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Applied Optoelectronics Executive Compensation (FY25)

AAOI · Sugar Land, TX · Executive and director compensation, fiscal 2022 to 2025
Data as of September 7, 2026Latest filing (8-K): June 5, 2026
267 figures on this page: 259 cited to the filing that reported them, 8 calculated from figures it prints. See the citations
Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin was paid $4,769,014 in total compensation as President and Chief Executive Officer for fiscal 2025, and Lin's total moved 29.1% higher from the $3,695,421 reported for fiscal 2024. For fiscal 2025, shareholders backed the say-on-pay proposal with 98.3% of votes cast for or against in favor at the meeting held April 10, 2026. The disclosed peer group names A10 Networks, Inc., ACM Research, Inc., ADTRAN, Inc., Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. and Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Limited, among others. The company reported 5 named executive officers for fiscal 2025.
Chief executive, fiscal 2025
◇
Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin
Latest say-on-pay support
=
April 10, 2026
Chief executive pay ratio
◇
To the median employee
What changed from fiscal 2024 to fiscal 2025
The figures that moved, and by how much. Analysis of these figures is part of the Velarion platform.
Chief executive total compensation — Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin: $3,695,421 → $4,769,014 (29.1% higher)
Say-on-pay support: 97.5% → 98.3% (0.8 points higher)
CEO pay ratio: 78:1 → 469:1

Frequently asked questions

Answers drawn from the data on this page.
Who is Applied Optoelectronics' chief executive and what were they paid?
Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin was paid $4,769,014 in total compensation as President and Chief Executive Officer for fiscal 2025. Lin's total moved 29.1% higher from the $3,695,421 reported for fiscal 2024.
What was Applied Optoelectronics' say-on-pay result?
For fiscal 2025, shareholders backed the say-on-pay proposal with 98.3% of votes cast for or against in favor at the meeting held April 10, 2026.
Which companies are in Applied Optoelectronics' peer group?
The disclosed peer group names A10 Networks, Inc., ACM Research, Inc., ADTRAN, Inc., Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. and Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Limited, among others.
What is Applied Optoelectronics' chief executive pay ratio?
The company reported a chief executive pay ratio of 469:1 for fiscal 2025, against median employee compensation of $10,177.

Executive compensation

Every element reported for each named executive officer, by fiscal year.
Fiscal 2022
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin
President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Stefan J. Murry
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh
Senior Vice President and Asia General Manager
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang
Senior Vice President and North America General Manager
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
David C. Kuo
Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Fiscal 2023
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin
President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Stefan J. Murry
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang
Senior Vice President and North America General Manager
◇—◇—◇—◇— not reconciled
Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh
Senior Vice President and Asia General Manager
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
David C. Kuo
Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Fiscal 2024
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin
President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Directors
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Stefan J. Murry
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang
Senior Vice President and North America General Manager
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh
Senior Vice President and Asia General Manager
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
David C. Kuo
Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Fiscal 2025
OfficerSalaryBonusStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin
President and Chief Executive Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Stefan Murry
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Hung-Lun (Fred) Chang
Senior Vice President and North America General Manager
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
Shu-Hua (Joshua) Yeh
Senior Vice President and Asia General Manager
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
David Kuo
Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary
◇—◇—◇—◇◇
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero. A negative change in pension value is shown but, as the company reports it, not included in the total.

Equity awards granted

Individual awards as disclosed: type, date, unit counts at each level, and grant date value.
Fiscal 2025
OfficerAwardGrant dateThreshold unitsTarget unitsUnits grantedMaximum unitsExercise priceGrant date fair value
Chih-Hsiang LinPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Chih-Hsiang LinPSU◇◇◇—◇—◇
David C. KuoPSU◇◇◇—◇—◇
David C. KuoPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Hung-Lun ChangPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Hung-Lun ChangPSU◇◇◇—◇—◇
Shu-Hua YehPSU◇◇◇—◇—◇
Shu-Hua YehPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Stefan J. MurryPSU◇◇◇—◇—◇
Stefan J. MurryPSU◇—◇—◇—◇
Fiscal 2022, 2023, 2024 are included in the PDF.
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero. Threshold, target and maximum apply only to performance awards and are never shown for time-based or option awards.

Outstanding awards

Awards still held at fiscal year end.
As disclosed at fiscal 2025 year end
OfficerAwardUnvested unitsMarket value of unvested unitsExercise priceExpires
Shu-Hua YehRSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
Hung-Lun ChangRSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
Stefan MurryRSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
David KuoRSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
Chih-Hsiang LinRSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
RSU◇◇——
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Director compensation

What each non-employee director was paid.
Fiscal 2025
DirectorFees earned in cashStock awardsOption awardsNon-equity incentivePension and deferred earningsAll other compensationTotal
William H. Yeh
Lead independent director
◇◇————◇
Cynthia (Cindy) DeLaney
◇◇————◇
Min-Chu (Mike) Chen
◇◇————◇
Richard B. Black
◇◇————◇
Che-Wei Lin
◇◇————◇
Elizabeth Loboa
◇◇————◇
Chih-Hsiang (Thompson) Lin and Robert Flanagan served on the board in fiscal 2025 and received no compensation for board service. Executive directors are typically paid through their executive roles, shown above.
Earlier years are included in the PDF.
A dash means the company reported no figure in that column. $0 is shown only where the filing prints a zero.

Disclosed peer group

The companies this board named as its compensation comparison group. The list is disclosure; the comparison is analysis.
Fiscal 2025
  • A10 Networks, Inc. ATEN
  • ACM Research, Inc. ACMR
  • ADTRAN, Inc. ADTN
  • Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. ALGM
  • Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Limited AOSL
  • Calix, Inc. CALX
  • Cohu, Inc. COHU
  • Digi International Inc. DGII
  • Extreme Networks, Inc. EXTR
  • FormFactor, Inc. FORM
  • Harmonic Inc. HLIT
  • Infinera Corporation INFN
  • MaxLinear, Inc. MXL
  • NETGEAR, Inc. NTGR
  • NetScout Systems, Inc. NTCT
  • Photronics, Inc. PLAB
  • Ribbon Communications, Inc. RBBN
  • Semtech Corporation SMTC
  • SkyWater Technology, Inc. SKYT
  • Viavi Solutions Inc. VIAV

Say-on-pay history

Shareholder support for the compensation program, by year.
YearMeetingSupportVotes forVotes againstAbstentions
2025April 10, 2026=◇◇◇
2024April 17, 2025=◇◇◇
2023June 6, 2024=◇◇◇
2021June 2, 2022=◇◇◇
2020June 3, 2021=◇◇◇
2019June 4, 2020=◇◇◇
2018May 30, 2019=◇◇◇
2017June 8, 2018=◇◇◇

Chief executive pay ratio

As calculated and reported by the company.
Ratio
◇
Median employee compensation
◇
Chief executive total compensation
◇
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What this page does not include

Everything above is a fact Applied Optoelectronics disclosed, and it is free. Everything below is our analysis of those facts, and it is not.
Peer benchmarking
Where Applied Optoelectronics sits against its disclosed peers — percentile position by role and by pay element, and the ranking behind it. The disclosed peer group is free; comparisons across it are part of the Velarion platform.
Executive Compensation Report — $1,500
Written compensation analysis
A read of the pay program as designed and as paid: incentive structure, goal rigor, the alignment between the committee's stated philosophy and what the numbers show.
Executive Compensation Report — $1,500
Board and governance analysis
Committee composition, independence, director pay positioning, and the governance provisions read together rather than listed.
Board Governance Report — $1,200
Realizable pay
What the awards above are actually worth today against what they were valued at on grant, and what the gap says about the pay-for-performance link.
Velarion Intelligence
Adviser switching and vote outcomes
Two datasets covering compensation-adviser changes and what followed a contested vote. Both are part of the Velarion platform.
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Citations

Every figure on this page is cited to the document that reported it. Select any figure to see its citation.
267 figures on this page: 259 cited to the filing that reported them, 8 calculated from figures it prints.
259 cited to the filing
8 calculated from the filing

Documents cited

  1. 0001683168-26-004596
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  2. 0001104659-26-048559
    2025 Director Compensation · 2025 Grants of Plan-Based Awards · 2025 Summary Compensation Table · Outstanding Equity Awards at 2025 Fiscal Year-End
  3. 0001683168-25-004444
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  4. 0001104659-25-022149
    2024 Summary Compensation Table
  5. 0001683168-24-004054
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  6. 0001104659-24-052897
    2023 Summary Compensation Table
  7. 0001104659-23-052915
    2022 Summary Compensation Table
  8. 0001683168-22-004143
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  9. 0001683168-21-002352
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  10. 0001683168-20-001863
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  11. 0001683168-19-001753
    Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
  12. 0001683168-18-001633
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Velarion, “Applied Optoelectronics executive compensation, FY2022–FY2025.” https://intel.velarion.ai/comp/AAOI (accessed 2026).
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Tech — Hardware rankings

Chief executive pay — Tech — HardwareCEO pay ratio — Tech — HardwareSay-on-pay support — Tech — Hardware

Peers Applied Optoelectronics discloses

The companies named in AAOI's own disclosed peer group.

ACM Research, Inc.ADTRAN, Inc.Allegro MicroSystems, Inc.Alpha and Omega Semiconductor LimitedCohu, Inc.FormFactor, Inc.Harmonic Inc.MaxLinear, Inc.NETGEAR, Inc.NetScout Systems, Inc.Photronics, Inc.Semtech CorporationSkyWater Technology, Inc.Viavi Solutions Inc.

Terms on this page

Say-on-Pay VoteCEO Pay RatioMedian Employee CompensationAll companies
Cite this data
APA
Velarion Company Intelligence. (2026). Velarion database: executive and board compensation data (Version 2026Q3) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854
BibTeX
@misc{velarionData2026,
  author = {{Velarion Company Intelligence}},
  title = {Velarion database: executive and board compensation data},
  year = {2026},
  version = {2026Q3},
  doi = {10.5281/zenodo.22283854},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22283854}
}
For informational purposes only. Not investment, legal, or compensation advice.  The Pay Desk · Methodology · Terms · Privacy