Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Says He Personally Looks at All 42,000 Employees' Compensation 'Every Cycle.' Here's Why.

Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang is busy running the world's most valuable company. But he still has time to review payroll.

On a recent panel episode of "The All-In Podcast," Huang was asked about the rumors of a secret pool of options that he doles out to employees. "If somebody does a great job, you drop a bunch of RSUs on top of them, and you have this little bag of options you carry around. Is that true?" one of the hosts asked. (RSUs, or restricted stock units, are a form of employee compensation, usually performance-based, and issued through a vesting plan and distribution schedule.)

"That's nuts," Huang responded. "Yeah, I'm carrying in my pocket right now."

Related: Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang Says He's 'Created More Billionaires' Than Anyone Else — Adding Two More This Week

Although Huang denied that's how it goes down at Nvidia HQ, he did offer more insight into his day-to-day.

"So listen, so this is what happens," Huang explained. "I review everybody's compensation up to this day. At the end of every cycle, when they present it, and they send me everybody's recommended comp. I go through the whole company."

^{Jensen Huang, Co-Founder and CEO of Nvidia, speaks onstage at the All-In and Hill & Valley Forum "Winning The AI Race" at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on July 23, 2025, in Washington, DC. Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Hill & Valley Forum}

Of course, he uses machine learning to make it faster.

"I've got my methods of doing that, and I use machine learning," Huang said. "I do all kinds of technology, and I sort through all 42,000 employees, and 100% of the time I increase the company's spend on [operational expenditures]."

Related: AI Will Create More Millionaires in the Next 5 Years Than the Internet Did in 2 Decades, According to Nvidia's CEO

Nvidia has at least six billionaires working there, including longtime directors and executives, per Bloomberg. It's also full of "semi-retired" millionaires who still clock into the office daily.

In the interview, Huang also said that AI will mint more millionaires in the next five years than the Internet did in two decades.

In July, the chip giant became the first ever company to cross a market value of $4 trillion. It currently sits at $4.477 trillion.

"If you take care of people," Huang said, "everything else takes care of itself."

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