A 700 Million Won Bonus Was Peanuts... 'This Company' Spent '4 Billion Won per Employee' Amid the AI Boom - The Asia Business Daily
OpenAI's UK Subsidiary: 456 Billion Won in Compensation for 110 Employees
Salary and Stock Compensation Combined: "Average of 4.1 Billion Won per Employee"
58 Times the UK Median Wage... AI Talent Race Intensifies
The global competition among companies to secure artificial intelligence (AI) talent is reaching a new level. At the UK subsidiary of OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, the average combined amount of salary and stock compensation per employee was about 4.1 billion won. That is more than 58 times the median pay of full-time workers in the UK. Analysts say AI technology is changing not only the growth engines of companies but also the wage structure of the labor market.
1.4 Billion Won in Cash Pay and 2.7 Billion Won in Stock Compensation
An analysis of the UK subsidiary's financial statements by the Guardian on October 15 found that salary-related costs and stock compensation for its 110 employees totaled 255 million pounds (about 456 billion won) last year. Dividing that amount by the number of employees gives an average compensation of about 2.318 million pounds (about 4.1 billion won) per person.
Not all of the total was paid in cash. Salary-related costs amounted to about 87 million pounds (about 156 billion won), or an average of about 790,000 pounds (about 1.4 billion won) per employee. The remaining 168 million pounds (about 300 billion won) was stock compensation, equivalent to an average of about 1.53 million pounds (about 2.7 billion won) per person. The average combined value of cash pay and stock compensation thus exceeded 4 billion won.
The compensation more than doubled from the previous year. Average compensation per employee rose from about 1.1 million pounds (about 2 billion won) the year before to about 2.32 million pounds (about 4.1 billion won) last year. That is about 58 times the annual median income of 39,000 pounds (about 70 million won) for full-time workers, according to the UK Office for National Statistics. It is also about 40 times the median income of 58,000 pounds (about 104 million won) in finance and insurance, a relatively high-paying sector in the UK.
However, this is an average calculated by dividing the total compensation by the number of employees. Not every employee received 4.1 billion won, and individual compensation levels may vary. In particular, because the figure includes stock compensation, it is difficult to compare it directly with a conventional cash salary.
AI Talent Scramble... Compensation Soars as Big Tech Competes to Hire
OpenAI's large compensation packages reflect global technology companies' competition for top talent in AI. Developing high-performance AI models requires not only computing resources such as large data centers and semiconductors, but also specialized researchers who can use those resources to improve model performance. Even companies that invest enormous sums in infrastructure risk falling behind if they lack the people to drive technological development.
The number of people capable of developing the world's leading AI models is limited. Big Tech companies are therefore offering unprecedented packages combining salaries and stock compensation to recruit key researchers from competitors. Some companies are offering leading talent compensation packages worth tens of millions of dollars (tens of billions of won) over several years. Last year, reports also emerged that Meta had offered some AI researchers packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars (hundreds of billions of won) over several years.
The Guardian reported that OpenAI is offering compensation comparable to that of English Premier League soccer players in an effort to gain an edge in the global AI race. The fierce competition over high pay, once prominent in investment banking, hedge funds, and professional sports, is spreading to the AI industry.
The rising value of the company is also thought to have contributed to the increase in stock compensation. OpenAI's valuation rose from about $300 billion (about 440 trillion won) in March 2025 to about $500 billion (about 730 trillion won) in October of the same year. Analysts say the increase in the value of restricted stock units (RSUs), which are tied to performance, also affected the size of compensation packages. RSUs are a form of compensation that allows employees to receive company shares once certain conditions are met.
AI Wage Premium Reaches 62%... Concerns Grow Over Labor Market Polarization
High compensation for AI talent is also linked to wage disparities across the labor market. An analysis by global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) of 1 billion job postings across 27 countries in June found that the average salary offered for AI-related jobs was 62% higher than for jobs unrelated to AI. Analysts say this reflects the growing value of workers with AI skills, which is also showing up in wages.
As AI technology becomes a key factor in companies' productivity and competitiveness, the market value of related talent is also rising rapidly. However, concerns are growing that if high compensation is concentrated among a small number of specialists, the economic benefits generated by AI may not be distributed evenly across the labor market and could widen disparities among workers.
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Meanwhile, the competition to offer high compensation has also been found to affect local housing costs, extending beyond pay levels within companies. According to the Guardian, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom home in San Francisco, United States, was $4,400 (about 6.5 million won), up more than 25% from the previous year. That is about three times the U.S. national average. Critics say the influx of high-income AI workers is contributing to rising local housing costs.
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