Microsoft is intensifying Silicon Valley’s bidding war for artificial-intelligence expertise, with internal documents showing the company is systematically targeting engineers and researchers at Meta Platforms and dangling multimillion-dollar compensation packages to secure them. The software maker has compiled a confidential “most-wanted” spreadsheet that lists individual Meta employees, their positions and locations, and instructs recruiters to fast-track offers for candidates designated as “critical AI talent.” Executives are required to approve matching or higher packages within 24 hours, the documents say. The effort is being led by Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman and CoreAI head Jay Parikh, himself a former Meta engineering boss. Recruiters have been authorised to breach standard pay bands and use bespoke compensation models that can rival Meta’s nine-figure deals—offers Meta has reportedly extended to select researchers, including signing bonuses of around $100 million. Microsoft’s own upper-tier guidelines allow as much as $408,000 in salary, $1.9 million in on-hire stock and hefty annual bonuses, but the new process permits still richer terms when needed. Hiring managers are focusing on Meta’s Reality Labs, GenAI Infrastructure and Meta AI Research groups, mirroring Microsoft’s push to expand its generative-AI products after earnings that propelled its valuation toward $4 trillion. The aggressive poaching underscores how the race to dominate next-generation AI is reshaping compensation norms across Big Tech, even as companies maintain broader hiring freezes or head-count caps.