By Ben Glickman


Nvidia chief executive and co-founder Jensen Huang received a 60% pay increase in the company's last fiscal year as the chipmaker's share price and revenue soared on AI-driven demand.

The company said in its annual proxy filing on Tuesday that Huang's compensation was valued at $34.2 million in the fiscal year ended in January, up from $21.4 million a year earlier.

Huang's stock awards were valued at about $7 million higher than in fiscal 2023, and he received a $4 million cash bonus. He also received $2.5 million for other various costs, including residential security and consulting fees.

Nvidia's shares have increased more than threefold in the last year, and the company's revenues surged on the back of a boom in demand for artificial intelligence chips. Bonuses for executives are tied to certain financial metrics, including revenue and operating margin.

The company said its executives' performance metrics exceeded their upper targets off the strength of its data center platform and generative AI needs.

Nvidia has become one of most valuable companies in the world as customers continue to seek out its graphic processing unit chips. Those chips are worth tens of thousands of dollars each, and have become scarce amid soaring demand, helping to boost Nvidia, given its commanding share of the market.

In February, Nvidia became the third company ever to pass $2 trillion in market value. Its nearly $2.3 trillion valuation at the close of trading Tuesday trailed only Apple and Microsoft.

Nvidia's quarterly earnings reports have regularly surpassed Wall Street's estimates in the last year, even as revenue more than tripled compared with the prior year. In the company's fiscal fourth quarter, revenue more than tripled to $22.1 billion and profit increased more than eightfold. Both figures beat analyst expectations.

Compensation for Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress increased about 22% to $13.3 million for the last fiscal year.

Nvidia's runaway success has also seemingly buoyed the fortunes of its employees. The company's median employee pay was $266,939 in fiscal 2024, up about 17% from the prior year.


Write to Ben Glickman at ben.glickman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-14-24 1820ET