Apple has issued unusual bonuses this week to iPhone hardware designers in an effort to retain them amid aggressive recruitment by artificial intelligence (AI) startups such as OpenAI, which are developing their own hardware products.

Sources familiar with the matter revealed that multiple members of the iPhone product design team received special bonuses valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Apple's leadership is increasingly concerned about the risk of engineers being poached by potential competitors. OpenAI has emerged as a particularly notable threat, having enlisted former Apple design chief Jony Ive to help design a new generation of AI-centric devices.

According to insiders who requested anonymity due to the private nature of the decision, the bonuses were distributed in the form of restricted stock units, vesting over four years. This structure requires employees to remain with Apple to receive the full benefit, a common feature of the company’s equity compensation plans.

In many cases, these awards—unlike Apple’s typical bonuses—are valued between $200,000 and $400,000 over the full vesting period. Depending on the performance of Apple’s stock, these incentives could ultimately yield even higher returns.

A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment.

Employees view the additional compensation as a direct response to intensified recruitment efforts by startups in recent months. However, the bonuses still fall significantly short of the packages offered by companies like OpenAI. In some instances, these firms are providing individual engineers with stock incentives worth approximately $1 million per year to lure them away from Apple.