Intel's chief executive Pat Gelsinger earned 1,711 times the average worker at the US chipmaker in just 11 months since he joined in February last year, a regulatory filing showed today.
Compared to Gelsinger, former CEO Bob Swan had earned 217 times more than the average Intel employee in 2020.
Gelsinger earned $178.6m in 2021 with stock awards making up nearly 79% of his total compensation, which was about 698% higher than Swan's 2020 pay.
Executive compensations have been rising in the US.
Apple CEO Tim Cook earned 1,447 times of the average employee at the tech giant in 2021. Shareholders of the company approved the pay package despite proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services pushing against it
Intel has asked shareholders to vote in favour of its executives' compensation at the annual stockholder's meeting the company will host on May 12.
After Gelsinger took the reins at Intel, once a world leader in chip-making technology, he unveiled a turnaround strategy for the company to regain its dominance in the semiconducto rindustry, currently led by Taiwan's Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.
TSMC's technology for making advanced processors is years ahead of Intel.
Intel's shares rose 6.8% last year after declining about 17% the year before as the company faced a manufacturing crisis and struggled with competition.
Earlier this month, Intel laid out the first details of a $88 billion investment plan spanning across six European Union countries including a massive investment in Germany. It also said it will be investing a further €12 billion in Ireland between now and the end of next year as it completes its currently under construction "Fab 34" plant in Leixlip, Co Kildare.
The investment, coupled with €5 billion that has already been spent on the facility to date, will lead to a near doubling of the total amount of capital spent by Intel in Ireland since it first set up in Ireland in 1989.
Gelsinger was CEO of VMWare before he returned to Intel as its top boss. He had spent 30 years at Intel before leaving.
His compensation included one-time new-hire equity awards with a target value of about $110m, according to the filing
