Very true, though it'll depend on the seniority of the position. $240K/yr, minus self-employment taxes, insurance, and other overhead, not to mention the lack

Very true, though it'll depend on the seniority of the position. $240K/yr, minus self-employment taxes, insurance, and other overhead, not to mention the lack of other non-monetary benefits and comp, is not a lot for someone doing serious machine learning. I'd imagine that the type of specialized talent that Intel needs to catch up to AMD have plenty of options open to them. A comp strategy based on median industry comp might work to maintain their position, but probably won't churn out new industry-leading tech needed to jump ahead.