How intense has the talent war in Silicon Valley become? Just look at the numbers from OpenAI.

This AI giant's average stock compensation per person is about $1.5 million. What does that mean? During the same period before Google's IPO, the stock compensation to revenue ratio was only about 15%, and Facebook was only 6%. And what about OpenAI? By 2025, total compensation will have eaten up 46% of revenue. The gap is obvious at a glance.

Even more aggressive, OpenAI recently removed the restriction that stock options can only be vested after six months of employment. This is not a small move—financial forecasts show that by the night before 2030, the company's annual stock compensation expenditure will grow at a rate of $3 billion. What does this mean? It means they are using real money to lock in the world's top technical talent.

From a broader perspective, this "high revenue, high subsidy" approach is essentially using capital to buy time and talent. For the entire AI track, this sends a signal: the premium effect for top talent will become increasingly apparent. Around 2026, the development costs in Web3 and AI-related fields may be further driven up. The talent war in Silicon Valley is reshaping the cost structure of the entire ecosystem.