How the math works
Annual payroll = headcount times fully loaded salary. Annual compute = 12 times monthly compute. Uplift value = headcount times revenue per employee times productivity uplift. ROI = (uplift value minus annual compute) divided by annual compute. Break-even is the number of months of uplift needed to cover a year of compute spend.
Verified fact: Bryan Catanzaro, Nvidia's VP of applied deep learning, publicly stated that his team's compute costs now far exceed employee costs (reported by Forbes, via Unusual Whales).
Illustrative estimates: the default values here — a 40 person team, $280k fully loaded salary, $1.2M/month compute, 25% uplift, $900k revenue per employee — are plausible enterprise AI figures, not disclosed Nvidia numbers.
Results are educational only and not financial advice.