In the battle for top talent, Apple is giving bonuses up to $180,000 to head off any potential defections to Meta.

Apple and Meta are on track for a collision course in the augmented and virtual reality markets. The two companies have already poached employees from each other, with Meta scoring roughly 100 Apple employees and Apple hiring away Meta’s AR comms chief.

According to The Boston Globe, Apple is working to stem any further talent losses, giving engineers in hardware, silicon design, and some software and ops groups bonuses consisting of restricted stock.

The bonuses range from $50,000 to $180,000, and evidently came as a surprise to the engineers. Apple is closing in on $3 trillion in market value, and has reported record quarters despite the pandemic. Investing its cash in its employees and keeping talent in-house is one of the best uses of its massive cash reserves.