AMD’s CEO Lisa Su is on track to receive a hefty $33 million in stock awards, according to an SEC filing made public yesterday. Along with a base salary of $1.32 million, Su’s new compensation package marks a milestone for the company as it continues to outpace competitors like Intel and NVIDIA, particularly in the high-stakes GPU and AI markets.
Su’s reward, however, is not just based on her leadership-it reflects AMD’s impressive growth in the semiconductor industry. 
AMD’s stock surged by 28% in June after analysts became more optimistic about the company’s ability to compete head-to-head with NVIDIA in the AI space. Unlike NVIDIA, which focuses heavily on AI GPUs, AMD offers a more diverse portfolio, selling both consumer gaming GPUs and enterprise-level accelerators, which gives it an edge in meeting demand where its competitor is falling short.
While Intel has long dominated the CPU market, AMD has made significant inroads, eating into Intel’s market share with its highly regarded data center processors. In recent months, analysts have increasingly recognized that AMD’s GPUs could soon give NVIDIA a run for its money, especially in AI workloads. AMD’s ability to balance its gaming and enterprise GPU business positions it well to benefit from this shift.
The compensation for Su, along with other top executives like CTO Mark Papermaster and CFO Jean Hu, has also come under the spotlight. Papermaster will receive a base salary of $870,000, while Hu’s salary will be $800,000. In terms of stock awards, Su’s $33 million vastly surpasses those of her colleagues, with Papermaster receiving $10 million and Hu $8.5 million. These stock awards are tied to AMD’s performance over the next few years, with a significant portion of Su’s rewards contingent on the company’s share price performance from August 2025 to August 2028.
In the context of her success, some critics argue that Wall Street’s focus on short-term profits over long-term company performance has hurt companies like Intel. For years, Wall Street ignored Intel’s shortcomings in product releases, but under Su, AMD has led the way in CPU innovation with its Zen 3 architecture. Meanwhile, NVIDIA, while strong in AI, risks being too dependent on this sector, which could leave it vulnerable if AI spending falters.