Company Parking Lot Turned into a 'Supercar' Showroom... Where 'Byulakbuja' Employees Gather

'Lamborghini, Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche...'

This is the recent scene of a company parking lot that was once occupied by ordinary cars just a few years ago. This place is NVIDIA, an artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. As the global AI boom has made NVIDIA's graphics processing units (GPUs), essential for AI data inference and training, increasingly vital, NVIDIA's stock price has surged nearly 40 times from 2019 to the present. As a result, many employees have gained financial freedom, Bloomberg reported on the 26th (local time).

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A former employee who worked in engineering at NVIDIA told Bloomberg, "Throughout last year and this year, I frequently witnessed almost all NVIDIA employees expressing their wealth." He added, "They were searching for homes on the US real estate platform 'Zillow' and talking about new vacation homes in everyday conversations." He also mentioned that attending expensive Super Bowl concerts and NBA finals games was commonplace.

Spencer Si, a real estate agent in Palo Alto, California, emphasized, "NVIDIA clients are paying 40-60% down payments on multimillion-dollar homes," adding, "I am always amazed at how much money they have." Typically, a 20% down payment is considered high for US homes.

With the surge in AI chip demand, NVIDIA's stock price has soared about ninefold just this year and last year. The rise in NVIDIA's stock price directly brings wealth to all employees. NVIDIA regularly grants stock grants (free company shares) that can be used over four years. Unlike stock options, which have mandatory holding periods, stock grants can be immediately liquidated upon receipt.

This is the driving force that keeps employees at NVIDIA, known for its intense work demands. A former NVIDIA employee who worked in marketing said, "I attended 7 to 10 meetings a day, each with more than 30 participants. Fights often broke out, and loud voices were common," but added, "I endured for two years thanks to the 'urgent handcuffs' (incentives). It was an opportunity to gain more wealth." Another former employee from the technical support department for corporate clients said, "I had to work all week, sometimes until 1 or 2 a.m., but I endured because of salary incentives and resigned last May." Bloomberg added, "There are millions of employees waiting for the next stock grant."

NVIDIA's turnover rate has decreased further as the company's value soared. According to NVIDIA's '2024 Sustainability Report,' last year's employee turnover rate was 5.3%, only about one-third of the semiconductor industry's average turnover rate of 17.7%. Since becoming the first semiconductor company to surpass a market capitalization of $1 trillion in May last year, the turnover rate has dropped further to 2.7%.

The wealth of NVIDIA employees stands out even more when compared to employees of AI chip latecomers AMD and Intel. Colette Kress, NVIDIA's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who joined the company 11 years ago, owns approximately $758.7 million (about 1.0087 trillion KRW) worth of stock. In contrast, AMD's CFO Devinder Kumar and Intel's CFO David Zinsner hold stocks worth $6.43 million (about 850 million KRW) and $3.13 million (about 410 million KRW), respectively.

Employee support for Jensen Huang, NVIDIA's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), is high. According to the company review site Glassdoor, Huang's approval rating is 97%, surpassing other big tech CEOs such as Alphabet (94%), Apple (87%), Meta Platforms (66%), and Amazon.com (54%).

Employees believe NVIDIA's great success is due to CEO Huang's unique leadership. Although Huang has 60 direct reports, he is known to be deeply involved in employees' work, even in minor decisions like photos used for marketing. Huang is also reported to regularly instruct employees to summarize five current tasks and email them to him. Bloomberg explained, "Sometimes Huang personally replies to these emails, asking for details or giving instructions."

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