 36 percent decline from $38,811,306 the year before. Non-equity incentive pay remained flat at $6 million.

Other compensation — covering residential security, travel-related security, consulting fees, driver service, pension contributions and insurance premiums — came to $4,045,691.

Although total compensation on paper fell, Huang received 1,113,555 shares from previously granted performance stock units (PSUs) during the fiscal year, worth approximately $141.31 million (about 210.6 billion won). Those shares are separate from the newly granted awards and were delivered after the conditions attached to earlier PSU grants were met.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics and its union recently agreed to allocate 10.5 percent of the semiconductor division's operating profit as a special performance bonus pool. SK Hynix also operates a profit-sharing (PS) system tied to its operating profit.

As Huang prepares for an imminent visit to South Korea, Doosan has drawn fresh attention after he mentioned the possibility of investing in the country's robotics industry. He is also set to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game.

방한 임박 젠슨 황…새 ‘픽’은 두산? 로보틱스 투자 언급에 직접 시구도

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